From 96f6ecc165940ef5897d10cd7e962fb44108348d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Frans Pop <elendil@planet.nl>
Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2006 21:30:52 +0000
Subject: * Explain usage of "owner" prefix when setting values for debconf
 variables   intended for the target system at the boot prompt. * Give some
 examples of preseeding questions from the boot prompt. * Document how to
 install the KDE desktop environment instead of GNOME. * Don't list
 unsupported frontends in boot parameters section.

---
 en/appendix/preseed.xml | 27 ++++++++++++++++++++++-----
 1 file changed, 22 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

(limited to 'en/appendix/preseed.xml')

diff --git a/en/appendix/preseed.xml b/en/appendix/preseed.xml
index 7a2ff8d4d..9488398fb 100644
--- a/en/appendix/preseed.xml
+++ b/en/appendix/preseed.xml
@@ -292,14 +292,30 @@ Note that <filename>preseed/url</filename> can be shortened to just
   </sect2>
   
   <sect2 id="preseed-bootparms">
-  <title>Using boot parameters to supplement preseeding</title>
+  <title>Using boot parameters to preseed questions</title>
 <para>
 
 If a preconfiguration file cannot be used to preseed some steps, the
 install can still be fully automated, since you can pass preseed values on
-the command line when booting the installer. Just pass
-<userinput>path/to/var=value</userinput> for any of the preseed variables
-listed in the examples.
+the command line when booting the installer.
+
+</para><para>
+
+Boot parameters can also be used if you do not really want to use preseeding,
+but just want to provide an answer for a specific question. Some examples where
+this can be useful are documented elsewhere in this manual.
+
+</para><para>
+
+To set a value to be used inside &d-i;, just pass
+<userinput><replaceable>path/to/variable</replaceable>=<replaceable>value</replaceable></userinput>
+for any of the preseed variables listed in the examples in this appendix.
+If a value is to be used to configure packages for the target system, you
+will need to prepend the <firstterm>owner</firstterm> of the variable as in
+<userinput><replaceable>owner</replaceable>:<replaceable>path/to/variable</replaceable>=<replaceable>value</replaceable></userinput>.
+If you don't specify the owner, the value for the variable will not be
+copied to the debconf database in the target system and thus remain unused
+during the configuration of the relevant package.
 
 </para><para>
 
@@ -308,7 +324,8 @@ have a shorter alias. If an alias is available, it is used in the
 examples in this appendix instead of the full variable.  In
 particular, the <literal>preseed/url</literal> variable has been
 aliased as <literal>url</literal> and has some extra magic to allow
-shortened urls to be used.
+shortened urls to be used. Another example is the <literal>tasks</literal>
+alias, which translates to <literal>tasksel:tasksel/first</literal>.
 
 </para><para>
 
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