autoinst

Autoinstall Scripts

This directory contains scripts that automate installation and configuration of various distros.

If a distro supports automated installation and/or configuration, it should:

Call the autoinst_prep function from its extract.sh script to copy the appropriate scripts to the distro's installation media.
Supply an autoinst.sh manifest which sets install-time variables and calls the install helper functions in the correct order.
Supply an autoconf.sh manifest which sets post-install variables and calls the configuration helper functions in the correct order.
Keep helper logic under autoinst/common, autoinst/debian, or autoinst/slakware as function-only scripts so the main runners can source them up front.

Install scripts will run from the installation root floppy so the commands available are very limited. sed and cut are typically available, but other commands such as grep, awk, etc. are missing. sed can be used to simulate many grep commands.
Config scripts run after the base system has been installed so most commands should be available, but they are old versions and likely to be missing some new features.
Some distro directories have their own README files with additional implementation notes. For Debian-specific script layout and generation notes, see debian/README.md.
The main runners source the helper trees from autoinst.d, then source autoinst.d/config/autoinst.sh or autoinst.d/config/autoconf.sh to set variables and call the desired helper functions.
Helper trees such as common/, debian/, and slakware/ are copied recursively into autoinst.d rather than symlinked. This matters for old installers that see the staged disk through a DOS-backed filesystem export.
Some older installers mount the staged disk as plain msdos, so helper filenames and directory layout need to remain DOS-friendly.