Auto Install

for

Mandrake Linux

0.25

Introduction

Summary

The Mandrake Linux Distribution provides a facility which allows for the automated installation on to computers that you use or manage.

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.

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.

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.

I am sure that there 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.

The following sections will provide an overview of the process, details regarding the Install disks and the configuration file which drives the installation process.

Copyrights, Trademarks, Credits

Copyright © 2001 by David Eastcott.

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".

Trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Credits: Linux Mandrake and it's staff for providing this capability.

This document is based on the original DrakX documents provided by Mandrake Linux.

Special thanks to Pixel, Guillaume Cottenceau at Mandrake for the suggestions, corrections, insight and patience.

New Versions

This document has been revised to conform with the capabilities of the 8.0 release. There are numerous differences between the previous release's capabilities and 8.0's (More likely, I just noticed them).

This document can be found on the Mandrake Linux web site:

http://www.linux-mandrake.com/drakx/auto_inst.html

or:

At http://members.shaw.ca/mandrake/drakx/8.0/auto_install.html you will find the HTML version of this document.

And at http://members.shaw.ca/mandrake/drakx/8.0/auto_install.pdf you will find the PDF version.

If you find an error or some feature I missed you can contact me by email at david@eastcott.net

New / Changes in this version

0.2	2001-05-22	Re-wrote and updated for Mandrake Linux, Release 8.0
0.21	2001-05-27	Corrections, updates and added sections compssListLevel, compssUsersChoice, updated Scratch Built Auto Install Diskette, removed crypto.
0.22	2001-06-03	More corrections, updated Anatomy of 'syslinux.cfg', bootloader, security, services ...
0.23	2001-06-18	Formatting, bit of cleanup, corrections, spelling, Added section printer, Updated Problems and Issues, ...
0.24	2001-08-09	Fix code fragment formating for html, updated 'wacom', fixed some usb references, updated section Creating and Updated Installation CD Set,
0.25	2001-09-29	minor corrections.
		This will most likely be the last version of this document for Mandrake 8.0. Seeing as how 8.1 has been released.

Installation Methods

Overview

The Mandrake Linux distribution provides support for three basic automated methods:

Each has its benefits and of course, drawbacks.

CD-ROM based automation is portable. With a floppy diskette and the CD-ROM set, you can install the distribution on any computer any where that has a CD-ROM drive and a floppy disk drive.

Hard Disk based installation is more for those of you which have multiple disk drives installed in the target computer, one to hold the distribution file set and a second which will contain the installed system. This would most likely be used in situations where the computer dual boots Linux and other OS's. It is not very portable, but it does afford one the ability to install Linux without disturbing the existing OS.

Network based automation is where the flexibility of the Automated Installation process really shines. One computer holds the distribution file set, all the other computers only need network based access to the file set. Now I just carry a single disk about, insert it in the desired computer, push reset and go for coffee.

With the three options, NFS, FTP and HTTP, you can actually install files from one computer to another, anywhere in the world. However, there are performance and reliability issues which you will have to be prepared to deal with when accessing servers outside your own local world.

There are two presentation styles which may be employed for each of the methods:

The Fully Automated is the fastest since it only displays a simple set of messages indicating its progress.

The Replay approach generates a nice GUI presentation, very similar to the original install that you performed the first time (Manual Install).

Getting Started

The simplest approach is to perform a Manual Install, then generate the desired Auto Install diskette. The following are a brief set of steps to get started.

1. decide if you are going to perform a CD-ROM, Hard Disk or Network based install.

2. copy the contents of both CD-ROMs, or obtain the file set via ftp and:

a) For a Hard Disk, make sure that the Mandrake file set is present on one of the computers hard disks (partitions). Remember to retain the CD's directory hierarchy.

b) For network services, make sure the Mandrake file set is accessible on the server you want to use. (see section Setting up a Simple NFS Server). Remember to retain the CD's directory hierarchy.

3. Create a boot floppy disk using the appropriate image file:

See the images/README document for instructions on how to create the diskette. Also you will find additional / alternate images to use which may resolve situations for your particular equipment setup.

4. Boot the computer and perform the installation manually.

5. JUST before re-booting, select 'Generate an automatic install disk', then pick either 'Replay' or 'Automated'. This will create the needed diskette containing all the basic files you will need for the next installation.

6. Review the contents of the diskette and adjust as necessary before using. See the remainder of this document.

7. Install any where, any time and as often as you like, or until the coffee runs out.

There are a number of different and innovative approaches that you could use rather than the simplistic one above, but then that your job, eh? However, for those of you who are a bit braver or, just want to do it your self then you should see the section Scratch Built Auto Install Diskette for a basic approach.

Contents of the Install Diskette

After completing the Manual Install, you should have a diskette containing the following files:

auto_inst.cfg

This file contains your selections. See the section Anatomy of the 'auto_inst.cfg' File for details. In case you were wondering, you will also find this file in the /root directory with the name auto_inst.cfg.pl.

boot.msg

This file contains some text that appears as soon as you boot from the diskette. You could customize this.

help.msg

This file contains some text regarding the start up options and keys, which you can customize too. It is optional and may not be present on your generated diskette (space limitations).

ldlinux.sys

This is what booted (boot loader). Don't mess with it.

cdrom.rdz or hd.rdz or network.rdz

The file name is dependent on the Method you used to perform the manual install. It contains DrakX and other things which are needed for the automated install.

syslinux.cfg

This file contains information that the 'ldlinux' uses to boot and start the installation. You may have to modify this. See section Anatomy of the 'syslinux.cfg' File for details.

vmlinuz

This is the compressed Linux kernel image file. Don't mess with this one either.

The contents of the two files, syslinux.cfg and auto_inst.cfg, are what the bulk of this document is about, so with out further a due....

Anatomy of the 'syslinux.cfg' File

The contents of this file are dependent on which method you used for the Manual Install process, or you did your own thing. Regardless, the important portion is listed below:

NOTE: All the text starting with 'append' through '788' are on ONE line.

More details and probably a better explanation of these tags and values can be found at: http://syslinux.zytor.com.

Ignore the rest of the file's contents for the moment. The following is a brief explanation of each of the above tags.

default linux - if the user presses ENTER or the optional timeout expires, this tells the ldlinux loader to locate the section label linux and begin booting the kernel as defined by the lines after the label.

prompt 1 - this tells the loader to prompt the user to enter an alternate label rather than just using the default one. You can have several different boot scenarios in this file, which is the reason that the generated file has so much in it. This parameter is optional, removing it means the installer will not have the ability to select an alternate boot section.

timeout 50 - this tells the loader to give the user 5 seconds to begin entering another label before using the default one and continuing on with the boot/install process. This parameter is optional and is not necessary if prompt is not used.

display boot.msg - this tells the loader to display the contents of the specified file before presenting a prompt. This is optional, but it may be a good idea to remind the installer what is being installed.

F1 help.msg - if the user presses the F1 key, then display the specified file's contents. This parameter and associated file are optional.

