Brian wrote:
> [I couldn't sort the attributions out when snipping. Sorry.]
Things can get confusing! :-)
> Bob Proulx wrote:
> > > > > I just double checked by running a text mode expert install - that
> > > > > screen never appears.
>
> Richard wrote this. I didn't understand what he was getting at first
> time round.
I don't know either.
> > > With a straightforward expert install the keyboard question is asked.
> > > Maybe something has been added to the command line.
>
> That was Brian. (Me).
>
> > How are you inserting the preseed data when booting "expert" mode? I
> > can only think of being able to do that one the command line.
>
> Is this question directed at Richard?
I directed that to you (Brian) because you wrote the immediately
previous. But I think the intention of expert install mode is to
present all of the options for detailed configuration.
> > For example I can select the boot option:
> >
> > expert console-keymaps-at/keymap=us locale=en_US interface=auto hostname=junk domain=example.com auto url=http://localweb/debian/preseed-all-regular-atomic-kvm.cfg --
> >
> > Then because it is an expert install it presents the expert install
> > menu. I can then choose to configure the keyboard because that is one
> > of the expert installation options. I think that is separate from
> > whether the right question is preseeded or not. If I do a normal
> > installation with:
>
> Now I am very confused. Firstly, is "expert" a command line option? I am
> unable to find a reference to it. Secondly, console-keymaps-at/keymap=us
> on the command line means the keyboard question is not asked. This is
> irrespective of the priority.
Let me clarify. Boot an installation image. In Squeeze there will be
a graphics image with a Debian swirl, a rocketship and options,
"Install", "Advanced options...", "Help", "ENTER", "TAB". ENTER
selects "Install" for booting. TAB shows you the command line that
would be booted if you were to hit ENTER. With TAB you can edit the
command line. (ESC returns to the menu.)
Press Down-Arrow to "Help". Observe the help message, "Display help
screens; type 'menu' at the boot prompt to return to this menu."
Press ENTER to select it. Press F3 to select "Boot methods for
special ways of using this netboot image". Observe that at the bottom
of the screen is "Press F2 through F10 for details, or ENTER to boot:
_" and it is sitting at a command line. You can type in a full
command line manually. The help hint says that two
boot methods are available:
install
Start the installation -- this is the default netboot image install.
expert
Start the installation in expert mode, for maximum control.
So ENTER will default to "install". Typing in "expert" will default
to the expert install. Probably set up as an alias expansion
internally.
Press F1 through F10 and read all of the help pages available. In
general good general stuff to know.
Type in "menu" and ENTER to return to the original graphical menu.
Type TAB at the Install menu. Observe that the boot command line for
this is this. (ESC returns to the menu.)
debian-installer/amd64/linux vga=788 initrd=debian-installer/amd64/initrd.gz -- quiet
Press Down-Arrow to "Advanced options..." menu. ENTER to select it.
New menu appears with "Back...", "Expert install", "Rescue mode",
"Automated install", "Alternative desktop environments...".
Press Down-Arrow to "Expert install". If you hit ENTER you will be
booting the installer into "expert" mode. It is a more detailed
interface with more installation options presented. If you press TAB
you will see the boot options. (ESC returns to the menu.)
debian-installer/amd64/linux priority=low vga=788 initrd=debian-installer/amd64/initrd.gz --
Repeating for "Rescue mode" shows:
debian-installer/amd64/linux vga=788 initrd=debian-installer/amd64/initrd.gz rescue/enable=true -- quiet
And again for "Automated install" shows:
debian-installer/amd64/linux auto=true priority=critical vga=788 initrd=debian-installer/amd64/initrd.gz rescue/enable=true -- quiet
Note that options after the -- part will be copied into the target
system's boot options. That is apparently how "quiet" is propagated
to the target system. (Although I haven't tried it yet without to see
if that causes it to disappear. At this time I think it should.)
Doing this exercise explicitly was good for me because it showed me
that I was probably using "expert ..." line in my previous message
incorrectly. Probably close enough. But expert I expect now expanded
to be the expert line above and then my additional options were after
it on the command line. I should have done:
debian-installer/amd64/linux priority=low vga=788 initrd=debian-installer/amd64/initrd.gz console-keymaps-at/keymap=us locale=en_US interface=auto hostname=junk domain=example.com auto url=http://localweb/debian/preseed-all-regular-atomic-kvm.cfg --
Note that the above is getting very close to 255 characters which I
recall being a command line limit. Beware and keep the number of
chars below the limit.
And so as to your question the above is what I was referring to when I
was talking about the "expert" command line boot string. And the
above is how I extract it from the bootable image.
The above was all from the Squeeze bootable ISO netinst image. On my
network I have set up a PXE network bootable image based upon it and
so can boot a VM using PXE and can simulate the installation in a
virtual machine. Additionally I can use the "virt-install" to create
a VM and install without PXE booting using the --location option and
the --extra-args option to pass modified versions of the above to the
boot image. Since it is a little different let me show that I am using:
--location http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/squeeze/main/installer-amd64/ \
--extra-args "console=ttyS,9600n8 initrd=debian-installer/amd64/initrd.gz console-keymaps-at/keymap=us locale=en_US interface=auto hostname=$name domain=$domain auto url=http://localweb/debian/preseed-all-regular-atomic-kvm.cfg";
Hope that helps to clarify things a little. It was good for me to
walk through all of the screens and options again so that they were
fresh in my mind again.
Bob
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