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Groups > linux.debian.user > #195164 > unrolled thread

stuck at Debian's text installer numerical Software Selection menu

Started byAlan Tu <8libra@gmail.com>
First post2018-04-30 03:10 +0200
Last post2018-04-30 21:50 +0200
Articles 7 — 2 participants

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  stuck at Debian's text installer numerical Software Selection menu Alan Tu <8libra@gmail.com> - 2018-04-30 03:10 +0200
    Re: stuck at Debian's text installer numerical Software Selection  menu john doe <johndoe65534@mail.com> - 2018-04-30 08:50 +0200
      Re: stuck at Debian's text installer numerical Software Selection menu Alan Tu <8libra@gmail.com> - 2018-04-30 12:10 +0200
        Re: stuck at Debian's text installer numerical Software Selection  menu john doe <johndoe65534@mail.com> - 2018-04-30 12:50 +0200
          Re: stuck at Debian's text installer numerical Software Selection menu Alan Tu <8libra@gmail.com> - 2018-04-30 15:00 +0200
            Re: stuck at Debian's text installer numerical Software Selection  menu john doe <johndoe65534@mail.com> - 2018-04-30 17:10 +0200
              Re: stuck at Debian's text installer numerical Software Selection  menu john doe <johndoe65534@mail.com> - 2018-04-30 21:50 +0200

#195164 — stuck at Debian's text installer numerical Software Selection menu

FromAlan Tu <8libra@gmail.com>
Date2018-04-30 03:10 +0200
Subjectstuck at Debian's text installer numerical Software Selection menu
Message-ID<vK5uh-54V-1@gated-at.bofh.it>
Hi, I'm playing with Debian 9.4 stretch on other architectures via the
QEMU emulator (eventually for security research.) I can't figure out
how to handle the numerical software selection menu in the _text_
installer.

I managed to install Debian x86 inside QEMU, using the newt installer.
However, I'm having trouble getting the newt installer to run on
emulated MIPS (I only see a Go Back button at language selection,
that's a separate problem.)

I can get the text installer to launch via passing
DEBIAN_FRONTEND=text as a kernel parameter, and right now my objective
is to get Debian installed inside emulated MIPS via the text
installer.

The challenge is the Software Selection menu, with items 1-11 with
items like desktop environments, print server and SSH server.

I played with this for several hours yesterday on the x86 installer,
and I could not figure this out. I tried entering numbers separated by
a space at the prompt, entering ? at this prompt. I tried passing
tasks?="ssh-server, standard"
tasksel:tasksel/first?="ssh-server, standard"
with or without a space after the comma. I looked at preseed files to
get the right variables.

I read all about boot parameters. No matter what I did, desktop and
print-server were installed on x86.

I used the newt installer to get x86 Debian installed. But I'm having
trouble with newt installer on MIPS right now.

At the Software Selection menu in the text installer, with typical
numerical options 1-11, how do I make the selection of ssh-server and
standard?

Thanks in advance. I beat my head on this problem for several hours
yesterday, and I'd appreciate a helpful hint.

Alan

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#195170 — Re: stuck at Debian's text installer numerical Software Selection menu

Fromjohn doe <johndoe65534@mail.com>
Date2018-04-30 08:50 +0200
SubjectRe: stuck at Debian's text installer numerical Software Selection menu
Message-ID<vKaNj-ij-1@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#195164
On 4/30/2018 3:00 AM, Alan Tu wrote:
> Hi, I'm playing with Debian 9.4 stretch on other architectures via the
> QEMU emulator (eventually for security research.) I can't figure out
> how to handle the numerical software selection menu in the _text_
> installer.
> 
> I managed to install Debian x86 inside QEMU, using the newt installer.
> However, I'm having trouble getting the newt installer to run on
> emulated MIPS (I only see a Go Back button at language selection,
> that's a separate problem.)
> 
> I can get the text installer to launch via passing
> DEBIAN_FRONTEND=text as a kernel parameter, and right now my objective
> is to get Debian installed inside emulated MIPS via the text
> installer.
> 
> The challenge is the Software Selection menu, with items 1-11 with
> items like desktop environments, print server and SSH server.
> 
> I played with this for several hours yesterday on the x86 installer,
> and I could not figure this out. I tried entering numbers separated by
> a space at the prompt, entering ? at this prompt. I tried passing
> tasks?="ssh-server, standard"
> tasksel:tasksel/first?="ssh-server, standard"
> with or without a space after the comma. I looked at preseed files to
> get the right variables.
> 
> I read all about boot parameters. No matter what I did, desktop and
> print-server were installed on x86.
> 
> I used the newt installer to get x86 Debian installed. But I'm having
> trouble with newt installer on MIPS right now.
> 
> At the Software Selection menu in the text installer, with typical
> numerical options 1-11, how do I make the selection of ssh-server and
> standard?
> 
> Thanks in advance. I beat my head on this problem for several hours
> yesterday, and I'd appreciate a helpful hint.
> 

