DOKK / manpages / debian 10 / di-netboot-assistant / di-netboot-assistant.1.en
DI-NETBOOT-ASSISTANT(1) User Commands DI-NETBOOT-ASSISTANT(1)

di-netboot-assistant - Debian-Installer netboot assistant

di-netboot-assistant [-h] [--version] [--verbose] [--offline] {[install image...] | [uninstall image...] | [uncache image...] | [purge image...] | [fw-toggle image...] | [rebuild-grub] | [rebuild-menu] } [--arch=arch] [--di-args=ARGS] [--target-args=ARGS] [--alias=alias]

di-netboot-assistant is a simple tool to download and extract latest debian installer netboot images.

Unless the -h, --help, -V, or --version option is given, one of the commands below must be present.

install

install is followed by a repository name desired for installation. The repository name has to be one of those declared in /etc/di-netboot-assistant/di-sources.list. The image will be installed/extracted in the default location (declared in /etc/di-netboot-assistant/di-netboot-assistant.conf).

uninstall

uninstall is followed by the name of the repository to be uninstalled (or the repository's alias if you used --alias=). The netboot files related to that distribution will be removed from the TFTP server.

uncache

uncache will clean the cached files for the given netboot image. You must specify a repository name (not an --alias= name).

purge

purge is followed by a repository name desired for installation. purge is identical to running uninstall then uncache for a given repository.

rebuild-grub

rebuild-grub will rebuild the grub EFI netboot image. The configuration itself is set up by rebuild-menu. This command takes no argument.

rebuild-menu

rebuild-menu will rebuild the top level menu. It's only useful if you have modified di-netboot-assistant.conf and you are using some client images that have top level menu (like i386, amd64 and ia64). This command takes no argument.

fw-toggle

fw-toggle is followed by a repository name and adds respectively removes non-free firmware. The non-free firmware will be downloaded if not available from cache. Use n-pkg as repository to add the firmware to packaged installer images.

-h, --help Print this message and exit

Print script version and exit
Specify the alias name under which this repository will be saved. Alias names can only contain alphanumeric, "_" and "-" characters. This is especially useful for daily images. By default, the alias name is the same as the repository name.
Specify the architecture you want to install or purge. The architecture you can use for the install action must be declared in /etc/di-netboot-assistant/di-sources.list. The architecture you can use for purge action in one of those you previously installed ! The usable architectures can be listed by leaving --arch= empty. The default architecture is the current one (as reported by dpkg --print-architecture).
Verbose messages
Debian-Installer boot arguments. The specified arguments will be *appended* to the one provided in the downloaded image, before the "--". (You can also define DI_ARGS= in di-netboot-assistant.conf).
Overwrite the TFTP_ROOT variable given in the configuration. Use DIR as the TFTP server's root directory instead.
Ignore failing image signature checks. Useful when run non-interactively in scripts and images are known to be not signed.
Boot arguments for the target (installed) system. The specified arguments will be *appended* to the one provided in the downloaded image, at the very end of the line. (You can also define TARGET_ARGS= in di-netboot-assistant.conf).
Don't download the files (use the files cached previously).

To install a netboot image for the stable repository, for the default architecture:
di-netboot-assistant install stable

To list the installed netboot images that can be removed:
di-netboot-assistant purge

To remove a netboot image for the stable repository, for the default architecture:
di-netboot-assistant purge stable

To toggle firmware for the stable repository, for the default architecture:
di-netboot-assistant fw-toggle stable

To toggle firmware for packaged debian-installer netboot images, all architectures:
di-netboot-assistant fw-toggle n-pkg --arch=all

0
Successful program execution.
1
An error occurred. (Note that purge doesn't fail if the specified repository doesn't exists).

/etc/di-netboot-assistant/di-netboot-assistant.conf

The default system-wide configuration file. The file syntax must be bash(1) compatible.

~/.di-netboot-assistant/di-netboot-assistant.conf

User's own configuration file. The file syntax must be bash(1) compatible. (See file peruser.di-netboot-assistant.conf, in /usr/share/doc/di-netboot-assistant/examples/).

/etc/di-netboot-assistant/di-sources.list

This file contains the list of downloadable netboot images.

/etc/di-netboot-assistant/pxelinux.HEAD

The content of this file is prepended to the generated PXElinux config file (i.e boot menu). PXElinux bootloader is used on BIOS based i386 and amd64 systems.

/var/lib/di-netboot-assistant/

The folder where hints about installed netboot images are stored. Do not edit those files, re-use install to modify the settings of installed image.

/var/cache/di-netboot-assistant/

The folder where downloaded files are stored (cached) before "installing" them. Use the action uncache to remove cached files.

Do not use sudo to grant execution right to di-netboot-assistant (see the README file).

di-netboot-assistant uses wget or curl to actually download the files. You can set the environnement variables accordingly.

di-netboot-assistant was written by Frank Lin PIAT <fpiat@klabs.be>.

August 2009 Frank Lin Piat