http://www.phys.ethz.ch/~franklin/Projects/dphys2/README
copyright ETH Zuerich Physics Departement, use under either BSD or GPL license
author Neil Franklin, last modification 2004.03.12

Introduction to Debian Powered Hosts Yet Simple, Version 2 (dphys2)
Simple Automated Installer (SAI) for Debian 3.0 (woody)


Aim

This program is aimed at (re-)installing our over 100 Debian systems without
having to baby-sit the official interactive installer for an hours time for
each machine. Aim is to be able to simply insert rescue and modified root disk,
answer a few questions and then walk away, while the machine does its full
install.


Preconditions

This program only works on machines with network, as it fetches its install
data this way. It can use either static IP config or fetch one via DHCP.


Tools

This project has produced an modified root disk containing:

- mainly original Debian code
- an replacement for /usr/bin/dbootstrap which already knows what to do
  This is an /bin/sh Shell script, with config settings at the beginning
- an subset of drivers.tar.gz for the few ethernet cards we use
- routines to modify the second stage of install (after the reboot) to load
  all the packages and configurations we want
- selection of drivers.tar.gz for 2.2(.20), 2.4(.18) or custom kernel

It has also produced an modified rescue disk and drives.tgz containing:

- original Debian layout
- an replacement kernel, make to users and version specification
- replacement drivers.tgz with fitting modules

It has also produced an boot CD and netboot support

It has also produced various tools for automated maintenance:

- tool for making own source packages
- tool for making an apt-get compatible website
- tool for auto-installing and upgrading and removing packages from cron/init


Code

This project is fully open source. Documentation gets written together with the
code. Everything I write is immediately available for download. Current version
is what I am working on, if I write a bug you crash the next day. Older stable
versions are archived as Milestones.


State

Fourth milestone release


Installation

There is a installation guide at:
http://www.phys.ethz.ch/~franklin/Projects/dphys2/INSTALL


Questions

There is a FAQ file at:
http://www.phys.ethz.ch/~franklin/Projects/dphys2/FAQ