Re: Non-interactive install proposal
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Ok... Just some comments.
I just got some crude debian autoinstall mechanism running for my
organisation, which does a dpkg -install from a perl expect script, which
scans the output of dpkg for keywords which it reacts to. I would have
liked a more beautiful approach. This one looks better.
In article <[🔎] 87af7v850b.fsf@tiamat.datasync.com> you write:
[trimmed freely]
>From: Ian Jackson <ian@chiark.greenend.org.uk>
>To: debian-devel@lists.debian.org, debian-policy@lists.debian.org
>Subject: Re: Proposal: Automatic query servicing for dpkg installation scripts
>Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 13:35:41 +0100
>
>Yes, we do need something like this.
>
>Properties that it needs to have include, in no particular order:
>
>1. Questions may need to be `independent' of any particular package.
>
>2. Only a particular package can determine which questions need to be
>asked in what order; in particular, following questions can depend on
>the previous ones. This means that we can't specify the questions in
>advance in a file. Instead, we have to put the information in
>command-line arguments to the query program.
It seems to me that we get very long commandlines this way.
>3. Questions should have a `name' that is textual (not numeric), and
>is separate from the prompt string. Given 1. the name should probably
>have a hierarchical structure. Given 2. there needs to be a way to
>put arbitrary `parameters' into the `name'.
>
>4. There should be a way to specify how `important' it is that a
>question be asked, and an environment variable or something to specify
>how willing we are to prompt, so that we can tune the level of
>prompting.
There should be a mode which *never* asks interactive questions. Over
here, I give a boot-disk to someone who has an new machine (or an old one
which needs a reinstall) and tell him to put it in the drive and reboot,
and take it out when he is asked to. Then he gets a new installation from
a saved and tested copy of debian. Some of the people whom I give such a
disk are not able to answer questions about the installation, nor do I
want them to answer them.
There are some reasons not to use a canned diskimage. One is that I would
need some editing of system files anyway for differing hostnames and such.
Second is that I would have to recreate the diskimage for every minor
update. I might automate that recreation to the point that is not more
work than saving a tested copy of debian, but that automation would be at
least as much work as the auto-install. Third is that I want to keep open
a way to auto-adapt to differing hardware to autoinstall X-servers or
mouses or other things which can be detected. Fourth is that it is the
'right' way. ;-)
>5. The interface should be suitable for changing the UI later (eg,
>plain-text, fullscreen text, X or whatever).
>
>6. The database format used to cache answers should be editable by
>humans.
>
>7. The query program should be the same as the retrieve-question
>program, so that the database of previous questions acts as a cache
>for the user.
>8. If the query program cannot prompt but the arguments say it needs
>to then it should indicate this with a nonzero exit status, which will
>(hopefully) cause the script to bomb out.
>
>9. Valid responses should be specified by regexp (preferably a
>reasonably fully-featured regexp like a Perl one) not a glob.
I am not sure whether this is the right direction. Maybe something like
X-resources are better.
>10. Metacharacters in prompts and data should work completely
>correctly.
How should metacharacters in data work?
I would tend to put the 'answer database' into the environment. For
example reserve Variables of the form DPKG_ANSWER_* to answers of
configuration questions. That would have the effect that scripts which do
not ask any questions would not be affected. And it would work with
minimal changes to dpkg.
I hope this reaches everyone I want to reach, I do not read debian-policy
yet, so I did not mail there.
cu
AW
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: 2.6.3i
Charset: noconv
iQCVAwUBNYUkEMCaUV487z8dAQHEDgP/SWyZOjm10vFGXBnE58lWvEFTpz+eGyur
Q0s6D0NU83fmG+Qhsi7YVDTHUUcf+WnvgEUNaLPM8xGI26rh/5+0ftsJxWM62A+o
YuSuP+d9Z94JRO2116tzkPkS8Kt+h2nsMQPFI+7dYPyJM4me7T4iTZdXRpHTn98L
0yNy43LG+6Y=
=Yngp
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
--
<ThePhonk> *tueteKlammernUeberVariableAuskipp* Dereferenzier Dich, Du
+Miststueck!
--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-devel-request@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org
Reply to: