Translations by KURASAWA Nozomu

Using the Debian Installer

How the Installer Works

The Debian Installer consists of a number of special-purpose components to perform each installation task. Each component performs its task, asking the user questions as necessary to do its job. The questions themselves are given priorities, and the priority of questions to be asked is set when the installer is started.

When a default installation is performed, only essential (high priority) questions will be asked. This results in a highly automated installation process with little user interaction. Components are automatically run in sequence; which components are run depends mainly on the installation method you use and on your hardware. The installer will use default values for questions that are not asked.

If there is a problem, the user will see an error screen, and the installer menu may be shown in order to select some alternative action. If there are no problems, the user will never see the installer menu, but will simply answer questions for each component in turn. Serious error notifications are set to priority <quote>critical</quote> so the user will always be notified.

Some of the defaults that the installer uses can be influenced by passing boot arguments when &d-i; is started. If, for example, you wish to force static network configuration (DHCP is used by default if available), you could add the boot parameter <userinput>netcfg/disable_dhcp=true</userinput>. See <xref linkend="installer-args"/> for available options.

Power users may be more comfortable with a menu-driven interface, where each step is controlled by the user rather than the installer performing each step automatically in sequence. To use the installer in a manual, menu-driven way, add the boot argument <userinput>priority=medium</userinput>.

If your hardware requires you to pass options to kernel modules as they are installed, you will need to start the installer in <quote>expert</quote> mode. This can be done by either using the <command>expert</command> command to start the installer or by adding the boot argument <userinput>priority=low</userinput>. Expert mode gives you full control over &d-i;.

For this architecture the &d-i; supports two different user interfaces: a character-based one and a graphical one. The character-based interface is used by default unless you selected the <quote>Graphical install</quote> option in the initial boot menu. For more information about the graphical installer, please refer to <xref linkend="graphical"/>.

For this architecture the installer uses a character-based user interface. A graphical user interface is currently not available.

In the character-based environment the use of a mouse is not supported. Here are the keys you can use to navigate within the various dialogs. The <keycap>Tab</keycap> or <keycap>right</keycap> arrow keys move <quote>forward</quote>, and the <keycombo> <keycap>Shift</keycap> <keycap>Tab</keycap> </keycombo> or <keycap>left</keycap> arrow keys move <quote>backward</quote> between displayed buttons and selections. The <keycap>up</keycap> and <keycap>down</keycap> arrow select different items within a scrollable list, and also scroll the list itself. In addition, in long lists, you can type a letter to cause the list to scroll directly to the section with items starting with the letter you typed and use <keycap>Pg-Up</keycap> and <keycap>Pg-Down</keycap> to scroll the list in sections. The <keycap>space bar</keycap> selects an item such as a checkbox. Use &enterkey; to activate choices.

S/390 does not support virtual consoles. You may open a second and third ssh session to view the logs described below.

Error messages and logs are redirected to the fourth console. You can access this console by pressing <keycombo><keycap>Left Alt</keycap><keycap>F4</keycap></keycombo> (hold the left <keycap>Alt</keycap> key while pressing the <keycap>F4</keycap> function key); get back to the main installer process with <keycombo><keycap>Left Alt</keycap><keycap>F1</keycap></keycombo>.

These messages can also be found in <filename>/var/log/syslog</filename>. After installation, this log is copied to <filename>/var/log/installer/syslog</filename> on your new system. Other installation messages may be found in <filename>/var/log/</filename> during the installation, and <filename>/var/log/installer/</filename> after the computer has been booted into the installed system.

Components Introduction

Here is a list of installer components with a brief description of each component's purpose. Details you might need to know about using a particular component are in <xref linkend="module-details"/>.

main-menu

Shows the list of components to the user during installer operation, and starts a component when it is selected. Main-menu's questions are set to priority medium, so if your priority is set to high or critical (high is the default), you will not see the menu. On the other hand, if there is an error which requires your intervention, the question priority may be downgraded temporarily to allow you to resolve the problem, and in that case the menu may appear.

You can get to the main menu by selecting the &BTN-GOBACK; button repeatedly to back all the way out of the currently running component.

localechooser

Allows the user to select localization options for the installation and the installed system: language, country and locales. The installer will display messages in the selected language, unless the translation for that language is not complete in which case some messages may be shown in English.

kbd-chooser

Shows a list of keyboards, from which the user chooses the model which matches his own.

hw-detect

Automatically detects most of the system's hardware, including network cards, disk drives, and PCMCIA.

cdrom-detect

Looks for and mounts a Debian installation CD.

netcfg

Configures the computer's network connections so it can communicate over the internet.

iso-scan

Searches for ISO images (<filename>.iso</filename> files) on hard drives.

choose-mirror

Presents a list of Debian archive mirrors. The user may choose the source of his installation packages.

cdrom-checker

Checks integrity of a CD-ROM. This way, the user may assure him/herself that the installation CD-ROM was not corrupted.

lowmem

Lowmem tries to detect systems with low memory and then does various tricks to remove unnecessary parts of &d-i; from the memory (at the cost of some features).

anna

Anna's Not Nearly APT. Installs packages which have been retrieved from the chosen mirror or CD.

clock-setup

Updates the system clock and determines whether the clock is set to UTC or not.

tzsetup

Selects the time zone, based on the location selected earlier.

partman

Allows the user to partition disks attached to the system, create file systems on the selected partitions, and attach them to the mountpoints. Included are also interesting features like a fully automatic mode or LVM support. This is the preferred partitioning tool in Debian.

partitioner

Allows the user to partition disks attached to the system. A partitioning program appropriate to your computer's architecture is chosen.

partconf

Displays a list of partitions, and creates file systems on the selected partitions according to user instructions.

lvmcfg