Re: Testing netinstall, but use stable release?

[Rory Campbell-Lange <rory@campbell-lange.net>]

On 09/05/19, Rory Campbell-Lange (rory@campbell-lange.net) wrote:
> Hi David
> 
> On 08/05/19, David Christensen (dpchrist@holgerdanske.com) wrote:
> > On 5/8/19 10:32 AM, Rory Campbell-Lange wrote:
> > > I'm setting up some servers with A2SDi-8C-HLN4F motherboards with Intel
> > > x553 cards that require the ixgbe kernel module.
> > > 
> > > The latest stable netinstall image allows one to load the ixgbe module
> > > but the network interfaces aren't seen. However, the latest testing
> > > netinstall sees the network interfaces fine.
> > > 
> > > Is there a clever way of downgrading the installation to stable while
> > > keeping the testing kernel and associated ixgbe module?
> > 
> > It looks like Buster uses kernel 4.19.0:
> > 
> > https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=kernel&searchon=all&suite=testing&section=all
> > 
> > 
> > It looks like this kernel is available as a backport for Stretch:
> > 
> > https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=kernel&searchon=all&section=all&suite=stretch-backports
> > 
> > Assuming the ixgbe driver is bundled with kernel packages, I would try doing
> > a Stretch install and then installing the backported kernel.

This is a report-back in case anyone finds this thread suffering from
the same problem with Intel x553 which require recent ixgbe kernel
modules, wishing to install Debian stable.

Based on David's and Andy's advice (thank you both), I did the following:

* installed from testing netboot
* using expert mode to move to the 'stable' distribution
* choosing to add backports to the package list
* rebooting at the end of the install process into rescue mode
* installing the 4.19.0-0.bpo.4-amd64 from backports after mounting /,
  /boot and /boot/efi and re-running grub-install
  (I expect I could have done this without rebooting into rescue mode
   if I understood how to use apt-get during the installation process).

My complete setup was:

[/srv/tftp-testing]
cd /srv
mkdir tftp-testing
cd tftp-testing
wget http://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/testing/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/netboot.tar.gz
tar xzvf netboot.tar.gz
# not sure why this was necessary
ln -s ./debian-installer/amd64/bootnetx64.efi ./
cp -Rp ./debian-installer/amd64/grub ./
cd ../
chown -R nobody tftp-testing

[dnsmasq]
port=0
interface=eth4
dhcp-range=192.168.1.66,192.168.1.70,1h
# pxe-service=x86PC, "Install Linux", pxelinux
pxe-service=X86-64_EFI, "Install Linux bootnet", bootnetx64.efi
enable-tftp
tftp-root=/srv/tftp-testing/
log-queries
log-dhcp