[PLUG] [OT?] Setting up to do repetitive installs on ONE machine (cf BabelBox)

Richard Owlett rowlett at cloud85.net
Wed Aug 8 13:36:51 UTC 2012


MJang wrote:
> On Tue, 2012-08-07 at 05:40 -0500, Richard Owlett
>>
>> "Debian GNU/Linux Installation Guide" (particularly sections
>> 4&  5 and appendix B) give some indication that what I want
>> to do is feasible. BabelBox
>> {http://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller/BabelBox} indicates
>> that something quite _similar_ has been done.
>>
>>
>> Open questions about BabelBox and its suitability for my goals:
>
> Richard,
>
> I don't know BabelBox -- but assume it's some form of automated
> installation instructions similar to FAI or Red Hat's Kickstart.

BabelBox runs completely on a single machine. I gather from 
comments on the site that the original motivation Debian 
installs, perhaps at a show.


>
> In general, there are excellent reasons to set up a local repo based on
> available packages, and I think (it's been a few years) that one step is
> copying all Debian disks to a dedicated directory (which then can be
> shared via NFS/FTP/HTTP for local apt* installs/updates). You'll need to
> set up a database for those updates, I forget the apt* command that sets
> it up in some fashion, I gather the latest relates to the repropro
> package.
>
> As for the installs -- one option is to just mirror some "gold" minimal
> install, once you're satisfied with the config.

Part of my method/motivation is doing multiple installs. One 
result is refining my personal definition of an optimal 
install. It will also allow me to document a perceived 
glitch/bug/undocumented feature in the install procedure. 
It's possible the bug is the operator at the keyboard.

>
> I know that Ubuntu was working with Kickstart for some automated
> installs -- don't know if that has been ported back to Debian.

A Google search for "Ubuntu + Kickstart" gives an 
interesting initial hits, including one which apparently 
compares Kickstart's method and Debian's preseeding.

Thanks





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