UDIB
UDIB is the unattended debian installation (image) builder.
As the name would suggest, it is a tool which builds a debian installation image which, if used to boot from, installs the latest stable release of Debian Linux to the machine without any user interaction required whatsoever.
Configuration of the installed system takes place while building the image using UDIB.
Prerequisites
Target machine
Any target machine on which you wish to install Debian using images built using UDIB must fulfil the following requirements:
- Architecture: An x64-amd CPU
- Network access: an ethernet connection with internet access (wifi does not work)
Build machine
UDIB has the following dependencies, installed on and in the $PATH of the machine on which you build your image:
python3(3.10.4 known to work)-
xorriso(1.5.4 known to work)- part of xorriso on Debian bullseye
- part of extra/libisoburn on Arch Linux
gpg(2.2.32 known to work)
Internet access is required so that UDIB can download the Debian installation image.
How it works
UDIB does the following:
- download the latest debian stable installation ISO
- verify integrity and authenticity of the obtained ISO
- extract the ISO
- interactively build a preseed configuration for the debian installer
- inject the preseed configuration into the ISO's initrd
- repack the modified ISO
Preseeding
The Debian project provides a well-written and detailed official guide on how preseeding works, and how to implement it. The Debian wiki offers a quick overview of preseeding as well.
Example preseeding configurations are provided as well. The basic example is what UDIB is based on, but much more detailed preseeding is also possible, as seen in the full example.
ISO repacking
The Debian wiki provides both a basic guide and a detailed guide on repacking debian installation images with the preseed file (and other files) contained within.