I created my mirror of the Debian archive using the option --dist=3Dsar=
ge
(since the man page recommends not using testing as it is unpredictable). The problem is that when I pointed APT at the local copy of the archive on the filesystem, it choked since the testing->sarge symlink did not exist. This seems like it would be trivial to fix to have the installer look for both. before constructing the sources.list.
Well, the code in apt-setup expects a fully functional mirror, so I guess that there is very little chance that this is implemented.
Maybe a modification to debmirror is order then. The description from the man page seems to indicate that you get a fully function mirror (at least for the part you download):
This program downloads and maintains a partial local Debian
mirror. It
can mirror any combination of architectures, distributions, and sec-
tions. Files are transferred by ftp, and package pools are fully
sup-
ported. It also does locking and updates trace files.
If you agree, I will file a minor bug against debmirror.
Also, I had manually configured the network interface since I was perfo=
rming
the install while not connected. The installer automatically tried to =
get
security updates (without asking first) causing me to have to Ctrl-C th=
e
process or wait for each request to time out. This is probably not a good thin=
g.
This is a feature. Adding security updates is optional but the question is asked at medium priority, so this is forced on default installs. This is a design choice to minimize the number of questions asked to users.
That seems rational. My question is, does the installer try to download security updates even if the network interface(s) configuration is skipped? In my case, I chose to configure the network while not connected. If that caused problems while trying to download the s.d.o updates, then I caused it myself. However, I did not try the install skipping the network config entirely. If the download is still attempted even without a configured a network, then that may be considered a bug. Though, I am not sure how the logic works without a configure network interface present.
Given that this install report is a complete success report, I do as usual with successful install report=A0: I close the bug..:-)
This does not of course mean you weren't right to report. Knowing the installations are correct is important for the d-i team.
Many thanks for yourtime testing the Debian Installer and reporting your results. Have fun with your new Debian system!
-- Roberto C. Sanchez http://familiasanchez.net/~sanchezr
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