F2 boot.msg - if the user presses the F2 key, then display the specified file's contents. This parameter and associated file are optional.

label linux - this names a section that the loader is to go to for additional information. In this case, a section contains a kernel and append parameter. The value associated with any section label can be typed by the user at the prompt to instruct the loader to find the specific section, rather than use the default one.

kernel vmlinuz - this is the name of the file containing the compressed kernel image to load and start.

append=... - this is a list of space separated parameters passed to the kernel when the loader starts it.

kickstart=floppy - required, do not change.

An interesting tidbit; if you omit this option and set the automatic= option, you can do GUI based installs without having to enter the method information each time. Of course the auto_inst.cfg file, if present, is ignored.

ramdisk_size=32000 - required, do not change.

initrd=network.rdz - required, changes based on the type of method being used:

vga=788 - required, can be changed. Generally, this parameter affects the GUI installation, but it does have interesting effects when used in the Automated install.

Others you can play with:

automatic= ... ,dns:192.168.5.253, - this is specific to the install method and contains NO SPACES

automatic=method:nfs, - can be cdrom, nfs, ftp, http or disk.

interface:eth1, - specifies the ethernet interface to use (eg. eth0, eth5, etc.). It is only required for nfs, ftp or http methods when there is more than 1 ethernet interface. This feature can only be used if DrakX can auto detect ALL the ethernet cards.

The trick when installing with multiple network card is convincing the computer that the ethx you specify is the same one it thinks is ethx.

server:fileserver, - machine where the installable files live, can be an IP or a host.domainname (or host). This is only required for nfs, ftp or http methods.

directory:/mnt/mass/Mandrake/mandrake/8.0, - root directory where the files are found. This is only required for nfs, ftp, http or disk methods. For the disk method, this may also specify the location and name of an ISO image.

network:static, - how this machine gets it's IP information, static or from a dhcp server.

ip:192.168.5.202, - what is it for this machine.

netmask:255.255.255.0, - what is it's netmask.

gateway:192.168.5.253, - what is the gateway's IP. This is optional and should not be included if you do not want the /etc/sysconfig/network file to be set up with the GATEWAY definition.

dns:192.168.5.253, - what is the IP for the DNS server. Up to three DNS servers can be specified, each IP is separated by a comma. This is optional and should not be included if you do not have or use a DNS server. If it is not included, then the server: option must contain an IP address instead of a name.

network:dhcp, if dhcp is specified, then the IP, netmask, gateway and dns parameters are provided by the dhcp server and they do not have to be specified here.

user:anonymous, - user name, as required, for ftp login. This is only required for the ftp method.

pass:david@eastcott.net, - pass word, as required, for ftp login. This is only required for the ftp method.

disk:hda, - disk drive containing the directory or ISO image. This is only required for the disk method.

partition:6, - partition number of specified disk drive containing the directory or ISO image. This is only required for the disk method.

NOTE: If you are in a dynamic DNS environment, DrakX does not supply a 'machine' name to the dhcp server. This will be a problem for NFS servers which require reverse DNS lookups to qualify access to their exported directories. To resolve this, set up your exported directory so that you use the IP/netmask form rather than name.domainname form when defining who can access the exported directory.

NOTE: If you are using a network install method on a computer with multiple ethernet interface cards and you do not use the interface parameter, DrakX will ask you which one you want and then it will prompt you for the relevant information based on your specified method.

Summary of the Other Section Labels

At this time I do not know the meanings associated with each of these additional choices.

vgalo, vgahi, vga16	Are just different resolutions for graphic installs
text	Is a text based install
expert	Has the advantage of disabling Automatic Hardware Detection
rescue	Allows you to repair an already installed system using the CD-ROM
patch	?
preinst	?
oem	?
lnx4win	?
auto	?
all	?
ackbar	?

Anatomy of the 'auto_inst.cfg' File

The contents of the auto_inst.cfg file are actually a Perl Scalar Structure declaration (o) used by the DrakX program to preset various options and selections. During a manual/graphic install, the various fields are filled in as you make choices from the various screens. Then when you create the diskette, portions of this structure are simply dumped to a file that you can use. With an Automatic install, all these choices have to be pre-selected.

As always, if you want the gory details, look on the CD-ROM in the directory Mandrake/mdkinst/usr/bin/perl-install for the actual perl modules.

The following sections identify the structure, the fields and sub-fields that are accepted.

Generally, the file contains a single declaration of the form:

$o = {...};

Within the opening/closing braces are a series of simple and/or compound declarations.

If you created a Replay type of automated install disk, then there is a perl code fragment at the end of the file after the closing brace as follows (see the section Problems and Issues):

Summary of Primary Hash Entries

authentication	netc
autoExitInstall	netcnx
autologin	nomouseprobe
bootloader	partitioning
compssListLevel	partitions
compssUsersChoice	postInstall
default_packages	postInstallNonRooted
desktop	printer
intf	raid
isUpgrade	security
keyboard	services
lang	superuser
lvm	timezone
manualFstab	users
miscellaneous	useSupermount
mkbootdisk	wacom
mouse	X

The above list defines the configuration options that can be set directly. There are a number of other options which are derived from these entries, over-ridden by auto-scan / auto-detection features of the Mandrake install program. However, these will not be discussed here. Read the code if you want to know more.

Added to Mandrake 8.0

Modified for Mandrake 8.0

Deleted from Mandrake 8.0

authentication

This option is used to specify how passwords are processed.

Descriptions:

'shadow' - Indicates if shadow passwords are used

'md5' - Used to specify if md5 encryption is to be used for passwords

'NIS' - Indicates if NIS is to be used for authentication

By default, Mandrake Linux installations enable md5 and shadow. Also, you will probably have noticed that the GUI based install no longer gives you the ability to select/de-select these two.

Related Hash Entries:

netc

autoExitInstall

This option is used to direct the installation process to automatically exit and re-boot the computer when the installation is complete.

'autoExitInstall' => 1,

Descriptions:

'autoExitInstall' - what you want to do

NOTE: When you do a manual install, the auto_inst.cfg.pl file created in /root has this value set to 1. If you generated an Automated or Replay diskette, the auto_inst.cfg file also has this value set to 1.

CHANGE it to 0, otherwise the computer will re-boot and start the install all over again.

Related Hash Entries:

none.

autologin

This is used to have the system automatically log in a specific user, rather than having the usual log in prompt. This feature can be used with only one user and the user should be defined (see section users).

If the auto log in feature is not desired, then do not include this in your file.

'autologin' => 'david',

Descriptions:

'autologin' - is the name of the user that the system is to automatically log in as. Change it as you desire.

The installation process creates the file /etc/sysconfig/autologin and places this and other values in it.

Related Hash Entries:

desktop, users

bootloader

This option allows you specify the boot loader to be installed and the associated parameters that it requires. The general structure and relevant parameters for each loader are presented and explained in their own section, rather than trying to show you the whole thing and adding comments indicating which parameter is valid for which bootloader. Also, check the notes at the end of each section for tidbits.

The following is specifically for the x86 architecture. I know that support is also available for SPARC, and PowerPC, but since I do not have these, I am not sure if these descriptions are correct.

