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Josh
Asked: 2013-11-25 06:27:34 +0800 CST

How to use debcondf Show results with debconf-set-selections?

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I'd like to know in common how to use the results of debconf-show with debconf set selections to precvonfigure deb packages with the command line or within a shell script

For example

If I use 

sudo debconf-get-selections | grep java7 > result;cat result

I get the following 

oracle-java7-installer  shared/present-oracle-license-v1-1  note    
oracle-java7-installer  oracle-java7-installer/local    string  
oracle-java7-installer  shared/accepted-oracle-license-v1-1 boolean true
oracle-java7-installer  shared/error-oracle-license-v1-1    error   
oracle-java7-installer  oracle-java7-installer/not_exist    error

How would the right debconf set selections line look like to configure the two dialoges that appear trough the installation?

In general how is the right syntax of debconf set selections I assume there are not only booleans like true or false and yes or no

I guess there is much more an other example will be how to select the default desktop manager if lightdm and gdm installed by a bash script.

Is there a general proofed approach to determine and the right values for a debconf package and write a proper bash script that installs something like the webupt8 java package and preselect the values that the user normally would be asked for?

bash

2 Answers

  1. You need to use pre-seeding. The debconf-set-selections command presets answers asked by debconf before installing the package.

    E.G.

    sudo debconf-set-selections <<< "shared/accepted-oracle-license-v1-1 boolean true"

    Then install the package.

    sudo apt-get install -y oracle-java7-installer
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  2. Debconf accepts only a restricted set of possible type values, for instance, boolean, string, note, select, and others, and it's very peaky about it.

    In your question, I assume you want to automate the Java license debconf value, so you may run something like this:

    echo "oracle-java7-installer shared/accepted-oracle-license-v1-1 boolean true" | sudo debconf-set-selections

    If you need to add a string value, run something like this:

    echo "oracle-java7-installer oracle-java7-installer/local string java" | sudo debconf-set-selections

    If you need a select value you may run:

    echo "oracle-java7-installer oracle-java7-installer/legacy select true" | sudo debconf-set-selections

    NOTE: after running these commands ensure the right values are set with something like sudo debconf-show oracle-java7-installer and then, of course, test it on a real server installation.

    TIP: Instead of > result;cat result you may just use | tee result it works very similar but does not wait until the first command completes to show you the content

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