doinstall 1.0

This package contains Expect scripts which can re-partition, initialize,
install and configure Linux on a machine, based on a previous, manually
configured, machine.

It is intended to be used from a NFS-mounted root directory, as created
by makeinstallroot.

The idea here is to set up one machine however you like, make backups of
that machine's filesystems, and then use those backups to install any
number of new machines.

It has been used to install Debian machines in the Univ. of Texas Dept. of
Comp. Sci. for several years.

REQUIREMENTS

* Expect.  Tested with version 1.1, TCL 8.3.

* Some way to boot a machine, start the Linux kernel, have the kernel
get an IP address, and mount the root directories.  We have used
etherboot-4.6.5, the Linux kernel up to 2.2.19, and the ISC DHCP server
(2.2).  In the past, we have used a Linux kernel on a floppy. rather
than etherboot.

For more information, see the root-over-nfs HOWTO.

INSTALLATION NOTES

Untar this package in the installation root directory.

CONFIGURATION

Copy the sample.ptable and edit it to reflect how your machines will be
set up.  This file is an Expect script, which will be sourced by the
doinstall and runfdisk scripts.  The basic elements of the file is the
ptable array (with the size, in megabytes, and mount point or type of
each partition on the machine), the pcount (the number of partitions),
the imagedir (where the backups are located), and calls to updatefs for
each of the partitions, listing the update scripts for each partition.
Other variables needed by the update scripts can also be set.

Create an image directory (as seen in the sample.ptable) and populate it
with backup images.  The images can be either of two flavors:

* dump.  Created by something like "dump 0f - <path> | gzip", these
should be named <underscore path>.gz, where the <underscore path> is the
path of the mount point with the slashes ("/") replaced by underscores
("_").

* tar.  Created with "tar -cf - <path> | gzip".  The image should be
named <underscore path>.tar.gz.

USAGE

Boot the new machine using the root-over-NFS installation root.  Run the
script doinstall with the command line "doinstall <ptable file> <device
file>".  The ptable file is what was created above.  The device file is
the device to be installed on, i.e. /dev/hda or /dev/sda.

CUSTOMIZATION

The update scripts found in the updates directory do most of the work
of customizing the image on the new machine.  Each is read when the
"updatefs" command is seen in the ptable file, and called when the
filesystem listed there is mounted on $target.  New update scripts can
be used to do any other needed configuration.

LICENSE

makeinstallroot is free software.  See the file COPYING for copying
conditions.

BUGS

Please send all bug reports to mcguire@crsr.net.