Auto Install for Mandrake Linux | ||
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The automated installation feature of DrakX is controlled by the contents of a file named 'auto_inst.cfg'. This file is generally located on the boot floppy diskette that you create manually, at the end of the initial installation process or, using the Mandrake Control Center (drakconf) from an installed system. However, it can be located in a sub-directory of the method installation source media (see the section The 'auto_inst.cfg' File Location).
The contents of the auto_inst.cfg file are comprised of a Perl Scalar Structure declaration (o) and an optional Perl code fragment (NOTE: the perl code fragment is being removed and replaced with the option interactiveSteps).
The declaration $o = {...}; is used by the DrakX program to preset various options and selections. Within the opening/closing braces are a series of simple and/or compound declarations (representing your selections).
During a manual install, the various declarations are created and the appropriate fields filled in as you made choices from the various screens. Then when you created the Automated or Replay diskette, selected portions of this structure were simply dumped to a file that will control the actions of DrakX when an Automated or Replay install is done.
An Automated Install requires that all the choices be pre-selected using either the file generated by the install program or, manually by you. Me, I am a bit lazy so I generate an initial diskette at the end of the install or using drakconf, then modify it to suit my requirements.
The optional Perl code fragment is present in the file, after the o$ declaration, but only if you created a Replay install diskette and it will look something like the following:
$graphical = 1; |
$msteps = [ |
'doPartitionDisks', |
'formatPartitions' |
]; |
push @graphical_steps, @$msteps; |
It defines the install steps that you want to manually redo. Have a look at the section Replay Install for more details regarding this Perl code fragment and discover the possibilities it can open for you. Also, check the option interactiveSteps. NOTE: selecting steps for manual intervention may result in the corresponding options in the $o declaration being ignored, so be careful.
The remainder of this section describes the options available for the o$ declaration.
As always, if you want the gory details regarding how and what, look on the CD-ROM (or installation source media) in the directory Mandrake/mdkinst/usr/bin/perl-install for the actual perl modules. MandrakeSoft has made the DrakX installer code available for public inspection via their CVS repository (see http://www.linux-mandrake.com/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/). In addition to the source code, there are a variety of documents and text files that contain things you may be interested in.
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Anatomy of the 'syslinux.cfg' File | Options Summary |