LILO / GRUB

DrakX is capable of installing either the Lilo or Grub bootloaders for 'x86' type computers. The following causes DrakX to install the Lilo bootloader and create the file /etc/lilo.conf. You really want to look at 'man lilo.conf' for the correct explanation for some of the following.

Descriptions:

'lilo' - can be one of:

DrakX automatically installs the three files boot-text.b, boot-menu.b and boot-graphic.b in the directory /boot. It then creates the file /boot/boot.b as a link to the value supplied.

'grub' => 1 - if present, the Grub bootloader is installed rather than Lilo. In addition, DrakX creates all the necessary files and directories that grub is expecting. NOTE: 'lilo' => 'boot-menu.b' must be used.

'append' - if present, it is used as the default for any per image entry that does not contain an 'append'. It is used to specify parameters to be passed to the kernel. eg. 'mem=128M serial=0,9600n8'.

'boot' - this allows you to specify the disk drive that it to be used as the boot device. Do not include the partition number. eg. '/dev/hda' or '/dev/hde'.

'compact' => 1 - if present, says to try and merge read requests for adjacent sectors. This is seldom used.

'crushMbr' => 1 - if this is present, it means replace (crush) the existing Master Boot Record and install the lilo equivalent.

'default' - this is used to specify the default kernel image to boot. The value here is the 'label' value for one of the defined 'entries'. eg. 'my_linux'.

'install' - is used to specify the file containing the new master boot record. eg. '/boot/boot.b'.

'lba32' => 1 - if present, says to generate 32 bit Logical Block Addresses instead of sector/head/cylinder.

'linear' => 1 - if present, says to generate linear sector address instead of sector/head/cylinder. This is seldom used.

'map' - this is the name and location of the map file created by lilo. eg. '/boot/map'.

'message' - this allows you to create a customized boot message. It is optional and if included, causes the file /boot/message to be created containing your string (don't forget to include '\n' where appropriate. Also use double quotes " ). If it is not included, then DrakX creates a default message for you.

NOTE: If 'lilo' => 'boot-graphic.b', then 'message' is ignored and the lilo.conf file will contain 'message=/boot/message-graphic' instead of 'message=/boot/message' and DrakX will install the file message-graphic for you.

'password' - if present, is a pass word string (clear text) used to protect booting of all images. eg. 'dickie'.

'restricted' => 1 - if present, reduces the password enforcement so that the user must enter a pass word only if the user enters addition parameters. 'password' must be present if 'restricted' is present. See section Problems and Issues.

'timeout' - if present, the time, in seconds, to wait for the user to enter a desired image. eg. '10'. Also, this forces a prompt for the image name to boot. Note: DrakX changes the value from seconds to tenths of a second for placement in lilo.conf. If you do not want a prompt, then set timeout to 0.

'vga' - this is used to set the default video mode and can be:

'entries' - this is an array of 'per image' entries describing selectable boot images. Normally you should not need to add any since DrakX installs three default entries. However, if you do add a new one, then use any label except linux, failsafe or floppy otherwise DrakX will rename yours to old_... when it inserts its own. So be careful.

Each entry has one of two forms:

'type' => 'image' - specifies that this image describes a Linux kernel image to boot.

'kernel_or_dev' - specifies the location and name of the kernel image to boot. eg. '/boot/vmlinuz'.

'label' - specifies the name associated with this image. eg. 'my_linux'.

'root' - specifies the device to be mounted as 'root'. eg. '/dev/hda6'.

'initrd' - if present, specifies the location and name of the initial ram disk to be loaded. eg. '/boot/initrd.img'.

'append' - if present, specifies the kernel parameters for this image. eg. 'ramdisk=8192K'.

'vga' - if present, specifies the video mode to be used with this image. ( See 'vga' above.).

'read-write' => 1 - if present, indicates the root file system is to be mounted read-write. If it is NOT present, then the root file system is mounted read-only.

or

'type' => 'other', - specifies that this image describes an arbitrary operating system to boot.

'kernel_or_dev' - specifies the location and name of the kernel image to boot. eg. '/boot/vmlinuz'.

'label' - specifies the name associated with this image. eg. 'my_linux'.

'unsafe' => 1 - see man lilo.conf.

'table' - see man lilo.conf.

'mapdrive' - see man lilo.conf.

SILO

This loader is used on SPARC computers. The following causes DrakX to create the file /etc/silo.conf. You really want to look at 'man silo.conf' for the correct explanation for some of the following.

Descriptions:

'append' - if present, it is used as the default for any per image entry that does not contain an 'append'. It is used to specify parameters to be passed to the kernel. eg. 'mem=128M serial=0,9600n8'.

'boot' - this allows you to specify the disk drive that it to be used as the boot device. Do not include the partition number. eg. '/dev/hda' or '/dev/hde'.

'bootalias' - ???

'bootdev' - ???

'default' - this is used to specify the default kernel image to boot. The value here is the 'label' value of one of the defined 'entries'. eg. 'my_linux'.

'message' - this allows you to create a customized boot message. It is optional and if included, causes the file /boot/message to be created containing your string (don't forget to include '\n' where appropriate. Also use double quotes " ). If it is not included, then DrakX creates a default message for you.

'partition' - ???

'password' - if present, is a pass word string (clear text) used to protect booting of all images. eg. 'dickie'.

'restricted' => 1 - if present, reduces the password enforcement so that a user must enter a pass word only if the user enters additional parameters. 'password' must be present if 'restricted' is present.

'timeout' - if present, the time, in seconds, to wait for the user to enter a desired image. eg. '10'. Also, this forces a prompt for the image name to boot. Note: DrakX changes the value from seconds to tenths of a second for placement in silo.conf. If you do not want a prompt, then set timeout to 0.

'use_partition' - this is used to specify where the bootloader is placed;

0 - to install the loader on the first sector of the drive (MBR) or,

1 - to install the loader on the first sector of the boot partition.

'entries' - this is an array of 'per image' entries describing selectable boot images. Normally you should not need to add any since DrakX installs three default entries. However, if you do add a new one, then use any label except linux, failsafe or floppy otherwise DrakX will rename yours to old_... when it inserts its own. So be careful.

Each entry has the following form:

'type' => 'image' - specifies that this image describes a Linux kernel image to boot.

'kernel_or_dev' - specifies the location and name of the kernel image to boot. eg. '/boot/vmlinuz'.

'label' - specifies the name associated with this image. eg. 'my_linux'.

'root' - specifies the device to be mounted as 'root'. eg. '/dev/hda6'.

'initrd' - if present, specifies the location and name of the initial ram disk to be loaded. eg. '/boot/initrd.img'.

'append' - if present, specifies the kernel parameters for this image. eg. 'ramdisk=8192K'.

'read-write' => 1 - if present, indicates the root file system is to be mounted read-write. If it is NOT present, then the root file system is mounted read-only.

YABOOT

This loader is used on PowerPC computers. The following causes DrakX to create the file /etc/yaboot.conf. You really want to look at 'man yaboot.conf' for the correct explanation for some of the following.

Descriptions:

'boot' - this allows you to specify the disk drive that it to be used as the boot device. Do not include the partition number. eg. '/dev/hda' or '/dev/hde'.

