We believe that your issue has been closed by the upload of
Version 0.23 of grml-debootstrap from Michael Prokop <mika@grml.org>.
The explanation is attached below

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Format: 1.8
Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2008 23:29:30 +0100
Source: grml-debootstrap
Binary: grml-debootstrap
Architecture: source all
Version: 0.23
Distribution: unstable
Urgency: low
Maintainer: Michael Prokop <mika@grml.org>
Changed-By: Michael Prokop <mika@grml.org>
Description: 
 grml-debootstrap - wrapper around debootstrap for installing plain Debian via grml
Changes: 
 grml-debootstrap (0.23) unstable; urgency=low
 .
   The "hey, rocking - we get patches via git" release.
 .
   * Improve look'n'feel of partition error dialog.
   * Improve documentation regarding installation of bootloader when
     using directories as installation target. Thanks Tong Sun!
     [Closes: issue539]
   * Copy /etc/debootstrap/[s]bin as well to the chroot if they are
     present. Suggestion by Tong Sun - thanks! [Closes: issue540]
   * Apply several patches by Tong Sun (thanks!):
     - allow symlinks when coping existing files to chroot.
     - pre-seed packages using /etc/debootstrap/debconf-selections
       [Closes: issue518]
     - support DEBOOTSTRAP_OPT for passing extra parameters to the
       debootstrap command
     - support KEEP_SRC_LIST to allow user to provide their
       own apt sources.list from /etc/debootstrap/etc/apt/sources.list
     - provide cmdline processing in separate script
     - added the '-d, --confdir=path' option
     - added "--nodebootstrap": Skip debootstrap, only do configuration
       to the target
     - add -v, --verbose: Increase verbosity
     - do not create stage file at finalize()
   * Edit /etc/network/interfaces as well if the file exists already,
     we definitely need at least a loopback interface.
   * Adjust postfix configuration:
     - modify hostname related options in /etc/postfix/main.cf
     - listen on loopback interface by default (thanks for suggestion, gebi)
   * Unify the --bootappend option, it's not --boot_append (thanks for
     the hint, Tong Sun).
   * Support execution of further scripts via options --scripts and
     --chroot-scripts.
   * Drop locales from RECONFIGURE list (thanks for hint, Tong Sun).
     [Closes: issue560]
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 6d6466919938b105b86f30c5365feb5578cef0d8 132572 grml-debootstrap_0.23.tar.gz
 e3f3b902c2e39df72cf1a8fda43e1e2e022e6032 108592 grml-debootstrap_0.23_all.deb
Checksums-Sha256: 
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 29d6a08aefdebbafff9ce191c7b26b726ec3162025970572367e34ac966060af 132572 grml-debootstrap_0.23.tar.gz
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Files: 
 85b199027d9ec98e0ae76711e28ad51e 946 grml optional grml-debootstrap_0.23.dsc
 a1b51640f4d9cceb1950a8bc549235d7 132572 grml optional grml-debootstrap_0.23.tar.gz
 7e19f57f0324a0e1ce730cbf90422a80 108592 grml optional grml-debootstrap_0.23_all.deb

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* Tong Sun <bts@bts.grml.org> [20081113 00:41]:

> well, on 2nd thought, I now think I"ve confirmed that the step to
> (re)generates locale in "stage reconfigure" is not necessary. Because,

> Regenerating locales requires the 'locales' package to be installed
> beforehand, normally in the additional packages list. But when
> installing the 'locales' package, Debian generates the locales, as I
> initially reported, and confirmed right now.

Thanks, pushed a commit regarding this issue that hopefully
addresses this problem.

thx && regards,
-mika-

* Tong Sun <bts@bts.grml.org> [20081113 00:41]:

[...]

> well, on 2nd thought, I now think I"ve confirmed that the step to
> (re)generates locale in "stage reconfigure" is not necessary. Because,

> Regenerating locales requires the 'locales' package to be installed
> beforehand, normally in the additional packages list. But when
> installing the 'locales' package, Debian generates the locales, as I
> initially reported, and confirmed right now.

Ok thanks, will test this as well.

regards,
-mika-

* Tong Sun <bts@bts.grml.org> [20081105 05:09]:

> >> Oh, so configuring /etc/debootstrap/packages doesn't work for you?
> >> Or just isn't it what you want?

