I have downloaded and burned Debian 4.0 r1 DVD 1, and the NetInstall CD aiming to boot a PC with CD-ROM to install packages over network using the DVD on a PC with a DVD reader... Is that possible?

I have tried setting up a 'mirror' using reprepro to import all .db from the DVD, but when I point to that mirror, at first I could see messages that it could not find the file /stable/Release, then I tried to copy and rename /etch/* into /stable/*, but that doesn't help much - the installer hangs on tasksel...

I'm just thinking that there has to be an easier way to avoid download packages over the Internet when I already have them on a DVD?

Thanks.

I am not certain about Debian's installer, but the Fedora installer has an option for using NFS to retrieve the installation data.

To make this work, you need to have a Linux (or other Un*x) machine with a DVD reader on it, and a network attachment between it and the machine you are trying to install on. In addition, the server (with the DVD) must be set up to export the filesystem on the DVD.

This can be accomplished by putting a line in the file /etc/exports that begins with /mnt/dvd (assuming that is where the DVD gets mounted on your system), and then giving the command
Once this is set up, you should be able to put in the necessary details for NFS mounting the DVD during your install on the target machine.