/srv/irclogs.ubuntu.com/2008/08/28/#ubuntu-installer.txt

CIA-2console-setup: cjwatson * r77 ubuntu/debian/changelog: releasing version 1.25ubuntu300:11
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cjwatsonTheMuso: do you have something to take care of anna-installing dmraid-udeb when needed?01:51
cjwatsonTheMuso: dmraid promoted to main01:51
sorencjwatson: Unless something changes, that happens in disk-detect01:54
sorens/changes/changed/01:54
TheMusocjwatson: disk-detect does that.01:55
TheMusocjwatson: and thanks.01:55
TheMusosoren: Nothing has changed in terms of disk-detect not handling dmraid-udeb.01:59
soren-ETOOMANYNEGATIONS02:00
TheMusoheh02:06
TheMusobasically no it hasn't changed.02:06
sorenOk, got it :)02:26
cjwatsonok, thanks06:43
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abli_Hi! I am trying to make a custom ubuntu installer with preseeding. The problem is that some of my preseeds are being ignored (or they are wrong): for example, I have "d-i mirror/http/hostname string local_machine:9999"  in the preseed file, but I still get asked for the mirror. (local_machine is the domain name of a local machine which runs approx (apt proxy). Any ideas?)11:44
abli_also: does the order of lines in the preseed file matter?12:00
abli_In general, why don't the preseed lines mentioned in https://help.ubuntu.com/8.04/installation-guide/i386/preseed-contents.html work? (I am using http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/hardy-updates/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/mini.iso as a base)13:30
cjwatsonabli_: so how are you feeding the preseed file to the installer?13:55
cjwatsonand exactly which question do you get asked? (a transcription of the question text would be best)13:55
OmahnHello. I'm using PXE boot to install Hardy from a local mirror. Recently it's stop working, stopping with a 'Failed to load installer component: Loading apt-mirror-setup failed for unknown reasons' message. Has anyone any experience with this or how to debug?14:43
cjwatsonOmahn: update your installer image to the one in hardy-updates14:52
OmahnThat's funny. I was just reading your comments in Launchpad saying the same thing.. :-)14:55
OmahnTrying it now..14:55
OmahnPhew! Thanks, works perfectly now. I was starting to sweat a bit.. giving a demo of our Ubuntu/puppet build to try and get Ubuntu officially supported in our organisation..15:06
cjwatsonsorry about that bug, it was one of those things that intrinsically only showed up after release15:07
OmahnNo problems at all, it's nice to actually get to speak to one of the devs directly rather than through a call centre.15:07
Omahncjwatson: On a slightly different note, do you know if Canonical offers educational pricing on their support contracts?15:09
cjwatsonI don't; Canonical tends to insulate its developers from having to care about pricing details :)15:09
OmahnNo problem :-)15:10
cjwatsonhttp://forms.canonical.com/dashboard/survey/response.jsp seems to be the, er, canonical way to find out15:10
Omahn(filling that out, right now)15:11
abli_cjwatson, I put it in the cd image and pass the filename in isolinux.cfg as a boot parameter. Some preseed settings _are_ apparently being used, for example I am not asked for the keyboard configuration (which my preseed file also contains)16:20
abli_The first question I am asked is to okay the hostname, and the second "Choose a mirror of the Ubuntu archive" (by country, in the installer one long list of countries with "United States" set default and "enter information manually" at top.)16:24
cjwatsonyou may have to put some of those things on the kernel command line instead16:24
cjwatsone.g. netcfg/get_hostname=foobar16:24
cjwatsonthe installation guide does say some stuff about this16:25
cjwatson12:00 <abli_> also: does the order of lines in the preseed file matter?16:25
cjwatsonit does not matter; think of it as setting lots of variables and then setting the whole thing going16:25
cjwatsonby the same token, if you try to set the same question twice, the last one will win16:25
abli_cjwatson, thanks. Which "installation guide" are you talking about? I am trying to follow https://help.ubuntu.com/community/InstallCDCustomization  and using https://help.ubuntu.com/8.04/installation-guide/i386/preseed-contents.html for some preseed settings.16:26
cjwatsonI mean the latter16:27
cjwatsonsee e.g. the first paragraph of "Network configuration"16:28
cjwatsonand https://help.ubuntu.com/8.04/installation-guide/i386/preseed-using.html#preseed-bootparms for general advice16:28
abli_But that talks about "may use kernel command line instead of preseed file" and not "have to use kernel command line", right? My preseed file is on the CD, so having all settings in one file, instead of some in the preseed file and some on the kernel command line would be nicer.16:30
