Well here is a little description of what DrakX needs to work

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* VCS **************************************************************************
********************************************************************************
Like all good free software, DrakX is in SVN :)

You can access it at http://svn.mandriva.com/cgi-bin/viewvc.cgi/soft/drakx/trunk/

or via

svn co http://svn.mandriva.com/svn/soft/drakx/trunk drakx


This is only read-only access. If you want more, tell me (pixel@mandriva.com)

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* Making your custom install ***************************************************
********************************************************************************
If you have your own rpms you want to add, or make your own updated cdrom, you
just have to issue:

% gendistrib --noclean --distrib <DIR>

Where <DIR> is the root of all the distribution.

``gendistrib'' will scan the file media/media_info/media.cfg to search for all
media used. Typically you use media/main for RPM packages repository.

Optionnally, you can modify ``media/media_info/rpmsrate''; this file manages
the relative importance of the files, and thus their installation or not.

To modify the code of stage2, use "misc/mdkinst_stage2_tool --uncompress
install/stage2" to generate "install/stage2/live". When you are done, use
"misc/mdkinst_stage2_tool --clean --compress install/stage2".
See below for information about these files.

********************************************************************************
* FILES ************************************************************************
********************************************************************************
First here are the different things needed :

media/media_info/media.cfg
	description of the available install media.
	cf MDV::Distribconf(3)

media/media_info/hdlist*.cz
	table of rpm's headers, referred by ``media.cfg''
	their contents can be listed using ``packdrake -l <hdlist_file>'' or
	or ``parsehdlist <hdlist_file>''.
	! Need to be remade when media/main changes (with ``gendistrib'') !

media/media_info/compssUsers.pl

media/media_info/rpmsrate
	ranks and classify packages, so that the installer will know which
        ones to install. format is :
		<intern_group>
			<level> <packages>
	where <intern_group> is a symbolic name used in media/media_info/compssUsers* files,
	and <level> defines importance level as described below :
		5	mandatory
		4	important
		3	interesting
		2	nice
		1	maybe
	installer selects packages for level 4 (important) and 5 (mandatory).
 	packages in other level (3, 2, 1) can only be selected using
	individual package selection.

install/stage2/mdkinst.sqfs
	for the compressed loopback of install.
	generated from install/stage2/live tree using misc/mdkinst_stage2_tool

install/stage2/rescue.sqfs
	rescue ramdisk. create_compressed_fs iso file
	this is the ramdisk loaded when typing rescue on boot prompt.

install/images/all.img
	fat16 image to dd on a partition (hint: sda1)

install/images/boot.iso
	iso image to burn enabling any install (cdrom/hd/nfs/ftp)

  To boot from cdrom, use boot.iso
  To boot from network, use isolinux/alt0/all.rdz + vmlinuz via pxe
  To boot from hd (esp. usb key), use all.img.

  NB for usb boot: 
    - it seems some bioses don't use the code on MBR (sda), 
      or at least skip it when it's blanked
      (eg: "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=1 count=446")
    - some bioses need it. I had some luck using
      dd if=/usr/lib/extipl/aldebaran.bin of=/dev/sda
      (install package extipl first)

********************************************************************************
* logs *************************************************************************
********************************************************************************
During install, a lot of interesting stuff can be found in different places:
in consoles and in files. To switch to console 2 for example, do Ctrl-Alt-F2
from the X install.
- alt-F1: the stdout of the install. Not very interesting stuff
- alt-F2: simple shell. Quite a lot of commands are available but as they are
written in perl (for space), they do not handle the very same options as normal.
After install, you can do ``chroot /mnt'' to see your system just like after
rebooting. ``rpm -qa'' works for example.
- alt-F3: a lot of interesting things. Be carefull, some ``ERROR'' messages are
not interesting.
- alt-F4: kernel's place. aka the output of dmesg.
- alt-F7: the graphical install lives there

- command "bug" puts on floppy/usb-key lots of interesting stuff.
- /tmp/stage1.log: same as alt-F3 part when stage1 run (e.g. actions
  before graphical install really begins)
- /tmp/ddebug.log: (nearly the) same as latter alt-F3 part
- /tmp/syslog: same as alt-F4
- /mnt/root/drakx/ddebug.log: at the end of each step, DrakX tries to backup
  /tmp/ddebug.log to /mnt/root/drakx. Available only after mounting of /.
- /mnt/root/drakx/install.log: the log of the installation (or upgrade) of the rpms
(just like rpm's /mnt/tmp/(install|upgrade).log)
- /mnt/root/drakx/auto_inst.cfg.pl: a kickstart file generated at the end of each
step. Can be used in 2 ways: kickstart install or ``defcfg'' install. Hopefully
you know about kickstart. ``defcfg'' is a way to customize the default values in
install. For example, French can be the default language with a qwerty keyboard,
the auto-partitionning partitions can be changed, the default user class can be
set to developer (!)...

********************************************************************************
* modules **********************************************************************
********************************************************************************
To manually install a module during install, switch to console #2
and type "modprobe <modulename>". The modprobe program is a perl
wrapper around /usr/bin/insmod.

********************************************************************************
* Making screenshots ***********************************************************
********************************************************************************
1. easy solution: press "F2"!

2. On a test machine, make a network install, switch to console (ctrl-alt-F2), enter:
% xhost+
then, on another computer:
% DISPLAY=test_machine:0 xwd -root | convert - screenshot.png

********************************************************************************
* Auto install *****************************************************************
********************************************************************************
A powerful auto-install system is available. It allows performing
an install without any human interaction.

To feed automatic parameters to the stage1 part (the textmode
part - might not be necessary for you if you plan to do
cdrom-based auto-installs, but mostly highly needed when doing
network installs), please refer to ../mdk-stage1/doc/TECH-INFOS.

About the stage2 part (the actual installer, at the time you're
(usually) running in graphical mode), please refer to the nice
documentation written by David Eastcott. Either install the
package "drakx-autoinstall-doc" from contrib, or browse:

http://members.shaw.ca/Mandrake2/drakx/9.2/AutoInstall-9.2.2.html

The previous document will explain you how to setup the contents
of the auto_inst.cfg file. Note that you have 3 alternatives for
providing this file:
- from a floppy disk; use "kickstart=floppy" as kernel parameter,
  as explained in the document
- from the installation volume itself; put the file in the
  "install" directory of the installation volume; use
  "kickstart" only, or "kickstart=filename" to specify another
  filename than auto_inst.cfg
- specified by the network; setup your DHCP server to provide the
  "bootfile" parameter, this file will be used as the
  "auto_inst.cfg" file; in this case you also need to provide the
  "netauto" boot parameter

In any case, if the specified file ends with -IP or -IP.pl, IP
will be substituted by the IP address of the machine, when doing
a network install. Might be useful so that you can control all
your auto installs from your server.

********************************************************************************
* Miscellaneous ****************************************************************
********************************************************************************
>  o Media access methods: nfs, ftp, http, hd, cdrom
>  o Stages: init, stage1, stage2
>    - What exactly each stage does

init loads stage1
stage1 loads stage2, from various medium type

>    - How one stage terminates and another begins. i.e., How does
>      stage1 find, mount, and launch stage2?

  /sbin/init just starts /sbin/stage1, and monitors its
execution; it's here to cleanly umount the partitions when stage1
or stage2 dies/finished

  /sbin/stage1 takes care of mounting stage2 (in ramdisk if
necessary) then it execs /usr/bin/runinstall2 (thus, stage2
replaces stage1, and init then monitors stage2)

>  o Text and Graphic mode installers
>    - Architectural overview of each

have a look at drakx/docs/object_class.fig