'delay' - if present, the time, in ??? seconds, for the Open Firmware Delay.

'default' - this is used to specify the default kernel image to boot. The value here is the 'label' value of one of the defined 'entries'. eg. 'my_linux'.

'defaultos' - is one of 'linux', 'macos', 'macosx' or 'darwin'.

'enablecdboot' => 1 - if present, enables booting from CD.

'enableofboot' => 1 - if present, enables booting using Open Firmware.

'initmsg' - this allows you to create a customized boot message. It is optional and if included, will causes the file bootloader to display your string. Also use double quotes " .

'message' - this allows you to create a customized boot message. It is optional and if included, causes the file /boot/message to be created containing your string (don't forget to include '\n' where appropriate. Also use double quotes " ). If it is not included, then DrakX creates a default message for you.

'prompt' => 1 - if present, prompts the user to enter a image name to boot with. Should really be used with 'timeout'. NOTE: If 'timeout' is defined, then 'prompt' is ignored.

'timeout' - if present, the time, in seconds, to wait for the user to enter a desired image. eg. '10'. Also, this forces a prompt for the image name to boot, even if you have used 'prompt' => 0 or it is absent. Note: DrakX changes the value from seconds to tenths of a second for placement in lilo.conf.

'entries' - this is an array of 'per image' entries describing selectable boot images. DrakX installs three default entries and normally you should not need to add any. However, if you add a new one, then use any label except linux, failsafe or floppy otherwise DrakX will rename yours to old_... when it inserts its own. So be careful.

Each entry has one of two forms:

'type' => 'image' - specifies that this image describes a Linux kernel image to boot.

'kernel_or_dev' - specifies the location and name of the kernel image to boot. eg. '/boot/vmlinuz'.

'label' - specifies the name associated with this image. eg. 'my_linux'.

'root' - specifies the device to be mounted as 'root'. eg. '/dev/hda6'.

'initrd' - if present, specifies the location and name of the initial ram disk to be loaded. eg. '/boot/initrd.img'.

'append' - if present, specifies the kernel parameters for this image. eg. 'ramdisk=8192K'.

'read-write' => 1 - if present, indicates the root file system is to be mounted read-write. If it is NOT present, then the root file system is mounted read-only.

or

'type' => 'other', - specifies that this image describes an arbitrary operating system to boot.

'kernel_or_dev' - specifies the location and name of the kernel image to boot. eg. '/boot/vmlinuz'.

'label' - specifies the name associated with this image. eg. 'my_linux'.

Examples:

This first one is the simplest and I use it on a server to obtain a simple text based boot prompt, rather than the default graphic one. This also lets DrakX fill in all the auto detected stuff for me.

NOTE: I use the 'crushMbr' here to make sure that whatever is on the disk is replaced with lilo's bootloader. This may not be suitable for everyone (such as dual boot or if you want to keep the existing MBR). Your installation needs may be different, so use with caution.

This one adds an additional boot image that I use on my test machine to increase the size of the default ram disk.

If I had wanted to make this new image the one which is automatically booted, then I would have added 'default' => 'bigdisk', just before the 'entries'.

Related Hash Entries:

keyboard

compssListLevel

This option is an alternate package selection method. This option allows you to install packages based on their relative importance and has the following is its general form:

'compssListLevel' => 5,

Descriptions:

'compssListLevel' - the desired rating value can be one of:

Mandrake has taken most of the installable packages (*.rpms found in Mandrake/RPMS ...) and categorized them, hierarchically, into Groups (eg. Office, KDE) and then refined it a bit further into sub-groups (packages which should only be installed if corresponding tag has been selected) and then finally applied a numerical rating (1 through 5) to each package. If you look in the file Mandrake/base/rpmsrate, you can see the group/sub-group tags, followed by the rating levels and each package assigned to that level.

When you use 'compssListLevel', DrakX will install every package which has a rating greater than or equal ( '>=' ) to the value you specify with this option, regardless of the group or sub-group they have been listed in.

NOTE: Since the Mandrake Linux distribution comes on a varying number of CD's, you may find packages listed which are not found on the ones that you downloaded or bought - not to worry, DrakX knows this and will only attempt to install packages that you actually have.

Examples:

1. Make sure that your auto_inst.cfg does not have either 'default_packages' or 'compssUsersChoice'.

2. Add this: 'compssListLevel' => 3,

And voila, all packages rated at 3 and higher will be installed. A bit indiscriminate I know, but if you were to put 0 instead of 3, then all packages would be installed, or 6 and only the essential packages get installed.

The essential files are typically those packages that Mandrake considers 'basesystem' components (on GUI Install/Flat Listing they are the one that you can't select) and a few others which were needed for the auto installation.

Related Hash Entries:

compssUsersChoice, default_packages

compssUsersChoice

This option is an alternate package selection method and if used 'compssListLevel' must be defined as well. These two together closely resemble the GUI based install where you selected which package groups to install. It has the following general form:

Descriptions:

'<group_tag>' - is one of the following:

NOTE: The indented tags indicate that there are packages in the corresponding Group which will only be installed if the indented tag is specified as well. If you look in the file Mandrake/base/rpmsrate, you can see the group/sub-group tags, followed by the rating levels and packages that are assigned to that level.

Before you get too carried away, remember that DrakX is going to install what it considers an essential minimum set of packages, then it looks at your selections and adds any extras that you selected and, any additional packages that are needed for your choices to operate properly.

Examples:

How do you select things? Well, have you ever tried the game 'Rubics Cube'; its kinda like that but with a bigger block.

First pick the features you want, then select the desktop you want to use. Then create a list of tags. Or you can look at the file Mandrake/base/compssUsers to see how Mandrake grouped things for the GUI Group Package selection screen and go from there. Finally, you have to set the package rating level you want as the minimum using 'compssListLevel'.

The following are some simple examples:

This is what would be selected if you were using the GUI install and selected the icons for Game station, Multimedia Station, Console Tools and KDE:

This example is basically the same, except the rating level includes almost everything possible for these groups. The 'default_packages' option lets me add package(s) which would have been excluded.

Kinda like the individual package selection of the GUI install. Except that the rating level gives you a bit more control on the basic package set installed.

Related Hash Entries:

compssListLevel, default_packages

default_packages

This option is used to explicitly specify which packages are to be installed. It is simply a list of package names. For an example, see the file 'auto_inst.cfg.pl' that was placed in your /root after a graphic install. The general form is as follows:

Descriptions:

'<package-name>', - name of the package to be installed, not including the version, release, architecture and filename extension. eg. if the package file name is acon-1.0.4-5mdk.i586.rpm then use 'acon',.

If you are not sure of the name for the package you want installed, then use the following:

rpm -qp --queryformat %{NAME} <filename of package>

This will give you the name that the install is expecting.

After viewing the contents of the auto_inst.cfg or auto_inst.cfg.pl files, you may have noticed that not all packages that are installed in a system (rpm -qa | sort) are listed. This because a new approach is being used in an attempt to reduce the size of the files on the diskette. Basically, this means that packages 'required' by the listed ones are not included in the list.

