<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML> <HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV="CONTENT-TYPE" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <TITLE>Auto Install for Mandrakelinux</TITLE> <META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="OpenOffice.org 1.1.0 (Linux)"> <META NAME="AUTHOR" CONTENT="David Eastcott"> <META NAME="CREATED" CONTENT="20040221;10385500"> <META NAME="CHANGEDBY" CONTENT="David Eastcott"> <META NAME="CHANGED" CONTENT="20040502;8530300"> <META NAME="CLASSIFICATION" CONTENT="DrakX Auto Install Reference"> <META NAME="KEYWORDS" CONTENT="DrakX Autoinstall"> <STYLE> <!-- @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 1in } P { margin-left: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.08in; page-break-before: auto } P.western { font-size: 10pt; font-weight: medium } P.text-body-indent-western { margin-left: 0.2in; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: medium } P.text-body-indent-cjk { margin-left: 0.2in } P.text-body-indent-ctl { margin-left: 0.2in } H1 { margin-bottom: 0.08in; page-break-before: always } H1.western { font-family: "Times" } H1.cjk { font-family: "Mincho"; font-size: 16pt } H1.ctl { font-family: "Lucidasans"; font-size: 16pt } H2 { margin-bottom: 0.08in; page-break-before: auto } H2.western { font-family: "Times"; font-style: normal } H2.cjk { font-family: "Mincho"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic } H2.ctl { font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic } H3 { margin-bottom: 0.08in; page-break-before: auto } H3.western { font-family: "Times" } H3.cjk { font-family: "Mincho" } H4 { margin-left: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.08in; page-break-before: auto } H4.western { font-family: "Times"; font-style: normal } H4.cjk { font-family: "Mincho"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic } H4.ctl { font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic } TD P { margin-left: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.08in; page-break-before: auto } TD P.western { font-size: 10pt; font-weight: medium } TH P { margin-left: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.08in; page-break-before: auto } TH P.western { font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic } TH P.cjk { font-style: italic } TH P.ctl { font-style: italic } P.headings-special-western { margin-top: 0.3in; margin-bottom: 0.1in; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: bold; page-break-after: avoid } P.headings-special-cjk { margin-top: 0.3in; margin-bottom: 0.1in; page-break-after: avoid } P.headings-special-ctl { margin-top: 0.3in; margin-bottom: 0.1in; page-break-after: avoid } P.closecode-western { margin-left: 1in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: "Courier", monospace; font-size: 9pt; font-weight: medium } P.closecode-cjk { margin-left: 1in; margin-bottom: 0in } P.closecode-ctl { margin-left: 1in; margin-bottom: 0in } P.coderef-western { margin-left: 1in; margin-bottom: 0.08in; font-family: "Courier", monospace; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: medium } P.coderef-cjk { margin-left: 1in; margin-bottom: 0.08in } P.coderef-ctl { margin-left: 1in; margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> </STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#840084" ALINK="#0000FF"> <TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0"> <TR><TH COLSPAN="3" ALIGN="CENTER"> Auto Install for Mandrakelinux</TH></TR><TR> <TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="BOTTOM"> <A HREF="index.html">Prev</A></TD><TD WIDTH="80%" ALIGN="CENTER" VALIGN="BOTTOM"></TD> <TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="BOTTOM"> <A HREF="section2.html">Next</A></TD></TR></TABLE><HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"> <H1 CLASS="western" STYLE="page-break-before: always"><A NAME="Introduction"></A> Introduction</H1> <H2 CLASS="western"><A NAME="Summary"></A>Summary</H2> <P CLASS="western">The Mandrakelinux<FONT FACE="Times, serif">™</FONT> Distribution provides a facility, DrakX, which allows for the automated installation on to computers that you use or manage.</P> <P CLASS="western">The DrakX graphic installer has the capability of being used in the both interactive and automated modes. This document deals specifically with it's automated capability.