You simply input eatch desired numbers seperated by spaces:

10 11

will only install package number 10 and 11

-- 
John Doe

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#195171

FromAlan Tu <8libra@gmail.com>
Date2018-04-30 12:10 +0200
Message-ID<vKdUS-2BW-9@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#195170
Thanks John for confirming how things are supposed to work, that helps
because it narrows things down and I don't need to wonder what is the
correct way. In MIPS it turns out choices 10 11 is the default.
Problem averted/bypassed.

We're not going to solve it here, but its still weird. Entering 10 11
on x86 is the first thing I tried, and gnome and the rest were still
installed. The text installer is weird, sometimes I enter number,
Enter and am asked the same question again.

Thanks Dan for the encouragement. Much appreciated too.

Alan


On 4/29/18, john doe <johndoe65534@mail.com> wrote:
> On 4/30/2018 3:00 AM, Alan Tu wrote:
>> Hi, I'm playing with Debian 9.4 stretch on other architectures via the
>> QEMU emulator (eventually for security research.) I can't figure out
>> how to handle the numerical software selection menu in the _text_
>> installer.
>>
>> I managed to install Debian x86 inside QEMU, using the newt installer.
>> However, I'm having trouble getting the newt installer to run on
>> emulated MIPS (I only see a Go Back button at language selection,
>> that's a separate problem.)
>>
>> I can get the text installer to launch via passing
>> DEBIAN_FRONTEND=text as a kernel parameter, and right now my objective
>> is to get Debian installed inside emulated MIPS via the text
>> installer.
>>
>> The challenge is the Software Selection menu, with items 1-11 with
>> items like desktop environments, print server and SSH server.
>>
>> I played with this for several hours yesterday on the x86 installer,
>> and I could not figure this out. I tried entering numbers separated by
>> a space at the prompt, entering ? at this prompt. I tried passing
>> tasks?="ssh-server, standard"
>> tasksel:tasksel/first?="ssh-server, standard"
>> with or without a space after the comma. I looked at preseed files to
>> get the right variables.
>>
>> I read all about boot parameters. No matter what I did, desktop and
>> print-server were installed on x86.
>>
>> I used the newt installer to get x86 Debian installed. But I'm having
>> trouble with newt installer on MIPS right now.
>>
>> At the Software Selection menu in the text installer, with typical
>> numerical options 1-11, how do I make the selection of ssh-server and
>> standard?
>>
>> Thanks in advance. I beat my head on this problem for several hours
>> yesterday, and I'd appreciate a helpful hint.
>>
>
> You simply input eatch desired numbers seperated by spaces:
>
> 10 11
>
> will only install package number 10 and 11
>
> --
> John Doe
>
>

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#195172 — Re: stuck at Debian's text installer numerical Software Selection menu

Fromjohn doe <johndoe65534@mail.com>
Date2018-04-30 12:50 +0200
SubjectRe: stuck at Debian's text installer numerical Software Selection menu
Message-ID<vKexz-2T5-11@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#195171
On 4/30/2018 12:01 PM, Alan Tu wrote:
> Thanks John for confirming how things are supposed to work, that helps
> because it narrows things down and I don't need to wonder what is the
> correct way. In MIPS it turns out choices 10 11 is the default.
> Problem averted/bypassed.
> 
> We're not going to solve it here, but its still weird. Entering 10 11
> on x86 is the first thing I tried, and gnome and the rest were still
> installed. The text installer is weird, sometimes I enter number,
> Enter and am asked the same question again.
> 

Looks like a bug , are you experiencing the same behavior with an older 
version?

