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https://github.com/geekobiloba/preseeder

Trivial Debian preseed templater
https://github.com/geekobiloba/preseeder

automated-installation debian preseed unattended-installation

Last synced: 16 days ago
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Trivial Debian preseed templater

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README 

        
#   Trivial Debian preseed templater



To simplify Debian automated installation

with [preseed](https://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller/Preseed),

and to make it more manageable,

this is my personal, trivial, and definitely ugly, tiny tool.



It helps me to manage multiple preseed templates,

each belongs to a host group.

Hopefully, it can help you, too.



##  How-to



1.  Create a new template for your host group,



    ```shell

    ./preseeder -t homelab

    ```



2.  That will generate two template files:



    -   `tmpl/homelab/preseed.cfg.tmpl`

    -   `tmpl/homelab/latecmd.sh.tmpl`



    Edit them to match your needs.



3.  Extract all variables used in those template files,



    ```shell

    ./preseeder -e homelab

    ```



4.  That will generate a starter variable file `vars/homelab/var`.



    Copy or rename it to match your planned installation, _e.g._,



    ```shell

    mv vars/homelab/var vars/homelab/host-01

    ```



5.  Edit the variable file to match your infrastructure, _e.g._,



    ```shell

    DOMAIN="home.lab"

    HOSTNAME="host-01"

    FULLNAME="Debian Admin"

    GH_USERNAME="geekobiloba"

    KEYBOARD="us"

    LOCALE="id_ID.utf8"

    TIMEZONE="Asia/Jakarta"

    MIRROR_COUNTRY="Indonesia"

    PACKAGES="build-essential git curl jq htop vim ripgrep bat"

    FILESYSTEM="ext4"

    USERNAME="geekobiloba"

    PASSWD_HASH_USER='$6$RXZ9ccXz07zIlcWK$Q5HMTePavdX9L9HBQWrQtQLcaD6Qz8494CdCBsaPqtfJJVebrGspSYeAFx15X5RzBhdg0rGywEuiqgn4LQ.kW0'

    PASSWD_HASH_ROOT='$6$RXZ9ccXz07zIlcWK$Q5HMTePavdX9L9HBQWrQtQLcaD6Qz8494CdCBsaPqtfJJVebrGspSYeAFx15X5RzBhdg0rGywEuiqgn4LQ.kW0'

    NTP_SERVER="time.bmkg.go.id"

    LATECMD_URL="http://192.168.111.111:8000/homelab/host-01/latecmd.sh"

    ```



    You can create hashed passwords with `openssl passwd -6`.



6.  Optionally,

    copy and edit the variable file for other hosts under the same group,

    each file for a single host.



7.  Then, make preseed files for the whole host group.



    ```shell

    ./preseeder -p homelab

    ```



    Your final directory structure should resemble this,



    ```text

    .

    ├── preseed

    │   └── homelab

    │       ├── host-01

    │       │   ├── latecmd.sh

    │       │   └── preseed.cfg

    │       └── host-02

    │           ├── latecmd.sh

    │           └── preseed.cfg

    ├── preseeder

    ├── tmpl

    │   ├── default

    │   │   ├── latecmd.sh.tmpl

    │   │   └── preseed.cfg.tmpl

    │   └── homelab

    │       ├── latecmd.sh.tmpl

    │       └── preseed.cfg.tmpl

    └── vars

        └── homelab

            ├── host-01

            └── host-02

    ```



### Using the preseed



The straightforward way is to deliver them via HTTP.



1.  Serve the preseed directory with Python,



    ```shell

    python3 -m http.server -d preseed

    ```



2.  Run an ordinary Debian installer,

    choose **Advanced options**,

    then **Automated install**.



    Wait until a prompt

    titled **Download debconf preconfiguration file** appears,

    then enter `http://${WEB_SERVER_IP}:8000/homelab/host-01/preseed.cfg`.



    The installer will continue unattendedly to finish,

    unless there's an error, of course.



Other options

are listed [here](https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/apbs02.en.html),

or using a [DHCP server](https://www.growse.com/2023/05/05/automated-debian-installs-with-preseeding-from-dhcp.html).



##  FAQs



-   _Why bother with preseed when there's Ansible?_



    Ansible runs post-installation,

    and it can't give answers to the installer.

    Besides, preseed is there with every Debian installer since like forever.



-   _Why not cloud-init?_



    Then I'll have to use the Debian cloud images,

    which give me only a few architectures.



-   _How do you use this mostly?_



    Automating Debian installation on niche archs,

    like ARMv7 or MIPSel,

    mostly on QEMU,

    to compile stuff for embedded devices,

    usually runs OpenWrt.



-   _Is there any caveats?_



    Yes.

    This tool doesn't check preseed files validity.

    You should know what you're doing when authoring them.



    Read the [official docs](https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/apb.en.html)

    and

    [partition recipe](https://salsa.debian.org/installer-team/debian-installer/-/blob/master/doc/devel/partman-auto-recipe.txt)

    to learn more.