[Freedombox-discuss] [Freedom Box] Finding your FB box on the network

[bertagaz at ptitcanardnoir.org]

On Thu, Oct 14, 2010 at 01:44:14PM +0200, Christian Brædstrup wrote:
> Great that someone else is also working on that problem.
> 
> 2010/10/14 <bertagaz at ptitcanardnoir.org>
> 
> > I guess a way to have a debian web installer would be to use the
> > passthrough fontend module of cdebconf, which is some kind of FIFO
> > frontend, and like you said have a minimalistic web server (I'd say thttpd
> > or so rather than nginx, which is maybe overkill for this) with a CGI that
> > would use the FIFO interface of this frontend module to answer the
> > installer questions via a web interface.
> >
> 
> I agree with you on using the thttpd webserver. I just forgot that when I
> wrote the scripts :)
> I don't know if you would be able to use cdebconf for the installation.
> Perhaps using cdebootstrap to copy the files and setup the system and then
> use cdebconf when writing the preseed conf files to the installer. I think
> the best solution would be a web interface with some common questions about
> how to install the system. When all the infomation is collected the CGI
> program writes a shell script to handle the installation (with cdebootstrap
> and cdebconf) and executes it. Does anyone have a better plan? I am not that
> much into the debian install process.

I was thinking of a process where either the user download an installer to
boot his machine on and install his FB, or he buy a plug with an installer
already shipped in he just have to boot to install. Then use the web
interface of the debian installer. But not sure it's feasable easily.

> 
> > But that'd suppose to have a configured network at boot, which might
> > accomplished with the 'ip' option pass to the kernel at boot, but then
> > should it be static IP or dhcp?
> >
> 
> I think most non-techs use a router with DHCP to access the internet. I
> could of course be wrong but in my experience it is the most common
> configuration.

Yeah, but how does the user know what IP address his FB had by the DHCP so
that he can install it with the web interface? Zeroconf might be the
answer, but as I'm talking about using the debian installer, that'd mean
put avahi in it, which I'm not sure is feasable nor is a good idea. Like
what if a malicious user is on the network you're installing the FB on. If
he/she uses zeroconf too, that'd be problematic.

> 
> > That's mean to hack a bit the debian installer to add a web menu at boot,
> > which would install a webserver .udeb.
> 
> 
> I am more to the live-cd solution because then the user can choose where to
> install the system. You don't have that options if you have to install the
> system before you can use it.

I'm not sure to understand the process. Where does the user put the
liveCD? I guess the "where" is related to the FB box, so I don't
understand why the user would have to choose the location of the
installation.

Actually the debian liveCD doesn't have an installation mechanism, but
AFAIK they are working on it. If you want to play with it, you might want
to read live-* mailing-list or read the sources. Not sure what the state
of this installation in debian live though.

> 
> > I also saw that debconf actually already has a web interface, which is
> > really minimalistic, and is listening only on localhost since version
> > 0.2.0. Maybe a way to go forward on this project might be to begin to hack
> > on this and enhance this web interface.
> >
> 
> Do you have a link? Can't find it on google.

In debconf's sources or in it's svn : 

http://svn.debian.org/wsvn/debconf/trunk/src/debconf/Debconf/FrontEnd/Web.pm

In the 0.2.0 changelog, they mention they limited the web frontend on
localhost :
http://packages.debian.org/changelogs/pool/main/d/debconf/debconf_1.5.36/changelog#versionversion0.2.0

something like rev 1484 in debconf's svn.

Bert.