blog/data/2014-09-26-skolelinux-jessie.txt

   1 Title: How to test Debian Edu Jessie despite some fatal problems with the installer
   2 Tags: english, debian, debian edu
   3 Date: 2014-09-26 12:20
   4
   5 <p>The <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux
   6 project</a> provide a Linux solution for schools, including a
   7 powerful desktop with education software, a central server providing
   8 web pages, user database, user home directories, central login and PXE
   9 boot of both  clients without disk and the installation to install Debian
  10 Edu on machines with disk (and a few other services perhaps to small
  11 to mention here).  We in the Debian Edu team are currently working on
  12 the Jessie based version, trying to get everything in shape before the
  13 freeze, to avoid having to maintain our own package repository in the
  14 future.  The
  15 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Status/Jessie">current
  16 status</a> can be seen on the Debian wiki, and there is still heaps of
  17 work left.  Some fatal problems block testing, breaking the installer,
  18 but it is possible to work around these to get anyway.  Here is a
  19 recipe on how to get the installation limping along.</p>
  20
  21 <p>First, download the test ISO via
  22 <a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.no/cd-edu-testing-nolocal-netinst/debian-edu-amd64-i386-NETINST-1.iso">ftp</a>,
  23 <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.no/cd-edu-testing-nolocal-netinst/debian-edu-amd64-i386-NETINST-1.iso">http</a>
  24 or rsync (use
  25 ftp.skolelinux.org::cd-edu-testing-nolocal-netinst/debian-edu-amd64-i386-NETINST-1.iso).
  26 The ISO build was broken on Tuesday, so we do not get a new ISO every
  27 12 hours or so, but thankfully the ISO we already got we are able to
  28 install with some tweaking.</p>
  29
  30 <p>When you get to the Debian Edu profile question, go to tty2
  31 (use Alt-Ctrl-F2), run</p>
  32
  33 <p><blockquote><pre>
  34 nano /usr/bin/edu-eatmydata-install
  35 </pre></blockquote></p>
  36
  37 <p>and add 'exit 0' as the second line, disabling the eatmydata
  38 optimization.  Return to the installation, select the profile you want
  39 and continue.  Without this change, exim4-config will fail to install
  40 due to a known bug in eatmydata.</p>
  41
  42 <p>When you get the grub question at the end, answer /dev/sda (or if
  43 this do not work, figure out what your correct value would be.  All my
  44 test machines need /dev/sda, so I have no advice if it do not fit
  45 your need.</p>
  46
  47 <p>If you installed a profile including a graphical desktop, log in as
  48 root after the initial boot from hard drive, and install the
  49 education-desktop-XXX metapackage.  XXX can be kde, gnome, lxde, xfce
  50 or mate.  If you want several desktop options, install more than one
  51 metapackage.  Once this is done, reboot and you should have a working
  52 graphical login screen.  This workaround should no longer be needed
  53 once the education-tasks package version 1.801 enter testing in two
  54 days.</p>
  55
  56 <p>I believe the ISO build will start working on two days when the new
  57 tasksel package enter testing and Steve McIntyre get a chance to
  58 update the debian-cd git repository.  The eatmydata, grub and desktop
  59 issues are already fixed in unstable and testing, and should show up
  60 on the ISO as soon as the ISO build start working again.  Well the
  61 eatmydata optimization is really just disabled.  The proper fix
  62 require an upload by the eatmydata maintainer applying the patch
  63 provided in bug <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/702711">#702711</a>.
  64 The rest have proper fixes in unstable.</p>
  65
  66 <p>I hope this get you going with the installation testing, as we are
  67 quickly running out of time trying to get our Jessie based
  68 installation ready before the distribution freeze in a month.</p>