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Re: Disk partitioning phase of installation



On Mon 18 Oct 2021 at 11:07:05 -0500, David Wright wrote:

> On Sat 16 Oct 2021 at 18:47:25 (+0100), Brian wrote:
> > On Sat 16 Oct 2021 at 10:12:34 -0500, David Wright wrote:
> >
> > [Lots of snipping]
> >
> > > If you want to see a blow-by-blow example of the partitioner, you
> > > could revisit this post from a while back. IIRC the thread exercises
> > > most of the wrinkles that could occur if the user interface is
> > > misunderstood.
> > >
> > > https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2015/02/msg00153.html
> > >
> > > It's difficult to envisage a time when each and every d-i screen would
> > > be documented at this sort of level. I've no idea what the "limits" are
> > > of which you speak.
> >
> > The Installer Guide dots many i's and crosses many t's. However,
> > you yourself have  sent many fine text screeshots of the installer
> > in action to -user.(I have never found out how they were produced).
> >
> > One picture is worth..., etc. I wonder whether the Guide would
> > benefit from an appendix showing something similar.
>
> Expert install, step 1¹ is:
>
>   ┌────────────────────┤ [?] Load installer components from CD ├────────────────────┐
>   │                                                                                 │
>   │ All components of the installer needed to complete the install will be loaded   │
>   │ automatically and are not listed here. Some other (optional) installer          │
>   │ components are shown below. They are probably not necessary, but may be         │
>   │ interesting to some users.                                                      │
>   │                                                                                 │
>   │ Note that if you select a component that requires others, those components      │
>   │ will also be loaded.                                                            │
>   │                                                                                 │
>   │ Installer components to load:                                                   │
>   │        …    …    …    …    …    …    …    …    …    …    …    …                 │
>   │    [*] network-console: Continue installation remotely using SSH             ▒  │
>   │        …    …    …    …    …    …    …    …    …    …    …    …                 │
>   │                                                                                 │
>   │     <Go Back>                                                    <Continue>     │
>   │                                                                                 │
>   └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
>
> When you see the opportunity to execute this command, step 2 is:
>
>           ┌────────────────┤ [?] Debian installer main menu ├────────────────┐
>           │                                                                  │
>           │ Choose the next step in the install process:                     │
>           │                                                                  │
>           │  …    …    …    …    …    …    …    …    …                       │
>           │  Detect network hardware                                         │
>           │  Configure the network                                           │
>           │  Continue installation remotely using SSH ← I faked this line ²  │
>           │  Set up users and passwords                                      │
>           │  …    …    …    …    …    …    …    …    …                       │
>           │                                                                  │
>           └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
>
>   ┌────────────────┤ [!!] Continue installation remotely using SSH ├────────────────┐
>   │                                                                                 │
>   │ You need to set a password for remote access to the Debian installer. A         │
>   │ malicious or unqualified user with access to the installer can have disastrous  │
>   │ results, so you should take care to choose a password that is not easy to       │
>   │ guess. It should not be a word found in the dictionary, or a word that could be │
>   │ easily associated with you, like your middle name.                              │
>   │                                                                                 │
>   │ This password is only used by the Debian installer, and will be discarded once  │
>   │ you finish the installation.                                                    │
>   │                                                                                 │
>   │ Remote installation password:                                                   │
>   │                                                                                 │
>   │ _                                                                               │
>   │                                                                                 │
>   │ [ ] Show Password in Clear                                                      │
>   │                                                                                 │
>   │                                  <Continue>                                     │
>   │                                                                                 │
>   └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
>
> [ repeated]
>
>   ┌────────────────┤ [!!] Continue installation remotely using SSH ├────────────────┐
>   │                                                                                 │
>   │                                    Start SSH                                    │
>   │ To continue the installation, please use an SSH client to connect to the IP     │
>   │ address 192.168.1.xxx fe80::xxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx and log in as the "installer"    │
>   │ user. For example:                                                              │
>   │                                                                                 │
>   │    ssh installer@192.168.1.nnn                                                  │
>   │                                                                                 │
>   │ The fingerprint of this SSH server's host key is:                               │
>   │                                                                                 │
>   │ SHA256:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ³                            │
>   │                                                                                 │
>   │ Please check this carefully against the fingerprint reported by your SSH client.│
>   │                                                                                 │
>   │                                  <Continue> ⁴                                   │
>   │                                                                                 │
>   └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
>
> On another machine, in an xterm, step 3 is:
>
> $ ssh -o GlobalKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null installer@192.168.1.nnn
>
>   ┌────────────────────────────┤ [!!] Configuring d-i ├─────────────────────────────┐
>   │                                                                                 │
>   │ This is the network console for the Debian installer. From here, you may        │
>   │ start the Debian installer, or execute an interactive shell.                    │
>   │                                                                                 │
>   │ To return to this menu, you will need to log in again.                          │
>   │                                                                                 │
>   │ Network console option:                                                         │
>   │                                                                                 │
>   │                        Start installer                                          │
>   │                        Start installer (expert mode)                            │
>   │                        Start shell                                              │
>   │                                                                                 │
>   └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
>
> Continue to install, copy/pasting whichever screens you want.
> Note that with text, you can't record your responses selected
> by highlighting rather than by *.
>
> You can save time capturing the screens by executing   script   before
> running ssh, and then replaying the script through   col -b.
> (Some tidying up may be required.)
>
> ¹ To capture the earliest screens, one can just execute steps that
>   have already been completed.
> ² Once you've opened a remote installer, that command is never seen
>   again.
> ³ Despite the advice given above, there are occasions when installing
>   a newer version from an older system that the client might display
>   an out-of-date fingerprint.
> ⁴ Don't press continue unless you're going to, say, abort. One could
>   get very confused with several main menu instances.

The network-console is a brilliant d-i facility. I use it with three
headless machines on my local network. The screens you show are never
seen because of preseeding:

  d-i anna/choose_modules string network-console
  d-i network-console/password password xxxxx
  d-i network-console/password-again password xxxxx
  # network-console becomes available when a network connection is
  # established. This line ensures preseeding continues up to the
  # partitioning stage, which is done manually.
  d-i network-console/start select continue

"continue" does not cause any problem and takes me to the stage I
want to be at before logging into the installer with ssh. I had to
look up the ssh options you gave. Useful.

It took me a while to figure out that network-console is run within
a screen session. Changing console within d-i is done with Ctrl-A.

-- 
Brian.


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