I took my time, but I did a methodic test of the alternative installation method. I have encountered similar gotchas as with new Ubuntu Edgy and I'm glad I have had a previous experience - because the solutions were pretty much similar.
First off, I'd like to point out my goals and method of validation. My main goal with manual installation using bootstrap was to install a basesystem only, with equivalent settings that the debian-installer does using official installation media. This included: * preparation of mountpoints (mainly cdrom) * timezone selection * choice between UTC and local clock * ethernet settings (including /etc/hosts) * setting apt repositories (including security reposiories) * setting up locales * setting up console and font * setting up /etc/kernel-img.conf options for automatic kernel update * grub boot manager installation and configuration * enabling shadow passwords My method was as following. I installed Debian Etch by using official Beta 3 netinst CD first. I've used "installgui" to get an overview of typical options and to get to know what to expect. Next, I've installed Debian Etch by using the same netinst CD, but this time I've used "expertgui" to have a fine control over the installation process. Then I've installed Debian Etch by using debootstrap method, as described in the Installation Guide. I compared the steps and results with the outcome of the previous two installations. Several brief observations. Even though I've installed Sarge several times (especially during its testing phase), I was very keen to see the graphical GTK frontend to the debian-installer. The process and the end result was very similar to the console/framebuffer installer, but anyway it was still done by the means of X11 and a mouse. A very refreshing experience, although not revolutionary at this moment. But the very best part was after installation of "desktop" task. In a word: EXCELLENT !!!!!! Given the experience with Sarge, both during the installation and the ongoing maintenance, this release looks very strong in my opinion. Solid GNOME 2.14, automatic update notifier, clean GTK theme, very good default fonts (at last!) - the overall feeling was very impressive. I'm proud that I can contribute something to this release as well :-) Now to the results of my efforts. I decided to separate my general comments concerning the validation of the alternative installation method (this message) from concrete bug report against installation-guide package, as asked by Frans Pop [1]. A bug report will be posted immediately after this message. I hope this would be useful for the Debian project, as I've tried to describe problems along with my suggestions of how to improve on them. It's been fun comparing Debian Etch and Ubuntu Edgy, only to conclude that the new Debian 4.0 compares pretty well against new Ubuntu (yes!). I appreciate the hard work that the whole Debian developers community did and I welcome a constructive criticism of my feedback. With best regards, Wiktor Wandachowicz [1] http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2006/10/msg00729.html -- Registered Linux user #390131 (http://counter.li.org) -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
