Install (plain) Debian (etch release) via grml [http://grml.org/]

Assuming you want to install Debian to sda1:

mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda1           # make an ext3 filesystem on /dev/sda1
mount -o rw,suid,dev /dev/sda1 /mnt/test # now mount the new partition
debootstrap etch /mnt/test ftp://ftp.tugraz.at/mirror/debian # get main packages from a debian-mirror
chroot /mnt/test /bin/bash    # let's chroot into the new system
mount -t proc   none /proc    # make sure we have a mounted /proc
apt-get install locales console-data  # install locales
dpkg-reconfigure locales console-data # adjust locales to your needs
apt-get install vim most zsh screen less initrd-tools file grub     \
        usbutils pciutils bzip2 sysfsutils dhcp3-client resolvconf  \
        strace lsof w3m # install useful software
apt-get install linux-headers-2.6-686 linux-image-2.6.15-1-686  # install current kernel

echo "127.0.0.1       localhost" > /etc/hosts   # adjust /etc/hosts and network:
cat >> /etc/network/interfaces << EOF
iface lo inet loopback
iface eth0 inet dhcp
auto lo
auto eth0
EOF

ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Vienna /etc/localtime # adjust timezone and /etc/fstab:
cat >> /etc/fstab << EOF
sysfs          /sys         sysfs   auto                       0   0
proc           /proc        proc    defaults                   0   0
/dev/sda1      /            ext3    defaults,errors=remount-ro 0   1
/dev/sda2      none         swap    sw                         0   0
/dev/cdrom     /mnt/cdrom0  iso9660 ro,user,noauto             0   0
EOF
passwd             # set password of user root

mkdir /boot/grub   # setup grub
cp /usr/share/doc/grub/examples/menu.lst /boot/grub
cat >> /boot/grub/menu.lst << EOF
title           Debian Etch, kernel 2.6.15-1-686 (on /dev/sda1)
root            (hd0,0)
kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-1-686 root=/dev/sda1 ro
initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-1-686
EOF
vim /boot/grub/menu.lst               # adjust grub configuration to your needs
cd /dev && MAKEDEV generic            # create default devices
cp -i /usr/lib/grub/i386-pc/* /boot/grub/ # copy stage-files to /boot/grub/
grub install  # now install grub, run in grub-cmdline following commands:
> root (hd0,0)
> setup (hd0)
> quit
umount -a # unmount all filesystems in chroot and finally:
exit      # exit the chroot and:
reboot


   Notice: you can get this tip via running 'grml-tips sarge' on grml >=0.8.

   -- Michael Prokop <mika@grml.org>, Fri Aug 11 16:38:47 CEST 2006