[20:43] <mercury00_> Hello all. I'm having a problem with my preseeds being ignored.
[20:44] <mercury00_> specifically, when I set d-i console-setup/ask_detect boolean false I still get asked about my keyboard layout.
[20:45] <mercury00_> other preseed options seem to work. Any idea why the keyboard option is being ignored?
[20:49] <CarlFK> mercury00_: maybe... sec... checking sometohing...
[20:49] <mercury00_> Thanks
[20:52] <CarlFK> mercury00_: looking at my net boot preseed, looks like there was a time when that needed to be passed as a parameter because the installer wanted to use the setting before it had read the file
[20:52] <CarlFK> 	append initrd=ubuntu/natty/amd64/initrd.gz root=/dev/rd/0 rw  locale=en_US keyboard-configuration/layoutcode=us  console-setup/layoutcode=us console-setup/ask_detect=false  netcfg/wireless_wep= netcfg/choose_interface=eth0 netcfg/get_hostname=  apt-setup/proposed=true DEBCONF_DEBUG=5 SHAZ=g2a tasks="ubuntu-desktop"  -- vga=6
[20:52] <CarlFK> https://github.com/CarlFK/veyepar/blob/master/setup/nodes/pxe/shaz/var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default#L139
[20:52] <mercury00_> Ah, I see, my preseed isn't being read until after that step,
[20:52] <CarlFK> but that was natty, and after that I stopped using it
[20:52] <CarlFK> maybe.  that would be my first guess
[20:53] <mercury00_> I'll update all the netboot options and see if that fixes it. I've tried everything but that, dumped more preseed keyboard options into the preseed than everything else combined trying to get it to stop asking
[20:55] <CarlFK> well.. if you are doing netboot, I would compare your files to mine
[20:56] <CarlFK> 	append initrd=ubuntu/vivid/amd64/initrd.gz root=/dev/rd/0 rw auto=true  netcfg/wireless_wep= interface=auto hostname= netcfg/dhcpv6_timeout=5  DEBCONF_DEBUG=5 url=g2a tasks="ubuntu-desktop" -- vga=6
[20:56] <CarlFK> hmm, what does auto=true do?
[21:10] <mercury00_> I don't have auto=true, so I'mnot sure,
[21:13] <mercury00_> next question, whenever I get to the partitioner it asks what method I want to choose; I can't seem to "preseed" that I want to manually parition it interactively. It always prsents a bunch of options to choose including "manual",
[21:14] <mercury00_> anyone know if that's a setting I can preseed /without/ preseeding a recipe or actual manual partition layout?
[21:15] <mercury00_> that is, I'm hoping to simply skip the step that asks if I want guided paritioning, and just go straight to manual partitioning, without necessarily preseeding the partition scheme itself
[21:15] <mercury00_> my attempts so far have merely given me "no root device specified" error that can't be backed out of or fixed except by rebooting
[21:23] <mercury00_> I'll keep investigating that one if nobody else know, but my most important question is, how do I get partman to always use GPT? It always demands on partitioning everything MBR right now, with or without a preseed file, so seems like the default behavior. How do I even access an option to /not/ create a MBR table, and use a GPT instead?
[21:24] <mercury00_> I know if the disk is /already/ GPT, it handles it fine, so there must be a way to get partman to use GPT in the first place?
[21:24] <mercury00_> ...and put the option in a preseed file too
[21:31] <CarlFK> sorry, I fumble with the manual partitioning thing too.    But I only use that once or twice a year - the rest of the time auto so I haven't put much more time into it
[21:31] <CarlFK> and no clue about gpt.
[22:02] <mercury00_> I wish there was some actual documentation for preseed debian installer. half of the things in the "documentation" I've implemented... don't actually work at all.
[22:04] <mercury00_> Is there a secret automated network installation tool I don't know about that everyone else uses? I'm curious because I'm happy to adopt whatever everyone else is using
[22:10] <mercury00_> The boot option to make auto_detect false worked, by the way; it didn't ask if I wanted to autodetect the keyboard. sadly it still asks what language and keyboard type, which I thought I already provided.
[22:12] <CarlFK> mercury00_:  I have been doing this for about 10 years, and hanging out on the #chan most of the time
[22:12] <CarlFK> I suggest setting up what I use: https://github.com/CarlFK/veyepar/blob/master/setup/nodes/pxe/README.txt
[22:13] <CarlFK> let me know if you are going to do that and I'll sync up my repo with what I am currently using
[22:16] <mercury00_> I'll take a look,
[22:23] <mercury00_> I just found FAI-project - maybe this is what people are using instead of d-i
[22:28] <cjwatson> mercury00_: always use GPT> d-i partman-partitioning/default_label string gpt
[22:28] <mercury00_> Yeah, I have that in my preseed; doesn't do anything though. still mbr.
[22:29] <cjwatson> mercury00_: then I would assume that the partition table already exists, in which case partman will not create a new one
[22:29] <mercury00_> what's interesting, is with that preseed, if I try to change the actual label of a partition itself, I have to select the option twice before I can,
[22:29] <cjwatson> (it may *populate* it, but that's different from actually creating a brand new partition table)
[22:30] <mercury00_> but without that preseed I can set the partition label without selecting the option twice; this makes me think that default_label has to do with the partition, rather than the disk
[22:30] <cjwatson> I implemented it, I can assure you it doesn't
[22:31] <cjwatson> I assume something else is going on to confound matters
[22:31] <mercury00_> Hmm, it doesn't create a partition table for me at all; and when I do create a parition table, it's still just MBR
[22:32] <cjwatson> I'm busy with 16.04 release prep right now, but if this were happening to me I would run a test install with DEBCONF_DEBUG=developer and search through the logs for default_label to confirm that the change was actually being applied
[22:32] <mercury00_> all my disks just show as unpartitioned when I get to that step, and I have d-i partman-partitioning/default_label string gpt and d-i partman-partitioning/default_label select gpt
[22:32] <cjwatson> setting both is useless
[22:33] <mercury00_> I know, but I'm grasping at straws trying to cover my bases to get this to work
[22:33] <cjwatson> basically just equivalent to setting the same thing twice, although strictly the proper type is "string"
[22:33] <cjwatson> DEBCONF_DEBUG=developer is a much less flaily way of getting useful data
[22:33] <cjwatson> it'll spit out a trace of all debconf activity to the installer syslog
[22:33] <mercury00_> I'll try that, I assume I just read the template and questions dat files then?
[22:34] <cjwatson> you can then extract that and grep through syslog for what it's doing
[22:34] <cjwatson> either using "save debug logs" from the installer main menu, or by running "anna-install openssh-client-udeb" and then scping /var/log/syslog somewhere else
[22:35] <mercury00_> ah, I preseed the rest of the boot so don't get to select save debug logs on the main menu
[22:36] <mercury00_> I have an ssh-enabled installer I can use for that, I'll try it now
[22:37] <mercury00_> DEBCONF_DEBUG=developer is a kernel option at boot then, right?
[22:38] <cjwatson> yep
[23:21] <mercury00_> sheesh. there's tons of stuff in this file.
[23:24] <cjwatson> Sure, it's a trace.
[23:24] <cjwatson> That's why I suggested searching :)
[23:27] <mercury00_> Ah, what am I looking for?
[23:28] <cjwatson> search through the logs for default_label to confirm that the change was actually being applied
[23:28] <cjwatson> but /me -> sleep
[23:32] <mercury00_> Ah, I didn't use the preseed