Re: "Debian GNU/Linux Installation Guide" needs broader choice of examples

[Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net>]

On 06/09/2020 03:46 PM, Richard Owlett wrote:
> On 06/09/2020 01:24 PM, Holger Wansing wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> wrote:
> > > I need to do a very atypical install.
> > > It needs exactly one parameter to be pre-seeded.
> > > I wish to set it at the boot prompt.
> > >
> > > An overview is given at
> > > https://www.debian.org/releases/buster/i386/apbs02.en.html#preseed-auto
> > > which in turn leads to
> > > https://www.debian.org/releases/buster/i386/ch05s01.en.html#boot-screen
> > > which says in part:
> > > > If you wish or need to add any boot parameters for either the installer
> > > > or the kernel, press Tab (BIOS boot), or e then down arrow three times
> > > > then end (UEFI boot). This will bring the boot command for the selected
> > > > menu entry and allow you to edit it to suit your needs.
> > >
> > > However I can find no examples of what that line would look like after
> > > entering the pre-seeded parameter. The value I wish to use is:
> > > > d-i base-installer/install-recommends boolean false
> >
> > It's fairly well documented in
> > https://d-i.debian.org/doc/installation-guide/en.amd64/apbs02.html#preseed-bootparms 
> >
> >
> > And for your specific wishes, there is also an alias, see
> > https://d-i.debian.org/doc/installation-guide/en.amd64/apbs02.html#preseed-aliases 
> >
> >
> > So you should be done with simply adding
> >     "recommends=false"
> > to the said line.
> >
> >
> > Holger
>
> Thank you. I thought I understood what you just said. But just tried my 
> interpretation of what you said and got a result that didn't make sense. 
> I'm very tired, so suspect human error. Will try again in the morning.

I still don't understand the results, but it is not mechanical operator 
error.

I do have a question on the installers logic.

On the menu titled "Software Selection", what happens when:
   only "Debian desktop environment" is checked?
   both "Debian desktop environment" and any one desktop is checked?
   only MATE is checked?
I.E. what top level package(s) get installed {dependencies are a 
separate issue}?

TIA