Charles Chambers <cchamb2@gmail.com> writes:
> Hi, All:
>
> I'm trying to add a preseed.cfg to USB install media created with one of
> the isohybrid images.
>
> I follow the instructions using dd to transfer the image to the USB
> drive, and all goes well. I can install, and it does so nicely.
>
> As I try to copy a preseed.cfg file *to* the USB drive after dd the
> isohybrid image, it tells me variously that it's a read-only file
> system (ISO9660), or that it is write protected.
The error message is actually about the fact that ISO 9660 is, by
design, read-only. We use ISO 9660 because it's the standard format for
CDs, so that's what ensures maximum compatibility. We could produce
separate images for writing to USB sticks, using writable file systems,
but the current approach gets us most of the usefulness of an image for
USB sticks without needing double the resources for mirrors etc.
When you copy one of our ISO images to USB, there's a bit of magic on
the front that makes it look like you have a partitioned disk, but the
data is still in ISO 9660 format, and that's how you access it, so it
will not be writable.
> Anyone ever started from the netinst ISO image and added a preseed.cfg file?
Look here:
https://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller/Modify
HTH
Cheers, Phil.
P.S. It occurs to me that one should be able to get away with adding a
partition after copying it to the USB stick. Actually, I just tried
that, and it seems to work (in that I have a new partition consuming the
rest of the USB stick, while the ISO9660 partition is still intact, and
check-sums check). I don't have a spare machine to try a test install on
right now.
Perhaps we should look into adding an extra partition to our images so
that people can easily add files, such as preseeds and non-free
firmware. That, combined with a check to see if such files exist, would
let people preseed without all the bother of remastering the image.
Of course, that would need us to choose a size and format for the
partition, so perhaps just adding the check and letting people choose
their own partition size would be enough -- we're not already doing that
are we?
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