What Can be Done in the
Installer Shell
You can inspect and modify the debconf database with
debconf-get
and
debconf-set
. These commands are especially convenient for testing preseeding val-
ues.
You can inspect any file (such as the full installation log available in
/var/log/
syslog
) with
cat
or
less
. You can edit any file with
nano
, including all files be-
ing installed onto the system. The root file system will be mounted on
/target
once
the partitioning step of the installation process has completed.
Once network access has been configured, you can use
wget
and
nc
(netcat) to retrieve
and export data over the network.
Once you click Continue from the main installer failure screen ( Figure
4.26
, “
Installation Step
Failed
” [page 100]), you will be returned to a screen that you will normally never see (the Main
101
Chapter 4 — Installing Kali Linux
Menu shown in Figure
4.28
, “
Main Menu of the Installer
” [page 102]), which allows you to launch
one installation step after another. If you managed to fix the problem through the shell access
(congratulations!) then you can retry the step that failed.
Figure 4.28 Main Menu of the Installer
If you are unable to resolve the problem, you might want to file a bug report. The report must
then include the installer logs, which you can retrieve with the main menu’s “Save debug logs”
function. It offers multiple ways to export the logs, as shown in Figure
4.29
, “
Save Debug Logs
(1/2)
” [page 103].
102
Kali Linux Revealed
Figure 4.29 Save Debug Logs (1/2)
The most convenient method, and the one that we recommend, is to let the installer start a web
server hosting the log files (Figure
4.30
, “
Save Debug Logs (2/2)
” [page 104]). You can then launch
a browser from another computer on the same network and download all the log files and screen-
shots that you have taken with the Screenshot button available on each screen.
103
Chapter 4 — Installing Kali Linux
|