> > $ cat -n chroot-script
> >  . . .
> >   160  # install extra packages {{{
> >   161  extrapackages() {
> >   162      if [ "$EXTRAPACKAGES" = 'yes' ] ; then
> >  . . .

> > I was not able to make the condition on line 162 become true unless I
> > applied the patch. I remember that it works before, so I wondered how
> > it worked.

> sorry, I meant,

> $ cat -n chroot-script
>  . . .
>    139  # install additional packages {{{
>    140  packages() {
>    141    # Pre-seed the debconf database with answers. Each question will be ma
> rked
>    142    # as seen to prevent debconf from asking the question interactively.
>    143    [ -f /etc/debootstrap/debconf-selections ] && {
>    144      echo "Preseeding the debconf database, some lines might be skipped..
> ."
>    145      cat /etc/debootstrap/debconf-selections | debconf-set-selections
>    146    }
>    147
>    148    if [ "$PACKAGES" = 'yes' ] ; then
>  . . .

> line 148.

> I can see the message "Executing stage packages", but then nothing
> happens unless I applied the patch.

Sorry, which patch are you talking about? What's missing in
grml-debootstrap's git?

regards,
-mika-

On Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 6:25 PM, Tong Sun <suntong001@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 12:32 PM, Michael Prokop <bts@bts.grml.org> wrote:
>
>>> It is not a big deal for other configurations, but generating locales
>>> takes a lot of time on my PC.
>>
>> Hm interesting. Which "additional packages" do you have?
>> Is the issue still unresolved from your side?
>
> I think I might have found the cause -- my problem:
>
> I have been reusing an old debootstrap local cache, in which 'locales' is old:
>
> The following packages will be upgraded:
>  dhcp3-client dhcp3-common libpci3 locales pciutils perl-base
>
> I think this is the reason, but I'll double check....

well, on 2nd thought, I now think I"ve confirmed that the step to
(re)generates locale in "stage reconfigure" is not necessary. Because,

Regenerating locales requires the 'locales' package to be installed
beforehand, normally in the additional packages list. But when
installing the 'locales' package, Debian generates the locales, as I
initially reported, and confirmed right now.

On Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 12:32 PM, Michael Prokop <bts@bts.grml.org> wrote:

>> It is not a big deal for other configurations, but generating locales
>> takes a lot of time on my PC.
>
> Hm interesting. Which "additional packages" do you have?
> Is the issue still unresolved from your side?

I think I might have found the cause -- my problem:

I have been reusing an old debootstrap local cache, in which 'locales' is old:

The following packages will be upgraded:
  dhcp3-client dhcp3-common libpci3 locales pciutils perl-base

I think this is the reason, but I'll double check....

cheers

On Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 11:03 PM, Tong Sun <suntong001@gmail.com> wrote:

>> Oh, so configuring /etc/debootstrap/packages doesn't work for you?
>> Or just isn't it what you want?
>
> $ cat -n chroot-script
>  . . .
>   160  # install extra packages {{{
>   161  extrapackages() {
>   162      if [ "$EXTRAPACKAGES" = 'yes' ] ; then
>  . . .
>
> I was not able to make the condition on line 162 become true unless I
> applied the patch. I remember that it works before, so I wondered how
> it worked.

sorry, I meant,

$ cat -n chroot-script
 . . .
   139  # install additional packages {{{
   140  packages() {
   141    # Pre-seed the debconf database with answers. Each question will be ma
rked
   142    # as seen to prevent debconf from asking the question interactively.
   143    [ -f /etc/debootstrap/debconf-selections ] && {
   144      echo "Preseeding the debconf database, some lines might be skipped..
."
   145      cat /etc/debootstrap/debconf-selections | debconf-set-selections
   146    }
   147
   148    if [ "$PACKAGES" = 'yes' ] ; then
 . . .

line 148.

I can see the message "Executing stage packages", but then nothing
happens unless I applied the patch.

On Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 1:19 PM, Michael Prokop <bts@bts.grml.org> wrote:

>> >> During installing my additional packages:
>
> [...]
>
>> >> It is not a big deal for other configurations, but generating locales
>> >> takes a lot of time on my PC.
>
>> > Hm interesting. Which "additional packages" do you have?
>> > Is the issue still unresolved from your side?
>
>> hmm... I don't think it is the "additional packages" that matters. The
>> "stage reconfigure" (re)generates locales. This requires the 'locales'
>> packages installed beforehand, normally in the additional packages
>> list. Does Debian generates locales when installing the 'locales'
>> package?
>
> Hm, I'm not sure.
>
>> Actually, I installed the 'locales' package in the debootstrap phase:
>
>>   DEBOOTSTRAP_OPT='--include=debconf-utils,locales,pciutils
>> --exclude=nano,tasksel,tasksel-data,iptables'
>
>> So if you can't duplicate the error, maybe this is the cause.
>
> If you drop locales from DEBOOTSTRAP_OPT: do you see the generation
> of locales twice as well?

sorry for responding late, I'm tied up with other things at the
moment. I'll try it once I can find some time.

>> > PS: Did you check the origin/t/tong branch within grml-debootstrap?
>> > I'm waiting for your "ACK". ;)
>
>> Oh, I didn't make it clear:
>
>>> I don't know how it worked before but this is the only way for me
>>> to get additional packages installed in chroot.
>
> Oh, so configuring /etc/debootstrap/packages doesn't work for you?
> Or just isn't it what you want?

$ cat -n chroot-script
 . . .
   160  # install extra packages {{{
   161  extrapackages() {
   162      if [ "$EXTRAPACKAGES" = 'yes' ] ; then
 . . .

I was not able to make the condition on line 162 become true unless I
applied the patch. I remember that it works before, so I wondered how
it worked.

>> Apart from this, everything is working fine.
>
> Ok great, so I can merge your branch into our master branch and
> release a new grml-debootstrap version? (I'll be working on some
> grml-debootstrap stuff in the next few days anyway, but currently I'm
> concentrating on releasing grml 2008.11-rc1 so I'm quite busy)

sure, shouldn't be of any problem, as far as I can tell.

cheers

tong

* Tong Sun <bts@bts.grml.org> [20081103 19:12]:

> >> During installing my additional packages:

[...]

> >> It is not a big deal for other configurations, but generating locales
> >> takes a lot of time on my PC.

> > Hm interesting. Which "additional packages" do you have?
> > Is the issue still unresolved from your side?

> hmm... I don't think it is the "additional packages" that matters. The
> "stage reconfigure" (re)generates locales. This requires the 'locales'
> packages installed beforehand, normally in the additional packages
> list. Does Debian generates locales when installing the 'locales'
> package?

Hm, I'm not sure.

> Actually, I installed the 'locales' package in the debootstrap phase:

>   DEBOOTSTRAP_OPT='--include=debconf-utils,locales,pciutils
> --exclude=nano,tasksel,tasksel-data,iptables'

> So if you can't duplicate the error, maybe this is the cause.

If you drop locales from DEBOOTSTRAP_OPT: do you see the generation
of locales twice as well?

> > PS: Did you check the origin/t/tong branch within grml-debootstrap?
> > I'm waiting for your "ACK". ;)

> Oh, I didn't make it clear:

>> I don't know how it worked before but this is the only way for me
>> to get additional packages installed in chroot.

Oh, so configuring /etc/debootstrap/packages doesn't work for you?
Or just isn't it what you want?

> Apart from this, everything is working fine.

Ok great, so I can merge your branch into our master branch and
release a new grml-debootstrap version? (I'll be working on some
grml-debootstrap stuff in the next few days anyway, but currently I'm
concentrating on releasing grml 2008.11-rc1 so I'm quite busy)

> I meant everything is fine, having applied the new patch. I was
> waiting for you thinking that you are too busy doing something else.
> Sorry for the confusion. :-)