For testing purposes I would check if it is fixed in the below link and 
reported if needed:

https://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/

-- 
John Doe

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#195179

FromAlan Tu <8libra@gmail.com>
Date2018-04-30 15:00 +0200
Message-ID<vKgzn-4d7-5@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#195172
John, I do enjoy giving back by documenting and reporting bugs.

Is there some way, at least theoretically, that you know of to get the
text installer to record the output and the responses it think its
receiving? There's going to be an issue if the media is read-only and
it can't write files, that's why I say "at least theoretically".

I know that if an installation is successful, one can do

debconf-get-selections --installer

to get all the variables but I was hoping for something a little more
low level. Thanks.

Alan


On 4/30/18, john doe <johndoe65534@mail.com> wrote:
> On 4/30/2018 12:01 PM, Alan Tu wrote:
>> Thanks John for confirming how things are supposed to work, that helps
>> because it narrows things down and I don't need to wonder what is the
>> correct way. In MIPS it turns out choices 10 11 is the default.
>> Problem averted/bypassed.
>>
>> We're not going to solve it here, but its still weird. Entering 10 11
>> on x86 is the first thing I tried, and gnome and the rest were still
>> installed. The text installer is weird, sometimes I enter number,
>> Enter and am asked the same question again.
>>
>
> Looks like a bug , are you experiencing the same behavior with an older
> version?
>
> For testing purposes I would check if it is fixed in the below link and
> reported if needed:
>
> https://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/
>
> --
> John Doe
>
>

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#195195 — Re: stuck at Debian's text installer numerical Software Selection menu

Fromjohn doe <johndoe65534@mail.com>
Date2018-04-30 17:10 +0200
SubjectRe: stuck at Debian's text installer numerical Software Selection menu
Message-ID<vKiBc-5NT-7@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#195179
Hi Alan,

On 4/30/2018 2:54 PM, Alan Tu wrote:
> John, I do enjoy giving back by documenting and reporting bugs.
> 

:)

> Is there some way, at least theoretically, that you know of to get the
> text installer to record the output and the responses it think its
> receiving? There's going to be an issue if the media is read-only and
> it can't write files, that's why I say "at least theoretically".
> 
> I know that if an installation is successful, one can do
> 
> debconf-get-selections --installer
> 
> to get all the variables but I was hoping for something a little more
> low level. Thanks.
 >

The only way I can think of would be to install debian through ssh and 
recorde your terminal session.
The below link don't use text mode but should give you an idea on how to 
install remotely! :)

https://blog.sleeplessbeastie.eu/2015/10/12/how-to-install-debian-remotely/

To enter expert mode in text mode you would pass 'priority=low' as 
kernel boot parameter ('install DEBIAN_FRONTEND=text priority=low'):

https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch05s03.html.en

This part is untested; to recorde your terminal session you could use 
the script utility:

https://www.2daygeek.com/script-command-record-save-your-terminal-session-activity-linux/


As an aside:

The section 5.4.6 (reporting Installation Problems) might give some 
hints on where the issue lies!:

https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch05s04.html

-John
-- 
John Doe

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#195225 — Re: stuck at Debian's text installer numerical Software Selection menu

Fromjohn doe <johndoe65534@mail.com>
Date2018-04-30 21:50 +0200
SubjectRe: stuck at Debian's text installer numerical Software Selection menu
Message-ID<vKmY9-d8-1@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#195195
On 4/30/2018 5:00 PM, john doe wrote:
> Hi Alan,
> 
> On 4/30/2018 2:54 PM, Alan Tu wrote:
>> John, I do enjoy giving back by documenting and reporting bugs.
>>
> 
> :)
> 
>> Is there some way, at least theoretically, that you know of to get the
>> text installer to record the output and the responses it think its
>> receiving? There's going to be an issue if the media is read-only and
>> it can't write files, that's why I say "at least theoretically".
>>
>> I know that if an installation is successful, one can do
>>
>> debconf-get-selections --installer
>>
>> to get all the variables but I was hoping for something a little more
>> low level. Thanks.
>  >
> 
> The only way I can think of would be to install debian through ssh and 
> recorde your terminal session.
> The below link don't use text mode but should give you an idea on how to 
> install remotely! :)
> 
> https://blog.sleeplessbeastie.eu/2015/10/12/how-to-install-debian-remotely/
> 

Note that when using this approach, it doesn't seem to be possible to 
set the remote frontend  to text mode.

-- 
John Doe

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