</P> <P CLASS="western">Automated Installation is intended for situations where the same 'Install' set is to be placed on multiple computers. This can be a substantial time saver for anyone. More importantly, the automation means that you do not have to sit in front of each computer filling in the blanks, picking this and that and hoping that you remember the selections you chose the previous time.</P> <P CLASS="western">As a side benefit, it can be used as an emergency backup to re-install the same packages and basic configuration data on a computer that failed, lost everything and your normal back-ups can not be used to restore the computer.</P> <P CLASS="western">I am sure that there are more reasons to use the automated features, but that's your experiment. Me, I was just tired of having to remember what I installed the last time. Also, this document provides me with the opportunity to give back to the Linux community something in kind.</P> <P CLASS="western">The following sections will provide an overview of the process, details regarding the Install disks and the configuration files which drive the installation process.</P> <H2 CLASS="western"><A NAME="Copyrights_Trademarks_Credits"></A>Copyrights, Trademarks, Credits</H2> <P CLASS="western"><B>Copyright © 2002,2003,2004</B> by David Eastcott.</P> <P CLASS="western">Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".</P> <P CLASS="western"><B>Trademarks</B> are the property of their respective owners.</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0.6in">Mandrakelinux<FONT FACE="Times, serif">™</FONT> is trademark of MandrakeSoft S.A.</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0.6in"><BR><BR> </P> <P CLASS="western"><B>Credits:</B> The Staff at MandrakeSoft for providing this capability.</P> <P CLASS="western">This document is based on the original DrakX documents provided by MandrakeSoft.</P> <P CLASS="western">Special thanks to Pixel and Guillaume Cottenceau at MandrakeSoft for their suggestions, corrections, insight and patience.</P> <P CLASS="western"><BR><BR> </P> <H2 CLASS="western" STYLE="page-break-before: always"><A NAME="Conventions_Used_in_this_Document"></A> Conventions Used in this Document</H2> <P CLASS="western"><BR><BR> </P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0.15in">This document presents information in different ways in an attempt to differentiate between regular text and text which has special meaning or usage. The following table illustrates the various text forms: </P> <TABLE WIDTH=847 BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=0 CELLSPACING=0> <COL WIDTH=296> <COL WIDTH=552> <TR VALIGN=TOP> <TD WIDTH=296 HEIGHT=83> <P CLASS="western">This is regular text</P> </TD> <TD WIDTH=552> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in">General text used through out this document. Those of you viewing the HTML forms of this document can change this font to one you prefer through your browsers settings. The use of <B>Bold</B> and <I>Italic</I> have been minimized but are used to provide emphasis in the text you are reading.</P> </TD> </TR> <TR VALIGN=TOP> <TD WIDTH=296 HEIGHT=65> <P CLASS="western"><FONT FACE="Courier, monospace">/root/drakx/</FONT></P> </TD> <TD WIDTH=552> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in">A mono-spaced font is used to represent any text which you would see in a text file or could be expected to type at a command line. Including directories, file names and commands.</P> </TD> </TR> <TR VALIGN=TOP> <TD WIDTH=296 HEIGHT=30> <P CLASS="western"><A HREF="#New_Versions"><B><I>New Versions</I></B></A></P> </TD> <TD WIDTH=552> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in">Hyper-link to sections within the scope of this document.</P> </TD> </TR> <TR VALIGN=TOP> <TD WIDTH=296> <P CLASS="western"><A HREF="http://www.mandrakesoft.com/"><B><I>http://www.mandrakesoft.com</I></B></A></P> </TD> <TD WIDTH=552> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in">Hyper-link to web sites on the internet. Since this document is available in non-web page form I have tried to minimize the use of hyper-links which do not explicitly contain the URL to external web sites.</P> </TD> </TR> <TR VALIGN=TOP> <TD WIDTH=296 HEIGHT=83> <P CLASS="western"><FONT FACE="Courier, monospace"><SPAN STYLE="background: #e6e6ff">kernel vmlinuz<BR>append kickstart=...</SPAN></FONT></P> </TD> <TD WIDTH=552> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in">Text with a Light Blue background is used to indicate the contents (fragments too) of text found in the <FONT FACE="Courier, monospace">isolinux.cfg</FONT>, <FONT FACE="Courier, monospace">menu.lst</FONT>, <FONT FACE="Courier, monospace">syslinux.cfg</FONT> and <FONT FACE="Courier, monospace">auto_inst.cfg</FONT> files. For those of you reading a paper copy, it will probably be difficult to distinguish between blue and grey.