Fresh Debian Install

*) mkfs.reiserfs /dev/hda1
*) mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1
*) cd /mnt/hda1
*) cdebootstrap sarge .
Don't use debootstrap. I found it very buggy
and make sure it runs correctly
*) cp /etc/resolv.conf /etc/fstab /etc/hosts /etc/hostname etc
*) cp /etc/network/interfaces etc/network/
*) cp /etc/apt/sources.list etc/apt/
Edit those files above if you want something different
*) chroot .
*) mount -t proc proc /proc
*) cd /dev; MAKEDEV generic
*) base-config
*) apt-get update
*) apt-get install discover grub locales reiserfsprogs unzip ssh kernel-image-2.6.8-686
With the exception of ssh and unzip, it is necessary to have those packages
*) mkdir /boot/grub; update-grub
*) umount proc
*) exit
Exit chroot
*) grub
root (hd0,0) 
setup (hd0)
Change this command accordingly
Make sure you do grub outside of chroot shell
and I found it works better doing grub instead of grub-install

*) Make sure if you ever copy this stuff to a new partition
you do it with cp -a. That's very important


#!/bin/bash -v
HDPARTITION=/dev/hda2
HDMOUNTPT=/home
VERSION=sarge
DEBSTATUS=testing
FS=reiserfs
HASPCMCIA=yes
KVERSION=2.4.25-1-686 # if you have pcmcia, make sure they have pcmica modules
WANTX=yes

# make the file system to be reiserfs, ext3 whatever
# mkfs.reiserfs $HDPARTITION

# mount it
mount -t $FS $HDPARTITION $HDMOUNTPT

# debootstrap a new system
debootstrap $VERSION $HDMOUNTPT

# mount proc
chroot $HDMOUNTPT mount -t proc proc /proc
echo "deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ $DEBSTATUS main contrib non-free" > $HDMOUNTPT/etc/apt/sources.list

# mkinitrd is bad at scanning which root device you are using.
# so just make our own mkinitrd.conf

mkdir $HDMOUNTPT/etc/mkinitrd
echo "MODULES=most
DELAY=0
ROOT=$HDPARTITION
UMASK=022
MKIMAGE='mkcramfs %s %s > /dev/null'
BUSYBOX=no
PKGSCRIPTS=yes
INITRD_LD_LIBRARY_PATH=\$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
" > $HDMOUNTPT/etc/mkinitrd/mkinitrd.conf


# add kernel
chroot $HDMOUNTPT apt-get update
chroot $HDMOUNTPT apt-get install kernel-image-$KVERSION
chroot $HDMOUNTPT apt-get -y install discover grub
# don't even need to do mkinitrd
# if failed, do this
# chroot $HDMOUNTPT mkinitrd -k -o /boot/initrd.img-$KVERSION -r $HDPARTITION /lib/modules/$KVERSION

# change your root password
chroot $HDMOUNTPT passwd

# coping some config file from host
cp /etc/hosts $HDMOUNTPT/etc/hosts
cp /etc/fstab $HDMOUNTPT/etc/fstab
cp /etc/resolv.conf $HDMOUNTPT/etc/resolv.conf
cp /etc/modules $HDMOUNTPT/etc/modules
cp /etc/network/interfaces $HDMOUNTPT/etc/network/interfaces

# get reiserfs util
if [ "$FS" == "reiserfs" ]; 
then
  chroot $HDMOUNTPT apt-get install reiserfsprogs
fi

# get pcmcia drivers, software
if [ "$HASPCMCIA" == "yes" ];
then
  chroot $HDMOUNTPT apt-get install pcmcia-modules-$KVERSION
fi

# get X
if [ "$WANTX" == "yes" ];
then
  chroot $HDMOUNTPT apt-get install xfree86-common xserver-xfree86 xserver-common xbase-clients xfonts-base aterm
fi

# I use Windowmaker, so
chroot $HDMOUNTPT apt-get -y install wmaker

# essential software
chroot $HDMOUNTPT apt-get install -y mozilla-firefox xpdf emacs21 gsfonts gsfonts-x11 ssh zip unzip bzip2

# development software
chroot $HDMOUNTPT apt-get install -y g++ make cvs gdb 

# more software
chroot $HDMOUNTPT apt-get install -y gaim bittorrent xmms gxine gift libltdl3-dev

# some tools
chroot $HDMOUNTPT apt-get install -y hdparm dosfstools checkinstall patch deborphan debootstrap

# do base config
chroot $HDMOUNTPT /usr/sbin/base-config

# delete move useless directory
rmdir $HDMOUNTPT/media 2> /dev/null
rmdir $HDMOUNTPT/srv 2> /dev/null
rmdir $HDMOUNTPT/sys 2> /dev/null
mv $HDMOUNTPT/cdrom $HDMOUNTPT/mnt 2> /dev/null
mv $HDMOUNTPT/floppy $HDMOUNTPT/mnt 2> /dev/null

# clean up to save space
/bin/rm -rf $HDMOUNTPT/var/cache/apt/archives/*.deb 2> /dev/null
/bin/rm -rf $HDMOUNTPT/tmp/* 2> /dev/null
/bin/rm -rf $HDMOUNTPT/var/tmp/* 2> /dev/null
chroot $HDMOUNTPT apt-get update
chroot $HDMOUNTPT apt-get clean
chroot $HDMOUNTPT apt-get autoclean

# umount
chroot $HDMOUNTPT umount /proc