NOTE: All packages must be in either the RPMS or RPMS2 directories. If you have added one, then see section Creating an Updated Installation CD Set.

Examples:

The following is a simple example to illustrate the use of this option. It is actually what DrakX generates when you deselect all groups during a graphic install.

Related Hash Entries:

compssUsersChoice, compssListLevel

desktop

This option is used to preset the default Desktop (Window Manager) for users.

'desktop' => 'KDE',

Descriptions:

'desktop'- if this option is present, then it may be any one of the following, provided of course it was installed:

The DrakX installer places the specified value into the file /etc/sysconfig/desktop.

Default means that if you are at Run Level 3 and you type startx, then the window manager defined in the file is used. If you have a graphic Login Screen and you select default, rather than one of the indicated Window Managers, then the window manager defined in this file is used.

Related Hash Entries:

autologin

intf

This option is used to define the various network (ethernet or wireless) capable devices in your system. The following is the general form for the structure:

'ethx' - used to indicate an ethernet card interface definition. The 'x' is a sequence number, beginning with 0, for each ethernet card installed. Up to 10 cards can be defined with this version of the installer.

'wireless_eth' - used to indicate that there is a wireless ethernet interface installed. Currently only a single interface is supported.

For an ethernet card, the following are valid:

For a wireless interface, the following are valid:

Descriptions:

'isPtp' - if the interface has a 'NETMASK' of 255.255.255.255 (Point to point) then set to 1, else set to 0 or ''.

'isUp' - normally set to 1and indicates if the installer was able to detect and initialize the interface card. 0 does ????.

'driver' - normally not present, use only if the installer detects the wrong driver for your interface.

'DEVICE' - same as the 'ethx' you used to start this definition with.

'BOOTPROTO' - may be one of 'static', 'dhcp' or 'bootp'.

'ONBOOT' - normally set to 'yes', but can be set to 'no' if you do not want the interface automatically started at boot up.

'IPADDR' - IP address ('x.x.x.x') for this interface, not required if BOOTPROTO is dhcp or bootp.

'NETMASK' - Network Mask ('x.x.x.x') to be used with this interface, not required if BOOTPROTO is dhcp or bootp.

'NETWORK' - base IP address ('x.x.x.x') for this interface, not required if BOOTPROTO is dhcp or bootp.

'BROADCAST' - broadcast IP address ('x.x.x.x') for this interface, not required if BOOTPROTO is dhcp or bootp.

'WIRELESS_MODE' - may be one of Ad-hoc, Managed, Master, Repeater, Secondary or Auto.

'WIRELESS_ESSID' - may be 'any'

'WIRELESS_NWID' - ???

'WIRELESS_FREQ' - ???

'WIRELESS_SENS' - ???

'WIRELESS_RATE' - ???

'WIRELESS_ENC_KEY' - ???

'WIRELESS_RTS' - ???

'WIRELESS_FRAG' - ???

'WIRELESS_IWCONFIG' - ???

'WIRELESS_IWSPY' - ???

'WIRELESS_IWPRIV' - ???

The entries for each interface appear in a configuration file located in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/. The filename is formed by adding the DEVICE string to the end of 'ifcfg-'. In the example below, you would expect to find the file: /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0.

Examples:

See the section Network and Connection Examples for detailed examples.

For a computer which does not have an ethernet or wireless interface, then use the following:

'intf' => {},

If the target computer has multiple interfaces, then use the following:

If the computer has access to the internet, then see sections 'netc' and 'netcnx'.

If the computer has more than one interface defined, make sure the 'netc' option identifies which one is the GATEWAYDEV.

If the computer has an interface with either BOOTPROTO set to 'dhcp' or 'bootp', then it requires either the dhcpcd, dhcpxd or pump packages installed.

Related Hash Entries:

netc, netcnx.

isUpgrade

This option is used to tell DrakX to perform an upgrade instead of a full install.

'isUpgrade' => 0,

Descriptions:

'isUpgrade' - what you want to do

An upgrade will examine the currently installed packages on the computer and upgrade only those packages necessary. It will add additional new packages that are 'required' by the new packages which are replacing older one.

Related Hash Entries:

none.

keyboard

This option allows you to specify the type of keyboard you are using by specifying one of the country codes. See file Mandrake/mdkinst/usr/bin/perl-install/keyboard.pm declaration for %keyboards which may contain a more up to date list.

'keyboard' => 'us',

Descriptions:

'keyboard' - specifies the keyboard type used, possible values are:

'am_old'	Armenian (old)
'am'	Armenian (typewriter)
'am_phonetic'	Armenian (phonetic)
'az'	Azerbaidjani (latin)
'a3'	Azerbaidjani (cyrillic)
'be'	Belgian
'bg'	Bulgarian
'br'	Brazilian (ABNT-2)
'by'	Belarusian
'ch_de'	Swiss (German layout)
'ch_fr'	Swiss (French layout)
'cz'	Czech
'cz_qwerty'	Czech (QWERTY)
'cz_prog'	Czech (Programmers)
'de'	German
'de_nodeadkeys'	German (no dead keys)
'dk'	Danish
'dvorak'	Dvorak
'ee'	Estonian
'es'	Spanish
'fi'	Finnish
'fr'	French
'ge_ru'	Georgian (Russian layout)
'ge_la'	Georgian (Latin layout)
'gr'	Greek
'hu'	Hungarian
'hr'	Croatian
'il'	Israeli
'il_phonetic'	Israeli (Phonetic)
'ir'	Iranian
'is'	Icelandic
'it'	Italian
'jp'	Japanese
'kr'	Korean
'la'	Latin American
'lt'	Lithuanian AZERTY (old)
'lt_new'	Lithuanian AZERTY (new)
'lt_b'	Lithuanian number row QWERTY
'lt_p'	Lithuanian phonetic QWERTY
'mk'	Macedonian
'nl'	Dutch
'no'	Norwegian
'pl'	Polish (qwerty layout)
'pl2'	Polish (qwerty layout)
'pt'	Portuguese
'qc'	Canadian (Quebec)
'ru'	Russian
'ru_yawerty'	Russian (Yawerty)
'se'	Swedish
'si'	Slovenian
'sk'	Slovakian
'sk_qwerty'	Slovakian (QWERTY)
'sk_prog'	Slovakian (Programmers)
'th'	Thai keyboard
'tr_f'	Turkish (traditional F model)
'tr_q'	Turkish (modern Q model)
'ua'	Ukrainian
'uk'	UK
'us'	US
'us_intl'	US (international)
'vn'	Vietnamese
'yu'	Yugoslavian (latin layout)

Related Hash Entries:

lang, bootloader

lang

This option allows you to select the language used for text presentations. The default is English US ('en_US'). See file Mandrake/mdkinst/usr/bin/perl-install/lang.pm declaration for %languages which may contain a more up to date list.

