[Bug 568704] Re: debian-installer preseed "d-i mirror/http/proxy" sets env http_proxy

[ladiko]

It's offtopic but might help some people having issues with preseed:

I went over to use mksquashfs to get an image of one machine which is up
to date and mount it on another system and use rsync to update the other
machine to the exact same state. I use rsync --exclude /etc/hostname
--exclude /etc/hosts --exclude /mount and more exclusions and get the
same system with specific files unchanged. on new systems I use a
minimal linux from minimal.linux-bg.org on a memory drive and partion
the hard disk, rsync the files to the disk and chroot update-grub etc.

5 minutes installation / update and no need to preseed or download
everthing on each system.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/568704

Title:
  debian-installer preseed "d-i mirror/http/proxy" sets env http_proxy

Status in debian-installer package in Ubuntu:
  Triaged
Status in debian-installer package in Debian:
  New

Bug description:
  Binary package hint: debian-installer

  Description:	Ubuntu lucid (development branch)
  Release:	10.04

  In my preseed file I set "d-i mirror/http/proxy string http://apt-
  cacher:3142/", this is an apt-cacher-ng proxy. This works correctly
  for installing the system.

  I expect "d-i mirror/http/proxy" to only apply to the debian installer
  http proxy (apt proxy), and all other http applications, e.g., wget,
  curl, lynx to not use that setting.

  Instead when I run applications from the Kickstart %post section, all
  HTTP connections are proxied; curl, wget, lynx, hg (mercurial),
  everything. Once the system installs and reboots all is good, the only
  remanence of the mirror/http/proxy setting is in /etc/apt/apt.conf,
  which is fine (though I think that should be configurable too).
  mirror/http/proxy is setting the environment variable http_proxy.

  Repo:
  Set "d-i mirror/http/proxy string http://apt-cacher:3142/" in a preseed (use your local mirror).

  Use a Kickstart post section like this:
  %post --interpreter=/bin/bash
  exec < /dev/tty3 > /dev/ttyS0
  chvt 3
  (
  echo "## http_proxy = $http_proxy"
  echo "## lynx dump head"
  lynx -dump -head http://example.com
  echo "## wget"
  wget -O /root/test http://example.com
  ) 2>&1 | /usr/bin/tee /var/log/post_install.log
  chvt 1

  After install check /var/log/post_install.log and it will look like:
  ## http_proxy = http://apt-cacher:3142/
  ## lynx dump head
  HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden file type or location
  Date: Thu Apr 22 16:29:10 2010
  Server: Debian Apt-Cacher NG/0.4.6
  ## wget
  --2010-04-22 09:29:10--  http://example.com
  Resolving apt-cacher... 10.0.0.10
  Connecting to apt-cacher|10.0.0.10|:3142... connected.
  Proxy request sent, awaiting response... 403 Forbidden file type or location
  2010-04-22 09:29:10 ERROR 403: Forbidden file type or location.

  The workaround for me it to reset $http_proxy at the top of %post:
  export http_proxy=""
  Then all the applications that use http behave normally.

  Suggestion:
  Don't set $http_proxy with "d-i mirror/http/proxy", maybe set $apt_http_proxy if d-i needs an environment variable. For users that need a general proxy a setting like "d-i http/proxy" could be created.

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