Install Debian Lenny from CLI
 

Hi all,

I've been working with Debian and it's variants(Ubuntu, Mint) for about 2 years now. I'm bored at work and got to thinking that as much as I know about Linux now compared to when I started(enough --> none), I can always learn more. I notice I learn more by doing than by reading like many others and like a hands on approach, and if I screw something up, even better as I can learn from that mistake not just what happens but why it happens and how it can be avoided.

Anyways, I was installing Lenny on a VM and was going through the install options and was playing with an ssh install when I thought I might be able to install totally from the command line. I'd be surprised if I couldn't, and while I realize it's probably not the easiest thing to do, what have I got to lose? I managed to get as far as the shell but then i'm sort of at a loss. I think I have all the pieces(load components from media, configure packages, partition, install) but I can't really put them together. I guess my question is, how do I go about, if at all, installing from the shell? I figure if I can do this i'll learn quite a bit more about the install process and can help myself out down the road if I'm not reliant on the hand-holding gui install.

I'm a little unsure of what you are trying to achieve here.
Are you trying to avoid using the Debian installer? be it the ncurses interface or the gui?.
Or are you asking how to install X and some sort of window manager after you have installed the minimum system ie, a net-install?.

Not sure if this may interest you. But I'll throw it out there anyways. Not Lenny. But Squeeze.
Cli Installer. No X. Used it on my Amrel RT 686 Laptop to build up what I wanted on it.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...core-iso-2953/

The tools are already there for you to use. I posted because of

and

Good Luck and Happy Trails, Rok

Sorry if I wasn't clear enough. I'm trying to do a fresh install of Lenny without the help of the gui(ie, not the gui installer and not the 'non-gui' prompting installer). I want to install purely from the cli by just issuing commands, which I assume is all the gui does, acts as a front end to a series of commands. I googled a bit but turned up nothing on the subject.

It is possible to install Debian without using the installer if you have some kind of Linux installed on your machine already:

http://www.uk.debian.org/releases/st...apds03.html.en

Other than that,it's the more usual methods:

http://www.uk.debian.org/releases/st...h02s04.html.en

I would think the Debian installer, (GUI), adheres to a script to install the base system, the packages installed and set up before tasksel appears offering predefined collections of software. Find and dissect the scripts within the installer to figure out what it does.

I ran through an expert install and had the option to save a log. syslog has a(verbose) output of everything that was done through the install. Now I suppose it's just a matter of going through the scripts that are called. Just sifting through step one, the hw-detect script, is already quite a chore for me as I know next to nothing about how Linux detects and loads hardware. Looks like I've got all info I need to last me a while, and I've got a lot to learn yet.

@ rokytnji/the trooper, I was looking more for info on how a standard Debian system goes about getting installed, though I'll check out that link you posted again later rokytnji.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. If anyone has any other tips I'm all ears.