'lang' => 'en_US',

Descriptions:

'lang' - used to specify the desired language, possible values are:

'en_US'	English (US)	iso-8859-1
'en_GB'	English (UK)	iso-8859-1
'af'	Afrikaans	iso-8859-1
'ar'	Arabic	iso-8859-6
'az'	Azeri (latin)	iso-8859-9e
'be'	Belarussian	cp1251
'bg'	Bulgarian	cp1251
'br'	Brezhoneg	iso-8859-1
'bs'	Bosnian	iso-8859-2
'ca'	Catalan	iso-8859-1
'cs'	Czech	iso-8859-2
'cy'	Cymraeg (Welsh)	iso-8859-14
'da'	Danish	iso-8859-1
'de_AT'	German (Austria)	iso-8859-1
'de_BE'	German (Belgian)	iso-8859-1
'de_CH'	German (Swiss)	iso-8859-1
'de_DE'	German (Germany)	iso-8859-1
'el'	Greek	iso-8859-7
'eo'	Esperanto	iso-8859-3
'es_AR'	Spanish (Argentina)	iso-8859-1
'es_ES'	Spanish (Spain, modern sorting)	iso-8859-1
'es@tradicional'	Spanish (Spain, traditional sorting)	iso-8859-1
'es_MX'	Spanish (Mexico)	iso-8859-1
'et'	Estonian	iso-8859-15
'eu'	Euskara (Basque)	iso-8859-1
'fi'	Suomi (Finnish)	iso-8859-1
'fr_CA'	French (Canada)	iso-8859-1
'fr_BE'	French (Begian)	iso-8859-1
'fr_CH'	French (Swiss)	iso-8859-1
'fr_FR'	French (France)	iso-8859-1
'ga'	Gaeilge (Irish)	iso-8859-14
'gl'	Galician	iso-8859-1
'he'	Hebrew	iso-8859-8
'hr'	Croatian	iso-8859-2
'hu'	Hungarian	iso-8859-2
'hy'	Armenian	armscii-8
'id'	Indonesian	iso-8859-1
'is'	Icelandic	iso-8859-1
'it_CH'	Italian (Swiss)	iso-8859-1
'it_IT'	Italian	iso-8859-1
'ja'	Japanese	jisx0208
'ka'	Georgian	georgian-academy
'kl'	Greenlandic (inuit)	iso-8859-1
'ko'	Korean	ksc5601
'lt'	Lithuanian	iso-8859-13
'lv'	Latvian	iso-8859-13
'mi'	Maori	iso-8859-13
'mk'	Macedonian (Cryllic)	iso-8859-5
'nl'	Dutch (Netherlands)	iso-8859-1
'nl_BE'	Dutch (Swiss)	iso-8859-1
'no'	Norwegian (Bokmaal)	iso-8859-1
'nn'	Norwegian (Nynorsk)	iso-8859-1
'pl'	Polish	iso-8859-2
'pt_BR'	Portuguese (Brazil)	iso-8859-1
'pt_PT'	Portuguese (Portugal)	iso-8859-1
'ro'	Romanian	iso-8859-2
'ru_RU.CP1251'	Russian	cp1251
'ru_RU.KOI8-R'	Russian	koi8-r
'sk'	Slovak	iso-8859-2
'sl'	Slovenian	iso-8859-2
'sp'	Serbian (Cyrillic)	iso-8859-5
'sr'	Serbian (Latin)	iso-8859-2
'sv'	Swedish	iso-8859-1
'ta'	Tamil	tscii-0
'tg'	Tajik	koi8-c
'th'	Thai	tis620
'tr'	Turkish	iso-8859-9
'tt'	Tatar	tatar-cyr
'uk_UA'	Ukrainian	koi8-u
'uz'	Uzbek	iso-8859-1
'vi'	Vietnamese (TCVN)	tcvn
'vi_VN.VISCII'	Vietnamese (VISCII)	viscii
'wa'	Walon	iso-8859-1
'zh_TW.Big5'	Chinese (Big5)	Big5
'zh_CN.GB2312'	Chinese (GuoBiao)	gb2312

NOTE: Not all languages are supported by all applications. The third column, above, is the character set for the language.

Related Hash Entries:

keyboard

lvm

This option allows you to configure Logical Volume Management.

Descriptions:

Related Hash Entries:

manualFstab

This option allows you to add additional entries to the /etc/fstab file on the target computer. The most notable include adding NFS mounts. Other possibilities include other devices which are not detected by the install program, partitions or device which already exist on the target computer and have not been specified in the 'partitioning' option.

The fields for this option are identical to those you would see in the /etc/fstab file.

Descriptions:

'device' - the physical device (eg. /dev/hdd1 or linux1:/nfscd/cdrom71)

'mntpoint' - the file system mount point for the device. It is a good idea NOT to use a mount point that is created for the use of rpmdrake (eg. /mnt/nfs).

'type' - type of file system on the device ( eg. ext2, reiserfs, nfs )

'options' - mount options for the device/file system being mounted.

Related Hash Entries:

partitions, partitioning

miscellaneous

This is where stuff goes that does not fit anywhere else.

Descriptions:

'numlock' - set to 1 if NumLock on the keyboard is to be set after boot up, 0 if not.

'CLEAN_TMP' - set to 1 if the tmp directory ( is to be cleaned up at each boot up, 0 if not.

'HDPARM' - ????

'http_proxy' - if used, then it is set to the URL and port for the http proxy server.

'ftp_proxy' - if used, then it is set to the URL and port for the ftp proxy server.

Related Hash Entries:

none.

mkbootdisk

This option allows you to create a boot disk during the install process. Probably not something you want to do while doing an auto installation.

'mkbootdisk' => '',

Descriptions:

'mkbootdisk' - used to define what to do:

Related Hash Entries:

none.

mouse

This option is used to define the Mouse that is attached to the target computer. Use this option ONLY if you know the required information. By using this option, the Install Program is inhibited from performing a 'Mouse Probe' in an attempt to automatically identify the type of mouse available.

Descriptions:

'type' - one of 'PS/2', 'USB', 'serial', 'busmouse', or 'none'. See table for mice for each type.

'device' - device file to use:

'name' - see table.

'nbuttons' - 2 or 3 for mice without a wheel, 5 for mice with a wheel (see table).

'XEMU3' - 'yes' if 2 button mouse and you want 3 button emulation, else should be set to 'no'.

'MOUSETYPE' - see table.

'XMOUSETYPE' - see table.

'FULLNAME' - is '<type> | <name>'. eg. 'PS/2|Standard'

'WHEEL' - 'yes' if mouse has a wheel, 'no' if the mouse does not.

