Some questions about Ubiquity

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre]

On Wed, Oct 5, 2016 at 12:55 PM, Luca Vercelli <luca.vercelli.to at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Dear developers,
>
> I have a pair of questions about Ubiquity. I want some features, and I
> don't know if they are already supported, or if I need to develop them
> by myself.
>
> (1) Say I want to re-install Ubuntu on my laptop with "the same
> properties" I already have currently:
> -same language
>
> -same keyboard
>
> -same timezone
>
> -same /etc/fstab
>

If it's a non-standard partition scheme, you will need to write it out in
the right format.


>
> -same non-system users
>

This can be handled with scripts at the end of the installation.


>
> Is it possible to tell Ubiquity to retrieve these infos from my current
> installation?
>

Not really. You can retrieve the values by checking what debconf has set,
but if you've also modified things manually, then it might not be accurate
anymore.


> (2) Is it possible to run the installer from the CD in automatic mode
> (i.e. without any human support), just configuring some linux boot
> option? (e.g. the "only-ubiquity" option is good, but probably it is not
> enough).
>

Yes. You can follow documentation that is already defined for "preseeding"
installations:
https://help.ubuntu.com/lts/installation-guide/amd64/apbs02.html

This document focuses on the use of preseed in debian-installer, which is
slightly different than ubiquity. The main differences are that rather than
using "auto", you'll want to use "automatic-ubiquity", and some debconf
keys are different.

As an example, I have an old preseed that should still work:
http://people.canonical.com/~mtrudel/preseed/full.cfg

This would run through a very standard installation, putting everything in
/ (not separating into multiple partitions). The lines that are commented
out are examples for other uses, and don't apply for this standard install.

There is also:
http://people.canonical.com/~mtrudel/preseed/crypto.cfg
Which is an example of a preseed that sets up full-disk encryption and only
stops to ask the user to enter the encryption passphrase. It also contains
an example for a ubiquity/success_command, which would allow you to create
extra users.

The details as to what each line does are in the document linked earlier.



> (3) it is possible to tell Ubiquity *not* to umount the future "root"
> partition?
>

You likely *do* want it to be unmounted normally. If you do any final
"manual" setup of the install as a success_command, then it will still be
available for you when that script runs.

/ Matt
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