Hi Cyril,
Thanks for the quick response!
On Monday, 19 May 2025 23:29:52 British Summer Time Cyril Brulebois wrote
> Dave Hibberd <hibby@debian.org> (2025-05-19):
> > When installing debian from RC-1 netinst on a VM, I am unable to
> > install the 'hamradio' blend packages with blendsel. The installation
> > step skips straight to the next step without downloading any files
> > from the repo. This is true for both graphical and text installers.
>
> Yeah, no changes are expected between both versions, what is most
> expected to matter is:
> - the image type and its contents (netinst vs. dvd) combined with
> connectivity: e.g. uninstallable dependencies because neither
> available on the mirror nor on the image;
> - command used to install the packages.
>
At the very least, I'm running from debian-trixie-DI-rc1-amd64-netinst.iso, no
proxy or cache in the way. All other packages install, and on the installed
system after reboot, all packages install ok (see later).
> > Running blendsel on my own machine prompts the expected response.
> > Trying to apt install task-hamradio-blend similarly installs packages
> > as I'd expect.
> >
> > The only things I can think are to blame is that there are two
> > applications requiring interaction through debconf (radioclk, xastir)
>
> Those packages really should (if not must, I'm not diving back into the
> Debian Policy) support noninteractive installation. Even outside d-i,
> it's way better to get a package installed but {un,mis}configured, than
> blocking/erroring out (probably leaving packages in some unclean state
> at the apt/dpkg level) if the noninteractive frontend is used, stdin
> pointing to /dev/null, etc.
I tested installing both packages on their own with
DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive and they successfully install, we can probably
strike that off the list.
> > and something that removes systemd-timesyncd - again, I think this is
> > radioclk, it Recommends: ntp (>= 1:4.2.2+dfsg-1) | ntpsec | chrony
>
> blendsel uses the same logic as pkgsel, which should cope with
> removals, at least in theory:
>
> blendsel.pl: push @cmd, qw{apt-get -q -y -o APT::Install-
Recommends=true -o APT::Get::AutomaticRemove=true -o Acquire::Retries=3
install};
>
> And if that works in the installed system, that means a suitable
> combination of packages can be found (I'll leave details like “at this
> stage, the bootloader isn't installed yet”, that seems very improbable
> to be a contributing factor here).
, if I run `apt-get -q -y -o APT::Install-Recommends=true -o
APT::Get::AutomaticRemove=true -o Acquire::Retries=3 install task-hamradio-
blend` everything will resolve and packages install ok.
Similarly, If I remove everything and run `blendsel` as root and select Debian
hamradio, packages install.
>
> > Will blendsel in d-i choke on either debconf interactions or package
> > removals? Why would this have an effect before any packages have been
> > downloaded?
>
> It would be interesting to see what was logged, you'll find that in
> /var/log/installer/syslog. You can grep for blendsel (I'd imagine) or
> include the whole file, *compressed* (to make sure it reaches the bug
> tracking system and the debian-boot@lists.debian.org mailing list),
> using reply-all.
>
Grepping for blendsel after it's been installed is unenlightening sadly! Full
log is attached, but the highlights are:
May 19 21:30:22 pkgsel: starting blendsel
May 19 21:30:22 /bin/in-target: warning: /target/etc/mtab won't be updated
since it is a symlink.
May 19 21:30:30 pkgsel: finishing up
May 19 21:30:32 kernel: [ 635.878360] ISO 9660 Extensions: Microsoft Joliet
Level 3
May 19 21:30:32 kernel: [ 635.878480] ISO 9660 Extensions: RRIP_1991A
May 19 21:30:32 kernel: [ 635.884718] ISO 9660 Extensions: Microsoft Joliet
Level 3
May 19 21:30:32 kernel: [ 635.884860] ISO 9660 Extensions: RRIP_1991A
Can I run d-i with greater logging output and try to grab something more
useful?
Cheers,
Dave
--
Hibby <hibby@debian.org>
Debian Developer
Packet Radioist
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