'nbuttons'	'MOUSETYPE'	'XMOUSETYPE'	'name'
'PS/2'
2	ps/2	PS/2	Standard
5	ps/2	MouseManPlusPS/2	Logitech MouseMan+
5	imps2	IMPS/2	Generic PS2 Wheel Mouse
5	ps/2	GlidePointPS/2	GlidePoint
5	ps/2	ThinkingMousePS/2	Kensington Thinking Mouse
5	netmouse	NetMousePS/2	Genius NetMouse
5	netmouse	NetScrollPS/2	Genius NetScroll
'USB'
2	ps/2	PS/2	Generic
5	ps/2	IMPS2	Wheel
'serial'
2	Microsoft	Microsoft	Generic 2 Button Mouse
3	Microsoft	Microsoft	Generic 3 Button Mouse
5	ms3	IntelliMouse	Microsoft IntelliMouse
3	MouseMan	MouseMan	Logitech MouseMan
2	MouseSystems	MouseSystems	Mouse Systems
3	logim	MouseMan	Logitech CC Series
5	pnp	IntelliMouse	Logitech MouseMan+/FirstMouse+
5	ms3	IntelliMouse	Genius NetMouse
2	MMSeries	MMSeries	MM Series
2	MMHitTab	MMHittab	MM HitTablet
3	Logitech	Logitech	Logitech Mouse (serial, old C7 type)
3	Microsoft	ThinkingMouse	Kensington Thinking Mouse
'busmouse'
2	Busmouse	BusMouse	2 buttons
3	Busmouse	BusMouse	3 buttons
'none'
0	None	Microsoft	No mouse

Examples:

NOTE: If you are using an old Microsoft Bus Mouse, you MUST use this option.

The following is an example for a PS/2 non wheel mouse:

The following is an example for a serial mouse:

The following is an example for a Generic PS/2 Wheel mouse:

NOTE: Information from here is used to update the files /etc/sysconfig/mouse and /etc/X11/XF86Config(-4) Mouse section.

Related Hash Entries:

nomouseprobe, wacom, X

netc

This option contains values used to configure the network on the target computer. The majority of these values are placed in the file: /etc/sysconfig/network. The general form is as follows:

Descriptions:

'NETWORKING' - 'yes' or 'no' if this machine is network connected.

'minus_one' - if an interface uses DHCP to obtain its IP information.

'nb_cards' - number of ethernet capable interface cards in the computer

'FORWARD_IPV4' - 'true' or 'false' if IP forwarding between interfaces is required

'HOSTNAME' - fully qualified host name for the target computer

'DOMAINNAME' - domain name for the target computer

'GATEWAY' - IP address for the machine that processes all non-local IP messages

'GATEWAYDEV' - device name for device that is used to access the gateway machine

'dnsServer' - IP addresses for DNS server, up to three may be specified.

'dnsServer2' - if available, then the second DNS server.

'dnsServer3' - if available, then the second DNS server.

'DOMAINNAME2' -

'NISDOMAIN' - if NIS authentication is used, then ...

The dnsServer and DOMAINNAME2 entries are placed in the file /etc/resolv.conf.

Examples:

See the section Network and Connection Examples for detailed examples.

Related Hash Entries:

intf, netcnx

netcnx

This option is used to set up a connection to a network (internet) using a modem, ISDN, DSL/ADSL, CABLE or LAN. The three options 'intf', 'net' and 'netcnx' are inter-related and much care is necessary when setting these up, especially if you have a mixed environment. The general form is:

Descriptions:

'type' - one of: 'modem', 'isdn_external', 'isdn_internal', 'adsl_pppoe', 'adsl_pptp', 'adsl_dhcp', 'cable' or 'lan'.

NOTE: The types; 'adsl_pppoe', 'adsl_pptp', 'adsl_dhcp', 'cable' or 'lan' require that a network interface card be installed. The type, 'isdn_internal' requires that an internal ISDN interface card be installed.

'NET_DEVICE' - this is the device name used in the routing tables and the 'ifcfg-...' as well as other configuration files automatically generated by the installer. eg. 'ppp0' or 'ippp0'

'NET_INTERFACE' - see 'NET_DEVICE'.

'PROFILE' - ?????

'dhcp_client' - if DHCP is used to obtain IP information for the internet connection, then it may be one of: 'dhcpcd', 'dhcpxd' or 'dhcp-client'.

... type specific parameters ... - based on 'type', use one of the following:

'connection' - this is a name string for the connection.

'device' - device the modem is attached to. eg. 'ttyS0'

'phone' - telephone number to dial when making a connection.

'domain' - domame name assigned by your service provider. eg. 'agt.net'

'dns1' - IP address of the first DNS server at your service provider.

'dns2' - IP address of the second DNS server at your service provider, optional.

'auth' - method of authenticating with your service provider. Can be one of 'PAP', 'Terminal-based' or 'Script-based'.

'login' - account login assigned to you by your service provider.

'passwd' - account pass word you need as required by you service provider.

'connection' - this is a name string for the connection.

'device' - device the modem is attached to. eg. 'ttyS0'

'phone' - telephone number to dial when making a connection.

'domain' - domame name assigned by your service provider. eg. 'agt.net'

'dns1' - IP address of the first DNS server at your service provider.

'dns2' - IP address of the second DNS server at your service provider, optional.

'auth' - method of authenticating with your service provider. Can be one of 'PAP', 'Terminal-based' or 'Script-based'.

'login' - account login assigned to you by your service provider.

'passwd' - account pass word you need as required by you service provider.

'special_command' - command string sent to the modem to set its internal operation for use with an IDSN connection.

NOTE: If you do NOT have any other connection to the internet, then the above is not required. However, 'type' must still be set to 'lan'.

Examples:

See the section Network and Connection Examples for detailed examples.

Related Hash Entries:

intf, netc

nomouseprobe

This option is used to prevent the install program from doing a 'Mouse Probe' on serial ports, PS/2 mouse port, etc. You would ONLY use this when the target computer has no mouse attached.

OR, you have modems, UPS, etc. attached to your serial ports. If you don't use this option, then they may be adversely affected. You MUST then use the 'mouse' option to define your mouse. By the way, using the 'mouse' option also disables the probing.

'nomouseprobe' => 1,

Descriptions:

'nomouseprobe' - what to do

Normally if you want probing, then this statement is not included in the auto_inst.cfg file

Related Hash Entries:

mouse

partitioning

This option instructs the installation how, if any, to partition the hard disk drive.

Descriptions:

'clearall' - set to 1 if the disk's existing partition is to be cleared and the new partition sizes internally defined by auto allocation routine or by externally defined 'partitions' is to be used.

'eraseBadPartitions' - set to '1' if any unidentified existing partitions are to be erased.

'auto_allocate' - set to 1 if disk partitions are to be defined by the option 'partitions'

Note:

If you are using a disk with partitions that you want to change their size, don't care about, are unknown or you want to force their creation, then set all three to their 1 values.

If you want to re-use the existing partitions, then set them all to their 0 value. AND add all the mounting information to the 'manualFstab'

If you want the install program to auto-allocate the partitions, then set the values all to 1, and remove the 'partitions' definitions.

Pixel said something about 'hda' instead of a boolean????

Related Hash Entries:

partitions, manualFstab

partitions

This option is used in conjunction with 'auto_allocate' => 1, to define the partitions that are to be created. If 'auto_allocate' => 0, then this definition is ignored.

Descriptions:

'mntpoint' - the directory where the partition will be mounted.

'type' - file system type for the partition.

131 (0x83) is ext2, 130 (0x82) is swap', 387 (0x183) is reiserfs. See Mandrake/mdkinst/usr/bin/perl-install/partition_table.pm for a complete listing.