</P> </TD> </TR> <TR VALIGN=TOP> <TD WIDTH=296 HEIGHT=65> <P CLASS="western"><FONT FACE="Courier, monospace"><SPAN STYLE="background: #e6e6e6">#!/bin/bash<BR>#</SPAN></FONT></P> </TD> <TD WIDTH=552> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in">Text with a Light Grey background is used to indicate the contents of other files, predominantly Bash/Perl Scripts but may include file fragments which are illustrating the use of concepts presented in the document.</P> </TD> </TR> <TR VALIGN=TOP> <TD WIDTH=296> <P CLASS="western"><BR> </P> </TD> <TD WIDTH=552> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in"><BR> </P> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0.15in">The following Icons are used to provide special emphasis regarding the text to its immediate right:</P> <TABLE WIDTH=847 BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=0 CELLSPACING=0> <COL WIDTH=123> <COL WIDTH=724> <TR VALIGN=TOP> <TD WIDTH=123> <IMG SRC="AutoInstall-10.0.3_html_1412bb95.png" NAME="Graphic74" ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH=30 HEIGHT=30 BORDER=0><BR CLEAR=LEFT> <P CLASS="western"><BR> </P> </TD> <TD WIDTH=724> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in">Indicates that the text is providing important clarification or information and should be examined closely.</P> </TD> </TR> <TR VALIGN=TOP> <TD WIDTH=123> <IMG SRC="AutoInstall-10.0.3_html_m199b468e.png" NAME="Graphic75" ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH=29 HEIGHT=28 BORDER=0><BR CLEAR=LEFT> <P CLASS="western"><BR> </P> </TD> <TD WIDTH=724> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in">Indicates something that you should <B>NOT</B> do, or at least be very certain that you understand the consequences if you do.</P> </TD> </TR> <TR VALIGN=TOP> <TD WIDTH=123> <IMG SRC="AutoInstall-10.0.3_html_47a00522.png" NAME="Graphic76" ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH=30 HEIGHT=30 BORDER=0><BR CLEAR=LEFT> <P CLASS="western"><BR> </P> </TD> <TD WIDTH=724> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in">Indicates that the text is describing optional information which is outside the scope of this document and that you may find useful.</P> </TD> </TR> <TR VALIGN=TOP> <TD WIDTH=123> <IMG SRC="AutoInstall-10.0.3_html_m7a70bfe0.png" NAME="Graphic77" ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH=27 HEIGHT=30 BORDER=0><BR CLEAR=LEFT> <P CLASS="western"><BR> </P> </TD> <TD WIDTH=724> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in">Indicates something that would probably make your experience with the concepts in this document a bit more enjoyable.</P> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> <P CLASS="western"><BR><BR> </P> <H2 CLASS="western" STYLE="page-break-before: always"><A NAME="New_Versions"></A> New Versions</H2> <P CLASS="western">This document has been revised to conform with the capabilities of the <B>10.0</B> release. It is available in a number of formats, as an OpenOffice document, Adobe PDF (optimized for printing), HTML (both as a single file and multi-part hyper-linked) and PostScript.</P> <P CLASS="western">You can find this document on the Mandrakelinux<FONT FACE="Times, serif">™</FONT> web site at: </P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0.8in"><A HREF="http://www.linux-mandrake.com/drakx"><B><U><I>http://www.linux-mandrake.com/drakx</I></U></B></A><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration: none"> (th</SPAN>en look for the 'kickstart' link)</P> <P CLASS="western">or: </P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0.8in">For current HTML and PDF versions as I generate them or, for older versions and my small collection of related stuff you can visit:</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0.8in"><A HREF="http://members.shaw.ca/mandrake/"><B><I>http://members.shaw.ca/mandrake/</I></B></A></P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-top: 0.15in; margin-bottom: 0.08in">If you find an error or some feature I missed you can contact me by email at <A HREF="mailto:david@eastcott.net">david@eastcott.net</A>.