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  • preseed.cfg, remastered ISOs and checksum issues

    From Adam Baxter@21:1/5 to All on Fri Sep 27 07:30:01 2024
    Hi,
    I'm sure I'm doing something wrong here but I'm seeing errors I've never seen before.

    I'm rebuilding https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/installer-amd64/current/images/cdrom/mini.iso using something along the lines of

    sed -i '1s/^/timeout=1\n/' boot/grub/grub.cfg
    sed -i '1s/^/default=0\n/' boot/grub/grub.cfg
    sed -i "s/--- quiet/auto file=\/cdrom\/preseed.cfg DEBCONF_DEBUG=5 language=en country=AU locale=en_AU.UTF-8 keymap=us/" boot/grub/grub.cfg

    xorriso -indev mini.iso -outdev mini.mod.iso -map boot /boot -map preseed.cfg /preseed.cfg -boot_image any efi_path='/boot/grub/efi.img

    So the boot parameters are:
    vga=788 auto file=/cdrom/preseed.cfg DEBCONF_DEBUG=5 language=en country=AU locale=en_AU.UTF-8 keymap=us

    This results in the following error:
    The file needed for preconfiguration could not be retreived from file:///cdrom/preseed.cfg. The installation will proceed in non-automated mode

    If I change it to file=preseed.cfg I get
    The checksum of the file retrieved from <preseed.cfg> fails to match the expected value of "". The file may be corrupt, or the provided checksums may be out of date

    Note that https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/apbs02.en.html says that the checksum is *optional*

    The other issue I can see is that if I get into a shell, preseed.cfg is not at /, or /cdrom or /media

    I'll try adding it to the initrd as a workaround but I thought remastering the ISO was supposed to be an option, too.

    Thanks,
    Adam

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Adam Baxter@21:1/5 to All on Fri Sep 27 10:50:01 2024
    First mystery solved, /cdrom/ isn't mounted when using mini.iso.
    I still think there's a bug here, if not in the documentation, then in preseed.sh - the error message should be about not being able to find preseed.cfg, not about the checksum.

    --Adam

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Daniel Leidert@21:1/5 to All on Fri Sep 27 15:30:01 2024
    Am Freitag, dem 27.09.2024 um 15:26 +1000 schrieb Adam Baxter:
    Hi,
    I'm sure I'm doing something wrong here but I'm seeing errors I've
    never seen before.

    I'm rebuilding https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/installer-amd64/current/images/cdrom/mini.iso
     using something along the lines of

    sed -i '1s/^/timeout=1\n/' boot/grub/grub.cfg
    sed -i '1s/^/default=0\n/' boot/grub/grub.cfg
    sed -i "s/--- quiet/auto file=\/cdrom\/preseed.cfg DEBCONF_DEBUG=5 language=en country=AU locale=en_AU.UTF-8 keymap=us/"
    boot/grub/grub.cfg
    [..]
    So the boot parameters are:
    vga=788 auto file=/cdrom/preseed.cfg DEBCONF_DEBUG=5 language=en
    country=AU locale=en_AU.UTF-8 keymap=us

    This results in the following error:
    The file needed for preconfiguration could not be retreived from file:///cdrom/preseed.cfg. The installation will proceed in non-
    automated mode
    [..]
    I'll try adding it to the initrd as a workaround but I thought
    remastering the ISO was supposed to be an option, too.

    As you have already found, there is no /cdrom with mini.iso. The
    solution I use is to put the preseed-file (and all other additional
    files) into a _separate_ initrd called preseed.gz, put that initrd onto
    the disk, and use

    vga=788 [kernel options] file=/preseed.cfg [preseed options] initrd=initrd.gz,preseed.gz

    for txt.cfg and adtxt.cfg and in boot.cfg use something like

    [..] /initrd.gz /preseed.gz [..]

    Personally, I found this to be the cleanest solution, and one doesn't
    have to change the original initrd.

    Regards, Daniel

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    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Adam Baxter@21:1/5 to All on Fri Sep 27 15:50:01 2024
    As you have already found, there is no /cdrom with mini.iso. The
    solution I use is to put the preseed-file (and all other additional
    files) into a _separate_ initrd called preseed.gz, put that initrd onto
    the disk, and use

    vga=788 [kernel options] file=/preseed.cfg [preseed options] initrd=initrd.gz,preseed.gz

    Many thanks for that, I didn't even know that was supported - this should be documented.

    I haven't been able to get any more info out of preseed.sh, I still think there's a bug there and improvements to be made in both the error handling and error messages.

    Regards,
    Adam

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Adam Baxter@21:1/5 to All on Sat Sep 28 10:50:01 2024
    For the sake of completeness, the URL in my original email should have been https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/mini.iso.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)