Ahhhh, alright. :)

regards,
-mika-

On Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 12:32 PM, Michael Prokop <bts@bts.grml.org> wrote:
>
> Michael Prokop <mika@grml.org> added the comment:
>
> * Tong Sun <bts@bts.grml.org> [20081021 19:33]:
>
>> During installing my additional packages:
>
>>  . . .
>> Setting up libpcre3 (7.6-2.1) ...
>> Setting up locales (2.7-14) ...
>> Generating locales (this might take a while)...
>>  en_US.ISO-8859-1... done
>>  en_US.UTF-8... done
>>  zh_CN.GB2312... done
>>  zh_CN.UTF-8... done
>>  zh_HK.UTF-8... done
>> Generation complete.
>> Setting up lsof (4.78.dfsg.1-4) ...
>>  . . .
>
>> Then,
>
>>   Executing stage reconfigure...
>> Generating locales (this might take a while)...
>>  en_US.ISO-8859-1... done
>>  en_US.UTF-8... done
>>  zh_CN.GB2312... done
>>  zh_CN.UTF-8... done
>>  zh_HK.UTF-8... done
>> Generation complete.
>>   Executing stage hosts...
>
>> It is not a big deal for other configurations, but generating locales
>> takes a lot of time on my PC.
>
> Hm interesting. Which "additional packages" do you have?
> Is the issue still unresolved from your side?

hmm... I don't think it is the "additional packages" that matters. The
"stage reconfigure" (re)generates locales. This requires the 'locales'
packages installed beforehand, normally in the additional packages
list. Does Debian generates locales when installing the 'locales'
package?

Actually, I installed the 'locales' package in the debootstrap phase:

  DEBOOTSTRAP_OPT='--include=debconf-utils,locales,pciutils
--exclude=nano,tasksel,tasksel-data,iptables'

So if you can't duplicate the error, maybe this is the cause.

> PS: Did you check the origin/t/tong branch within grml-debootstrap?
> I'm waiting for your "ACK". ;)

Oh, I didn't make it clear:

	---------- Forwarded message ----------
	From: Tong Sun <suntong001@gmail.com>
	Date: Tue, Oct 21, 2008 at 12:19 PM
	Subject: Re: [PATCH] bug fix: additional packages were not installed in chroot
	To: mika@grml.org

	On Tue, Oct 21, 2008 at 1:16 PM, Tong Sun <suntong@cpan.org> wrote:
	> I don't know how it worked before but this is the only way for me
to get additional packages installed in chroot.

	Apart from this, everything is working fine.

I meant everything is fine, having applied the new patch. I was
waiting for you thinking that you are too busy doing something else.
Sorry for the confusion. :-)

cheers

tong

* Tong Sun <bts@bts.grml.org> [20081021 19:33]:

> During installing my additional packages:

>  . . .
> Setting up libpcre3 (7.6-2.1) ...
> Setting up locales (2.7-14) ...
> Generating locales (this might take a while)...
>  en_US.ISO-8859-1... done
>  en_US.UTF-8... done
>  zh_CN.GB2312... done
>  zh_CN.UTF-8... done
>  zh_HK.UTF-8... done
> Generation complete.
> Setting up lsof (4.78.dfsg.1-4) ...
>  . . .

> Then,

>   Executing stage reconfigure...
> Generating locales (this might take a while)...
>  en_US.ISO-8859-1... done
>  en_US.UTF-8... done
>  zh_CN.GB2312... done
>  zh_CN.UTF-8... done
>  zh_HK.UTF-8... done
> Generation complete.
>   Executing stage hosts...

> It is not a big deal for other configurations, but generating locales
> takes a lot of time on my PC.

Hm interesting. Which "additional packages" do you have?
Is the issue still unresolved from your side?

PS: Did you check the origin/t/tong branch within grml-debootstrap?
I'm waiting for your "ACK". ;)

regards,
-mika-

During installing my additional packages:

 . . .
Setting up libpcre3 (7.6-2.1) ...
Setting up locales (2.7-14) ...
Generating locales (this might take a while)...
 en_US.ISO-8859-1... done
 en_US.UTF-8... done
 zh_CN.GB2312... done
 zh_CN.UTF-8... done
 zh_HK.UTF-8... done
Generation complete.
Setting up lsof (4.78.dfsg.1-4) ...
 . . .

Then,

  Executing stage reconfigure...
Generating locales (this might take a while)...
 en_US.ISO-8859-1... done
 en_US.UTF-8... done
 zh_CN.GB2312... done
 zh_CN.UTF-8... done
 zh_HK.UTF-8... done
Generation complete.
  Executing stage hosts...

It is not a big deal for other configurations, but generating locales
takes a lot of time on my PC.