debseed 0.1.3
Create ISO images to automate Debian installations, by appending a preseed file to Debian official images.
Requires Python: >=3.7.3
Keywords: adaptation,iso,installation,debian,netinst,preseed

Debseed
=======

Create ISO images to automate Debian installations, by appending a [preseed file](https://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller/Preseed) to Debian official images.


## Prerequisites

This application must be run on Linux and requires _python3_, _xorriso_ and _isolinux_. Example on Debian:

    sudo apt install python3-pip xorriso isolinux

## Installation

Install the application using _pip_:

    pip3 install debseed

Or, if you wish to automatically publish the generated ISO files to a VMWare datastore, install the application with additional dependencies:

    pip3 install debseed[vmware]

## Usage examples

Download latest Debian ISO file and generate a custom ISO file from it, using the generic edition:

    debseed update

Generate a custom ISO file from a specific image and preseed file:

    debseed generate debian-11.5.0-amd64-netinst.iso path/to/preseed.cfg

To print full usage instructions, run:

    debseed --help


## Configuration

Configuration of Debseed is defined in the following files (by decreasing priority):

- `local.conf` in current working directory
- `~/.config/debseed/debseed.conf` in home directory
- `C:/ProgramData/debseed/debseed.conf` (Windows) or `/etc/debseed/debseed.conf` (Linux)

Configuration section `[debseed]` contains general-purpose application settings.

Specific sets of generation parameters, called _editions_, are configured in their own configuration section. For example, section named `default` is configured using configuration section `[debseed:default]`.

See [example](https://gitlab.com/ipamo/debseed/-/blob/main/example.conf).


## Development

Create Python virtual environment (example on a Debian workstation):

    python3 -m venv .venv
    source .venv/bin/activate
    python -m pip install --upgrade pip wheel
    pip install -r requirements_all.txt

Run commands:

    python -m debseed --help

Clean repository:

```sh
find . \( -name __pycache__ -o -name build -o -name dist -o -name "*.egg-info" \) -not -path "./.venv/*" -exec rm -rf {} \;
```

Create Python redistribuable package:

    pip wheel --no-deps -w dist .

Prepare Twine for package upload (if necessary):

```ps1
pip install twine
$env:REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE="...ca-certificates.crt"
```

Check package (in particular, verify version in file name):

    twine check dist/...

Upload le paquet:

    twine upload --repository ...  dist/...


## Troubleshooting

## Display information about an ISO file

Using command `isoinfo` from Debian package `genisoimage`:

    isoinfo -d -i path.iso

### Extract initial ramdisk

    cd debseed.tmp/...
    mkdir extracted-initrd
    cd  extracted-initrd
    cpio -idm < ../initrd

### Update Debian signing GPG key

    gpg --keyserver hkp://keyring.debian.org:80 --keyserver-options http-proxy=http://... --recv-keys DF9B9C49EAA9298432589D76DA87E80D6294BE9B
    gpg --output debseed/assets/debian-cd-signing.gpg --export DF9B9C49EAA9298432589D76DA87E80D6294BE9B

### Create local NAT network 10.0.2.2/24 for Hyper-V VMs

To reproduces VirtualBox default networking, where `10.0.2.2` is the address of the host as seen from the VMs, configure an internal virtual switch in Hyper-V, using the following Powershell commands (with elevated privileges):

```ps1
New-VMSwitch -Name "10.0.2 Switch" -SwitchType Internal -Notes "For VMs in network 10.0.2.2/24"
New-NetIPAddress -IPAddress 10.0.2.2 -PrefixLength 24 -InterfaceAlias "vEthernet (10.0.2 Switch)"
Get-NetNat | ? Name -Eq "10.0.2 Nat" | Remove-NetNat -Confirm:$False
New-NetNat -Name "10.0.2 Nat" -InternalIPInterfaceAddressPrefix 10.0.2.0/24
```