Bug#604839: [installation-guide] Planned overhaul of chapter 4.3 "Preparing Files for USB Memory Stick Booting"

[David <bouncingcats@gmail.com>]

On Sun, 3 Oct 2021 at 05:03, Holger Wansing <hwansing@mailbox.org> wrote:
>
> I'm thinking about (long overdue) updating chapter
> https://d-i.debian.org/doc/installation-guide/en.amd64/ch04s03.html
> "Preparing Files for USB Memory Stick Booting".

> - #988472 proposes to no longer use "install-mbr" to install an MBR on the
>   stick, but use 'cat /usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin >/dev/sdX' instead.
>   Any objections or comments on this?
>   (Works fine for me so far.)

Hello

Thank you very much for your work on Debian.

I see that the suggestion to use 'cat' comes
from #604839.

Yes, 'cat' will "work", however I feel there is no
good reason to use 'cat' there.

Because the purpose of 'cat' is for concatenating
multiple files, and it also requires a shell redirection
from stdout. Both are unnecessary here.

I suggest this command should be used:
# cp /usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin /dev/sdX

That would be consistent with the similar command
used in Section 4.3.1 on the same page:
# cp debian.iso /dev/sdX

And that is what the 'cp' command is for ...
copying files :)