Date: Fri, 20 Aug 2010 19:28:56 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Re: [alpine-devel] Unattended Installation Ideas for 2.1
From: "Matt Smith" <mcs@darkregion.net>
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On Friday, August 20, 2010 7:35am, "Natanael Copa" <ncopa@alpinelinux.org> =
said:=0A> On Thu, 2010-08-19 at 05:03 -0500, Matt Smith wrote:=0A>> On Wedn=
esday, August 18, 2010 9:54am, "Natanael Copa" <ncopa@alpinelinux.org>=0A>>=
 said:=0A>> > On Fri, 2010-08-13 at 22:12 -0500, Matt Smith wrote:=0A=0A...=
=0A>> After that, all we would need to do is check either=0A>> /media/cdrom=
/unattended or /media/usb/unattended for the main script.=0A> =0A> or we co=
uld have a boot param: ua=3Dusb:/unattended=0A> =0A> With fedora you have '=
ks' (for kickstart) and you can specify what=0A> devices to search + a patc=
h to the kickstart file.=0A=0AYeah, that sounds good.=0A=0A>> (Perhaps /med=
ia/alpine should be created to point to the install/LiveCD=0A>> media, whet=
her its a CD or USB stick. =C2=A0Then for instance, the APK repositories=0A=
>> file, among others, won't have to be altered from one media type to the =
other.)=0A> =0A> I like this idea.=0A(Kept above text for reference because=
 it's on-point with the previous idea above.)=0A=0A...=0A> I wonder if we w=
ant preseeds, or answer files to the setup script(s)=0A> with optional scri=
pting hooks.=0A> =0A> something like, unattended.conf (sa=3Dsetup-alpine fo=
r example) :=0A> =0A> sa_keyboard=3Dno=0A> sa_hostname=3Dalpine=0A> sa_net_=
eth0_type=3Dstatic=0A> =0A> # uncomment row below to avoid prompting user=
=0A> #sa_net_eth0_address=3D192.168.8.1/24=0A> =0A> sa_net_eth1_type=3Ddhcp=
=0A> =0A> post_hook=3D"echo 'install is done. will reboot in 10 sec' && sle=
ep 10 && reboot"=0A> =0A> ...etc=0A> =0A> Maybe lua is a better language fo=
r that. IIRC i wrote some experiments=0A> for that some time ago. I wonder =
where that code went.=0A> =0A...=0A>> On the other hand, perhaps the user c=
ould simply use "expect" to answer=0A>> any and all prompts that are normal=
ly available for things such as=0A>> setup-disk and setup-keymap. =C2=A0I'm=
 not sure which package "expect" is in,=0A>> if it's even available yet?=0A=
> =0A> I dont think it is. I saw some expect-like utility that was a bit=0A=
> smaller and simpler.=0A> =0A> I still would prefer a preseed.conf or unat=
tended.conf file over=0A> scripts.=0A=0AI can tell that you're big on the i=
dea of doing a preseed or some type of=0Aconfig file. =C2=A0My issue with t=
hat is, and hear me out: even if all of the=0Acustom variables are well-doc=
umented on the wiki, the user still has to=0Alook up the documentation to f=
igure out how to do something that's=0Arelatively simple (e.g., what variab=
le format and its syntax will allow me=0Ato do X). =C2=A0To be fair, I don'=
t mind how ArchLinux does their rc.conf.=0AGranted that such an implementat=
ion would bring a certain level of sanity=0Ato the table, I fear that it al=
so limits the user to what the unattended=0Ainstall would otherwise be capa=
ble of.=0A=0AIf you like the free-form idea a little more now, what if we i=
nstead=0Aprovided both implementations to the user?=0A=0AThe free-form idea=
 would be easier to implement and I think advanced users=0Awould appreciate=
 it. =C2=A0It should at least get us started quicker (and=0Aeventually towa=
rds working on a preseeded answers method).=0A=0A...=0A> So, we have the ki=
ck-in mechanism more or less worked out. Some=0A> questions remains. What d=
o we call the beast? alpine-setup? auto-setup?=0A> unattended-setup? kickst=
art? (redhats)=0A=0AWhat about Alpine Unattended Setup (AUS), or Alpine Lin=
ux Unattended Setup (ALUS)?=0AI kinda like AUS.=0A=0A> We should probably m=
ake a service that is triggered if the boot param is=0A> found (from initra=
mfs) so it is kicked in before login prompt.=0A=0ASounds good.=0A=0A> Now, =
the real question is, how do we do the auto-answer on setup=0A> scripts. I'=
d like have that part working before we write any code that=0A> triggers it=
.=0A=0AAs for the free-form idea, I say we recommend either "expect" or a s=
impler=0Aversion of "expect". =C2=A0Simple reason being that without a larg=
e amount of=0Aeffort, and even then, it's largely impossible to provide an =
"accept the=0Adefaults" option for anything and everything the user might w=
ant to use=0Aduring the unattended install.=0A=0A- Matt Smith



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