On Wed, Dec 04, 2024 at 03:00:17PM +0100, poc...@homemail.com wrote: > I do an install to a hard drive and when I get it configured to what I > want i copy to an USB drive. > > Then any time I need to do a install I simply partition a drive, > create the filesystems mount the drive and the USB drive and rsync > from the USB drive. Then I tickle the new drives innards unmount > and place it into the machine. All the "installs" then start from > the same "format/place"
This is of course a very legitimate strategy to do a larger number of installs. But while it has benefits, it also has drawbacks: There are parts of the system that have to be created individually per installation (e.g. host keys for ssh), and storing the install in its installed state might lead to other problems (version drift compared to other new installs, having problems to really reproduce the manual steps of the first install a few months later, etc., having to store a disk image vs. just having a preeseed file (and a few similar config files, maybe a small script). And a fresh install is a fresh install. No manual interventions, less mistakes that can happen. > I can do many "installs" in less time it takes shake a stick. I don't doubt that, I am not sure it is the right thing for my scenario though. I really want to have the preseed install if possible. /ralph
