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globalgoldfish

Member

From: France

Registered: 2019-12-04

Posts: 6  

Netboot, mini.iso files - ascii 2.1

Hello,

The netboot files and the mini.iso image (e.g., ascii/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot and other archs) haven't been updated in line with the rest of Devuan. This means that they are currently unusable because of a mismatch between kernel version (in mini.iso) and kernel modules (in the repo.).

Is this intended, or just an oversight, or work-in-progress, please? The linux and initrd.gz files there are required for PXE booting.

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Nick.

golinux

Administrator

Registered: 2016-11-25

Posts: 3,148  

Re: Netboot, mini.iso files - ascii 2.1

The mini.iso is for internal pre-release testing and not part of an official Devuan release.  If you want to run beowulf, install ascii and upgrade.  iirc there are some unofficial beowulf options at refracta.org.  fsmithred should be able to clarify that.

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globalgoldfish

Member

From: France

Registered: 2019-12-04

Posts: 6  

Re: Netboot, mini.iso files - ascii 2.1

Thanks for your response. I don't actually want the mini.iso image (nor beowulf – see title).

The netboot linux and initrd.gz are the important files. They are essential for booting into the installer by PXE (iPXE) – this is not the same as netinstall – and (afaik) there are no alternative files that allow this.

This is part of my current iPXE menu, showing the Debian and Devuan install entries for comparison:

:debian
kernel http://debian.proxad.net/debian/dists/stable/main/installer-${archl}/current/images/netboot/debian-installer/${archl}/linux initrd=initrd.gz vga=791 quiet
initrd http://debian.proxad.net/debian/dists/stable/main/installer-${archl}/current/images/netboot/debian-installer/${archl}/initrd.gz
boot || goto failed
goto start

:devuan
set base-url ${httpboot-url}boot/devuan/installer/ascii/${archl}/
kernel ${base-url}linux initrd=initrd.gz vga=791 quiet
initrd ${base-url}initrd.gz
boot || goto failed
goto start

The Devuan files are from the same path in the Devuan tree as the Debian files, but stored locally rather than being called from the mirror at boot. Any suggestions for alternative file targets to make the Devuan installer work are welcome.

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Nick.

globalgoldfish

Member

From: France

Registered: 2019-12-04

Posts: 6  

Re: Netboot, mini.iso files - ascii 2.1

Just a PS to say that silently removing the netboot files completely is a bit disappointing. That makes Devuan the only (afaik) Linux distribution that can't be installed by PXE boot.

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Nick.