abli_Also, why doesn't "d-i netcfg/get_hostname string test-machine" work from the preseed file, if "netfg/get_hostname" works from the kernel commandline?16:32
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abli_I think the preseed-contents.htm is not fully up-to-date: for example, it mentiones"d-i partman...." lines for preseeding the partitioner, but if I do an install, and then dump the debconf settings, I see "partman partman-auto...." lines being used. Is "d-i partman..." the correct one? (I couldn't get partitioning preseeded either way, not even for a "fully automatic use whole disk" setup)16:36
cjwatsonsorry, you can't put all of them in one file even if they're on the CD. The reason is that the installer doesn't actually have enough brain to read files off the CD until it's got a little way through the installation.16:43
abli_Putting " netcfg/get_hostname=foobar" on the kernel command line did solve the hostname-asking part. But how do I turn off dhcp? I have both "d-i netcfg/use_dhcp boolean false" and "d-i netcfg/disable_dhcp boolean true" but the installer still uses dhcp16:43
cjwatsonthe "may" equivocation is because the exact questions you have to put on the kernel command line vary depending on which installation method you're using.16:43
cjwatsonin other words, the preseed file isn't read until after netcfg runs, so setting netcfg questions in there is useless.16:44
cjwatson(in your installation method; not in others)16:44
cjwatson"d-i partman..." is correct16:44
cjwatsonnetcfg/disable_dhcp=true on the kernel command line16:45
cjwatsonI wouldn't recommend dumping the debconf database as a source of preseeding options, particularly not for partitioning. The advice in the installation guide is a much better source there16:46
abli_But I tried what the installation guide suggested and it didn't appear to work.16:47
abli_But back to the dhcp part: if I am using the netinstall mini.iso as a base, everything that preseed-contents.html would suggest to put in the preseed file as "d-i netcfg/.." I have to put in the kernel commandline?16:48
abli_Also, even thought I have "netcfg/disable_dhcp=true" on the kernel commandline, dhcp is still used by the installer16:50
cjwatsonre partitioning, I can perhaps help if I see the preseed file16:54
cjwatsonnetcfg: yes, the installation guide even says that explicitly16:54
abli_I am not _booting_ from the network. The way I interpret the installation guide, putting it in the kernel command line is only needed when booting from the network, not when using the netinst mini.iso (which, after all boots from the CD, so there is no reason the installer can't read the preseed file before running netcfg)16:57
cjwatsonthe thing that makes a difference is what the image was built for - that is, which particular installer components are built into the image16:58
cjwatsonif you use a netboot image, it doesn't matter whether you happen to boot it from the network or from its CD form factor16:58
cjwatsonplease just take my word for it?16:58
cjwatsonI'll be happy to try to get the installation guide clarified, and would appreciate a bug filed on the installation-guide package in Ubuntu for that specific issue (i.e. not clear enough about booting from network vs. booting a netboot image) to remind me16:59
cjwatsonthe reason that the installer can't read the preseed file before running netcfg is that the netboot installer image doesn't actually contain any CD drivers - it has to fetch them from the network17:00
cjwatsonbooting from the CD and getting Linux to understand the CD are two very different matters, often confused17:00
abli_ah. ok.17:01
abli_The preseed file: http://angel.elte.hu/~abeld/preseed17:01
cjwatsondisable_dhcp> interesting, I can't reproduce that. Perhaps you could add DEBCONF_DEBUG=developer to the kernel command line and get me the syslog (go back to installer main menu, select "save debug logs") so that I can investigate that17:01
cjwatsonlose those partman-auto preseeds, they're useless17:02
abli_ok.17:02
cjwatsonI mean the ones beginning partman-auto rather thand-i17:03
abli_yeah, ok.17:03
cjwatsonif you have more than one disk then you'll need to preseed partman-auto/disk17:03
abli_I only want to automate the "install to the whole disk" (i.e. the most trivial installation), so it should work17:04
cjwatsonas the guide says:17:05
cjwatson# Alternatively, you can specify a disk to partition. The device name must17:05
cjwatson# be given in traditional non-devfs format.17:05
cjwatson# For example, to use the first SCSI/SATA hard disk:17:05
cjwatsond-i partman-auto/disk string /dev/sda17:05
cjwatson# Note: If you want to use whatever disk is available, no matter17:05