'size' - the number of sectors that the partition is to be created with. The partitioning of the disk is done to the nearest cylinder boundary less than or equal to the number you have specified. The number of sectors in a cylinder are found by (number of sectors per track) * (number of heads). Usually each sector is 512 bytes in size, so you can do the math...

A quick short way is: 'size' => 32 << 11 should give you something just short of 32 megabytes.

'ratio' - is the percentage (1 -> 100) of the disk that the partition can grow to.

'maxsize' - is the maximum number of sectors that the partition can be. A limit on the 'ratio'

'hd' - device label for the disk drive that this set of definitions applies to. eg. hda or sdb

NOTE: To make your life a bit simpler and be able to allocate all of the disk, change the last partitions 'size' to some small value and set the 'ratio' to 100. This has the effect of allocating all of the remainder of the disk to that partition.

Related Hash Entries:

manualFstab, partitioning

postInstall and postInstallNonRooted

This option provides the installer two simple methods for performing post installation activities on the installed system. Placement of these options should / must occur as the very last entry prior to the closing brace ( }; ). You can use one or the other method, but NOT both.

postInstall:

The install script is executed as root on the target computer with the environment set to that of the target computer.

postInstallNonRooted:

The install script is executed within the current environment of the DrakX install program. This could allow you to mount other NFS volumes and copy files to the target computer.

The above says: execute all commands, as though they were typed from the command line, beginning with the next line until the string 'EOF' is encountered on a line by itself.

These options are executed just prior to the computer re-booting at the end of the installation process. This option gives the Installer a VERY powerful installation adjustment capability. The following is a more elaborate example:

NOTE: the EOF (or what you used for <<'EOF') MUST begin in column 1.

During the installation process, you can access a simple command line which is running in the installer's environment (ALT-F2). From there you can enter test commands to simulate those that would be executed when using the postInstallNonRooted method. The root ('/') directory of the system being installed is located in the directory '/mnt':

eg. echo "Hi there./n" > /mnt/root/test.log

If you use the 'chroot' command, you can simulate the postInstall's execution:

eg. chroot /mnt 'echo "Hi there./n" > /root/test.log'

Related Hash Entries:

Depends on what all you installed.

printer

This option provides you with the ability to install and configure none, one, or more printers. DrakX provides installation support for two basic printing systems: CUPS and LPD. The following is an attempt to distill the auto install stuff down to a simple presentation. See the section Problems and Issues.

If all else fails, use the following form to indicate that there is no printer to be installed and then after the install is done, use the printerdrake program to add your printing system and printers.

No Printing System to be installed:

'printer' => undef,

However, for the more adventurous:

CUPS

CUPS provides support for accessing printers connected locally to parallel or serial ports and, somewhere on a network via LPD, SMB or URI connections. The following shows the allowed options for a CUPS printer. You can define multiple printers by adding a named definition for each (the first one listed is the system default). The name used should be representative of the printer its for, eg. HP_990C rather than lp2. However, most of the applications which can print are usually defaulted to 'lp', so use your judgment and adjust to your preferences.

Descriptions:

'mode' - this defines the printing system to be used for the printer being defined. It must be set to 'CUPS'.

'QUEUE' - this must be set to the same value as the name used for this definition. NOTE: the CUPS tools only allow the use of letter, number and the underscore characters. Strange, because the KUPS administration tool lets you add printer names with a hyphen too.

'State' => 'Idle', - this must appear as shown.

'Accepting' - this is used to enable ('Yes') or disable ('No') the printing for the printer. If set to 'No', you can use the CUPS/KUPS administration tools to enable it later.

'DeviceURI' - the defines how and where the printer is accessed and is one of the following forms:

ipp - printer is accessed via the internet printing protocol. See NOTE following. General form is:

ipp://<IP or FQDN>/printers/<printer name>

eg. 'ipp://linux1.eastcott.net/printers/HP_820C',

lpd - printer is accessed via a remote lpd. See NOTE following. General form is:

lpd://<IP or FQDN>/<queue name>

eg. 'lpd://xerox.eastcott.net/PORT1',

parallel - printer is accessed via a local parallel port. General form is:

parallel:<parallel port device file name>

eg. 'parallel:/dev/lp0',

serial - printer is accessed via a local serial port. General form is:

eg. 'serial:/dev/ttyS0?baud=9600+bits=8+parity=none',

smb - printer is accessed via the Microsoft SMB protocol. You must have SAMBA installed. See NOTE following. General form is one of the following:

eg. 'smb://MY-COMPUTER/HP_990C',

socket - printer is accessed via the AppSocket protocol (a.k.a. JetDirect). See NOTE following. General form is:

socket://<IP or FQDN>[:<port number>]

eg. 'socket://hp.eastcott.net:9600',

If a port number is not specified, it defaults to 9100

usb - printer is accessed via a local usb port. General form is:

usb:<usb port device file name>

eg. 'usb:/dev/usb/lp0

NOTE: If you have a machine running with CUPS, then you can look at the CUPS documentation at http://localhost:631/sam.html which has a ton of information. In particular, look at the sections: Printing to Windows Servers, Common Network Interface Settings.

'Info' - this is optional, and is usually descriptive text about the associated printer.

'Location' - this optional, and is usually descriptive text indicating the printers physical location.

'cupsPPD' - this is the CUPS file name for the PPD file associated with the printer. You can determine the filename by using the command '/usr/bin/poll_ppd_base -a | less' to locate the PPD definition for your printer. Each line contains a number of fields separated by a vertical bar (|). The first field contains the filename required for this entry. An alternate approach is to look in the directory /usr/share/cups/model, locate your model and desired ppd file. The value for cupsPPD would be the sub-directory and filename you want. See Examples below.

DrakX creates a file /etc/cups/printers.conf which contains most of the above information. If you peek into the directory /etc/cups/ppd, you will see PPD files corresponding to your printers, and the contents should identify the filename (without the .gz or the directory).

At this time, DrakX does not provide an Auto Install capability to configure the various options for your printers. You may find it more convenient to use the program xpp and make adjustments on the 'fly' or use the various administration programs to setup the defaults for each.

One final note. You normally do not have to set definitions for printers which are already defined on other computers running CUPS, as CUPS checks all other machines to see what printers they are exporting and will make them available to you. However, if they are exporting a printer which is actually on another computer or network and you print to it, then your print job actually goes to that computer first, then it goes to the printer. The downside is that if that computer is off, then you will not be able to use the printers it has defined, so use your discretion when defining printers.

WARNING: Do not omit any of these parameters if you are defining multiple printers.

LPD

The LPD printing system has been around forever and is the standard used on most UNIX / LINUX systems, CUPS being the new one on the block. Consequently, the configuration requirements for printers used under this system can be very considerable.

Again, you can define multiple printers simply by adding named definitions. In addition, you can use the form 'Xerox|lp' to specify which is the system default printer 'lp' as well a more meaningful name (see following descriptions for details).

Before beginning the configuration, get your self a copy of the Printer Database record(s) from the file /usr/lib/rhs/rhs-printfilters/printerdb for the printers that you are going to install.

The following is the general format for defining printers. Note that for each printer TYPE you only have to enter the parameters for that type.