got this mail today and found it very interesting, so i'm forwarding it (and my replies) here for your reading pleasure. Begin forwarded message: Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:03:44 +1000 From: Jud <jud@judfilm.net> To: dieter@plaetinck.be Subject: aif -p automatic Hi Dieter, How's it going? Noticed you have started working on an automatic install feature for Arch. IMHO this the most important feature Arch needs. I took the liberty of editing your example file to how, from my experience, I would like it to work. Are these ideas possible? There are many questions inline, hope this helps and I am available to answer any of your questions. If you need some help implementing any of the ideas, I like to try and help out. Regards Jud # AIF Automatic.example # these variables are optional, here are the defaults (feel free to omit them) # # Goal: Setup a very workable machine(s) automatically # SOURCE=ftp usb # [rsync http webdav ftp usb disc] if can't get net connection fallback to packages on boot usb stick FILE_URL=/dev/sdb1 # does the install script know the boot media and /dev address? SYNC_URL=192.168.1.2 # The ftp:// and /${REPO}/os/${CARCH}/ should be done automatically, fallback to pacman-mirrorlist LOGGING_SERVER= # Address to connect to a remote logging server/service EMAIL="Admin Guy <admin_guy@example.com>" # send errors, finished log, etc # verify address first? EMAIL_SERVER="smtp.example.com:25" # Do you want to have additional pacman repositories or packages available at runtime (during installation)? RUNTIME_REPOSITORIES= RUNTIME_PACKAGES=openssh ntp ssmtp # you can optionally also override some functions... worker_intro () { infofy "Automatic procedure running the generic-install-on-sda example config. THIS WILL ERASE AND OVERWRITE YOUR /DEV/SDA. IF YOU DO NOT WANT THIS PRESS CTRL+C WITHIN 10 SECONDS" sleep 10 # countdown onscreen? } # Could/Can this be run from GRUB menu on the boot media - ie no user interaction at all? PROFILES=TestMachine BuildMachine Laptop Server VirtualTest # Profiles would be picked at start of script and/or grub menu? # Detect by MAC address? [TestMachine] MAC=01:E5:17:1C:28:47 # Packages to Install TARGET_REPOS=core extra community # Could add a list of repos to enable eg: testing, kdemod TARGET_GROUPS=base xorg gnome #all packages in this group will be installed (defaults to base if no group and no packages are specified) TARGET_PACKAGES=openssh openssl ntp di memtest86+ alsa-lib alsa-utils xf86-video-ati gdm gnupg firefox thunderbird openoffice-base cups cups-pdf ghostscript gsfonts xsane mc-mp rsync ssmtp ttf-liberation ttf-freefont # you can also specify separate packages (this is empty by default) TARGET_PACKAGES_EXCLUDE=jfsutils reiserfsprogs ppp rp-pppoe xterm epiphany gnome2-user-docs # These packages will not be installed unless needed as a dependency for TARGET_PACKAGES # /etc/rc.conf Settings HOSTNAME="TestMachine" # Could also be prompted as script starts? # Also auto append to /etc/hosts LOCALE="en_AU.utf8" # /etc/local.gen should be automatically set to this option only HARDWARECLOCK="UTC" TIMEZONE="Australia/Brisbane" # Set TZ Environment Variable KEYMAP="us" eth0="dhcp" MODULES=(powernow-k8 cpufreq-ondemand !ipv6) DAEMONS=(@alsa @hal @fam @sshd @gdm) # Append to defaults or supply whole line? GROUPS='staff accounts' # groups to be created USERS='root:[hashed_password]' # Not sure if this is a good idea - how did you handle root? 'fred:Fred Nerk:staff,audio:[hashed_password]' # Might be good to add other options like full name, UID, secondary groups etc 'mary:Mary Smith:staff,accounts,audio,optical,scanner:[hashed_password]' # user would be prompted to change password on first login # These variables are mandatory GRUB_DEVICE='/dev/sda' GRUB_OPTIONS='TIMEOUT=2 0:vga=775 quiet # Add to the kernel= line for grub item 0 1:vga=773' PARTITIONS='/dev/sda 100:ext2:+ 512:swap 2048:ext4 4096:ext4 *:ext4' # The :+ makes it bootable? '/tmp tmpfs' BLOCKDATA='/dev/sda1 raw boot ext2;yes;/boot;target;no_opts;no_label;noatime,nodiratime /dev/sda2 raw swap swap;yes;no_mountpoint;target;no_opts;no_label;no_params /dev/sda3 raw root ext4;yes;/;target;-m 1;no_label;relatime /dev/sda5 raw usr ext4;yes;/usr;target;-m 1;no_label;relatime,nodev /dev/sda6 raw home ext4;yes;/home;target;-m 0;no_label;relatime,nodev,nosuid' '/tmp tmpfs relatime,nodev,nosuid,noexec,size=75% 0 0' # The '-m 0' is the tune2fs command for setting the RESERVED_BLOCKS (default is 5%) # /dev/sda{5,6} would be logical partitions # Could this be expaned to work with RAID? # /etc conf files - from manual installation menu MKINITCPIO= MODPROBE="# Disable IPv6 alias net-pf-10 off alias ipv6 off" RESOLV= HOSTS="192.168.0.1 Firewall" HOSTS_ALLOW="sshd: 192.168.0.0/255.255.255.0" RC_LOCAL="# Syncing Clock if ifconfig | grep eth0 &> /dev/null ; then ntpd -s -d &> /dev/null #ntpdate 192.168.0.1 &> /dev/null fi" # These are user files added to the USB Stick/Disc and transferred after installation but before reboot UPDATE_CONFIG_FILES=.bashrc /root/.bashrc /etc/ssh/sshd_config /etc/X11/xorg.conf # the .bashrc would be added to each created user COPY_FILES=some_printer.ppd # $ cp some_printer.ppd /usr/share/cups/model/ welcome.txt, group_bookmarks.html # these would be copied to each user's home # could be many files with target dir AUTO_REBOOT=yes # yes|no|wait xx POST_INSTALLATON_SCRIPT= # This could be a .sh script run only on first reboot of new system - ideas: alsa-config, pacman -Sy, db update, setup printer, some tests, email admin, install more packages, etc [End of TestMachine] # could be something else or nothing [BuildMachine] # Repeated from above; adjust options [Laptop] # Repeated from above; adjust options [Server] # Repeated from above; adjust options [VirtualTest] # Repeated from above; adjust options # Another idea would be to have a [Default] profile then each following profile would just list the specific alterations # End of File