</P> <H3 CLASS="western"><A NAME="New_Changes_in_this_Version"></A>New / Changes in this Version</H3> <TABLE WIDTH=847 BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=0 CELLSPACING=0 STYLE="page-break-before: auto"> <COL WIDTH=134> <COL WIDTH=109> <COL WIDTH=604> <TR VALIGN=TOP> <TD WIDTH=134> <P CLASS="western">10.0.3</P> </TD> <TD WIDTH=109> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in">2004-05-02</P> </TD> <TD WIDTH=604> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in">Adjustments:</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in">Change distribution name to Mandrakelinux<FONT FACE="Times, serif">™</FONT>.</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in"><A HREF="section8.html#Creating_a_Mastering_File_Set"><B><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration: none">Creating a Mastering File Set</SPAN></B></A>: added definition for second DVD.</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in"><A HREF="section8.html#A_Script_Based_Updater"><B><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration: none">A Script Based Updater</SPAN></B></A>: adjusted script to use <FONT FACE="Courier, monospace">find</FONT> instead of <FONT FACE="Courier, monospace">ls</FONT>, since large list of files breaks <FONT FACE="Courier, monospace">ls</FONT>.</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in"><A HREF="section8.html#Alternate_for_Creating_an_Updated_CD_Set"><B><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration: none">Alternate for Creating an Updated CD Set</SPAN></B></A>: adjusted script to create both DVDs.</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in"><BR> </P> </TD> </TR> <TR VALIGN=TOP> <TD WIDTH=134> <P CLASS="western">10.0.02</P> </TD> <TD WIDTH=109> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in">2004-03-12</P> </TD> <TD WIDTH=604> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in">Adjustments:</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in"><A HREF="#Conventions_Used_in_this_Document"><B><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration: none">Conventions Used in this Document</SPAN></B></A><B>: </B> added description.</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in"><A HREF="section2.html#Installation_Methods"><B><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration: none">Installation Methods</SPAN></B></A><B>:</B> added a description for the HD_Grub boot diskette and some minor editorial things.</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in"><A HREF="section2.html#Contents_of_the_HD_Grub_Boot_Diskette"><SPAN STYLE="background: transparent"><B><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration: none"><FONT COLOR="#000080">Contents of the HD_Grub Boot Diskette</FONT></SPAN></B></SPAN></A><B>: </B> added description.</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in"><A HREF="section3.html#Anatomy_of_the_Boot_Loader_Configuration_Files"><B><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration: none">Anatomy of the Boot Loader Configuration Files</SPAN></B></A><B>:</B> replaces the section title <B>Anatomy of the 'syslinux.cfg' and 'isolinux.cfg' Files</B>, adjusted text to describe the three boot loader files in more detail.</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in"><A HREF="section4.html#Anatomy_of_the_auto_instcfg_File"><B><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration: none">Anatomy of the 'auto_inst.cfg' File</SPAN></B></A><B>:</B></P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0.2in; font-weight: medium"> <A HREF="section4-17.html#manualFstab"><B><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration: none">manualFstab</SPAN></B></A>: added 'toFormatCheck' and re-use partitions example.</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0.2in; font-weight: medium"> <A HREF="section4-24.html#partitions"><B><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration: none">partitions</SPAN></B></A>: added some options.</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0.2in"><A HREF="section4-29.html#services"><B><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration: none">services</SPAN></B></A><B>:</B> remove 'udev' service and add warning about getting services actually generated.</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0.2in"><A HREF="section4-33.html#useSupermount"><B><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration: none">useSupermount</SPAN></B></A><B>:</B> add 'magicdev' option description.</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in"><A HREF="section7.html#Scratch_Built_Auto_Install_Diskette"><B><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration: none">Scratch Built Auto Install Diskette</SPAN></B></A><B>:</B> added Grub Auto Install Diskette.