cjwatson# what its device name, comment the line above out. This will only work if17:05
cjwatson# the system only has one disk.17:05
cjwatsonif you have more than one disk and leave out partman-auto/disk, then the preseeding will be ignored ...17:05
abli_Well, I have only one disk (actually I am only trying to automate installing in a kvm virtual machine so that I can debug/test other parts of the automatic installer faster.)  I'll try the disable_dhcp debugging in about an hour.17:08
abli_btw. can I preseed the "save debug logs" setting? :)17:13
cjwatsonyou can't preseed the process of dropping out and going back to the installer main menu at some point in the middle, no17:35
abli_cjwatson, ouch. So I can't create an "all debugs turned on" automatic install?17:36
abli_I submitted the documentation bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/installation-guide/+bug/26233017:48
cjwatsonyou only need the "save debug logs" bit if the installation fails part-way through17:53
cjwatsonif it succeeds, logs will automatically be saved in /var/log/installer/ on the target system17:53
cjwatsonand putting DEBCONF_DEBUG=developer provides a complete trace of most things17:53
cjwatsonputting that on the kernel command line, I mean17:53
abli_ok. so " DEBCONF_DEBUG=developer" is the setting I was looking for17:55
abli_The contents of /var/log/installer I uploaded to http://angel.elte.hu/~abeld/test-installer-logs/  The preseed file used is at http://angel.elte.hu/~abeld/preseed18:30
cjwatson"true" is spelt thus, not "tru".18:34
cjwatsonI don't think preseed/file is ever honoured in netboot installations. I'd suggest putting it somewhere network-accessible and using preseed/url instead.18:37
cjwatsonfurthermore, the CD is never mounted in an installation from a netboot image - you boot off it, but Linux never looks at it after that - so you couldn't use preseed/file=/cdrom/... anyway18:38
abli_woops. yes. I had a typo in isolinux.cfg18:38
abli_ok. that explains a lot.18:39
cjwatsonthere is an "initrd preseeding" mechanism that you can use if you absolutely have to have the preseed file on the CD you're using; it's documented in the installation guide, I think, and requires unpacking and rebuilding the installer image18:39
cjwatsonmost people find preseed/url easier18:39
abli_No, I'll just use preseed/url, thanks.18:39
abli_I'll also update the documentation bug to "note that preseed/file won't work with netboot"18:42
cjwatsonif you could file a separate bug for that, I'd appreciate it18:42
abli_ok.18:42
cjwatsondumping multiple problems into the one bug often causes problems later (for example if one bit gets fixed but the other doesn't), and generally makes things harder to track18:43
cjwatsonthe guide does actually sort of say that already, but only by omission18:43
abli_althought the two are sort-of related: one has to configure network before preseed/url can be read, so noting that preseed/file won't work with netboot image fixes the currently filed bug, too18:44
cjwatsonthe "if you're netbooting:", "if you're booting a remastered CD:", etc. bit18:44
cjwatsonI'd rather it were separate anyway, please18:44
cjwatsonit's much easier to merge bugs in Launchpad than it is to split them18:45
abli_where is that "if you are netbooting" part?18:45
abli_ok. seperate bug it is.18:45
cjwatsonin the "Loading the preconfiguration file" section18:45
cjwatsonlinked from https://help.ubuntu.com/8.04/installation-guide/i386/appendix-preseed.html18:45
abli_ah ok.18:46
cjwatsonoh, actually, that second bug would be invalid18:46
cjwatsonhttps://help.ubuntu.com/8.04/installation-guide/i386/preseed-intro.html already has a table saying that file preseeding isn't supported with netboot18:46
abli_ouch18:49
abli_I didn't even see that page... I started from https://help.ubuntu.com/community/InstallCDCustomization (which does link to it, but the link is a bit tucked away). So what really mislead me was that that page (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/InstallCDCustomization) only talks about 'full' CDs, i.e. non-netboot ones18:52
abli_Another problem: I am using preseed/url now, but even thought the preseed file contains "d-i mirror/http/directory string /ubuntu" it is somehow read by the installer as "(null)": In /var/log/syslog I get "debconf: <-- GET mirror/http/directory" and on the next line "debconf: <-- 0 (null)". And then it tries to wget "http://csik.elte.hu:9999(dist)/hardy/Release/" which, of course, fails. The preseed file is at http://angel.elte.hu/~abeld/preseed.cfg19:54
abli_I mean wget "http://csik.elte.hu:9999(null)/dists/hardy/Release/"20:00
abli_I have to go now, but if you have any idea about this mirror-directory setting, I'll read the logs tomorrow.20:11

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