</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in"><A HREF="section11.html#Problems_and_Issues"><B><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration: none">Problems and Issues</SPAN></B></A><B>:</B> add issues about the Community Release.</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in"><BR> </P> </TD> </TR> <TR VALIGN=TOP> <TD WIDTH=134> <P CLASS="western">10.0.01</P> </TD> <TD WIDTH=109> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in">2004-02-20</P> </TD> <TD WIDTH=604> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in">Adjustments:</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in"><A HREF="section2.html#Contents_of_the_Boot_CD-ROM_and_Diskette"><B><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration: none">Contents of the Boot CD-ROM and Diskette</SPAN></B></A><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration: none">: add</SPAN> test directory.</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in"><A HREF="section7.html#Network_Auto_Install_Diskette_Set"><B><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration: none">Network Auto Install Diskette Set</SPAN></B></A><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration: none">:</SPAN> remove Test Drive warning and adjust text for latest stage1 improvements.</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in"><A HREF="section7.html#Boot_CD-ROM_and_Auto_Install_Diskette"><B><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration: none">Boot CD-ROM and Auto Install Diskette:</SPAN></B></A> add note that the diskette can be both vfat or ext2.</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in"><A HREF="section11.html#Problems_and_Issues"><B><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration: none">Problems and Issues</SPAN></B></A>: remove Dual Diskette Network Install Hack.</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in">Total reformatting and cleanups for html versions.</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in"><BR> </P> </TD> </TR> <TR VALIGN=TOP> <TD WIDTH=134> <P CLASS="western">10.0.0</P> </TD> <TD WIDTH=109> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in">2004-02-15</P> </TD> <TD WIDTH=604> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in">Initial adjustments for 10.0:</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in"><B>Introduction</B>: introduce the 'boot.iso' solution and expand descriptions to include the contents of a CD-ROM created from the 'boot.iso' file.</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in"><B>Anatomy of the 'syslinux.cfg' and 'isolinux' Files</B>: added information for isolinux, added parameters proxy_host and proxy_port.</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in"><B>Anatomy of the 'auto_inst.cfg' File</B>: minor changes identified in the Options Summary table.</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in"><B>Advanced Features</B>: removed warning about IP-based Naming bug.</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in"><B>Scratch Built Auto Install Diskette</B>: adjusted and added sections for creating the Network Diskette Set and the Boot CD-ROM methods.</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in"><B>Creating an Updated Installation CD Set</B>: adjusted myCD.conf and a few minor script fixes.</P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="margin-left: 0in"><B>Problems and Issues</B>: updated with issues as of cooker 2004-02-14.</P> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> <P CLASS="western"><BR><BR> </P> <P CLASS="western"><BR><BR> </P> <P CLASS="western"><BR><BR> </P> <P CLASS="western" STYLE="page-break-before: always"><BR><BR> </P> <P CLASS="western"><BR><BR> </P> <HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"> <TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0"> <TR><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="index.html">Prev</A></TD><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="CENTER" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="index.html">Home</A></TD> <TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="section2.html">Next</A></TD></TR> <TR><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP">Table of Contents</TD> <TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="CENTER" VALIGN="TOP"> </TD> <TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP">Installation Methods</TD></TR></TABLE> </BODY> </HTML>