UBIQUITY(8) Ubuntu System Manager's Manual UBIQUITY(8)NAME
ubiquity — install Ubuntu from a live CD
SYNOPSIS
ubiquity [--desktop file] [--debug] [--pdb] [--cdebconf] [--automatic]
[--only] [--query] [frontend]
DESCRIPTION
ubiquity is a graphical installer for Ubuntu, written largely in Python,
using debian-installer (d-i) as a backend for many of its functions. It
is normally invoked from a desktop icon, and presents a "wizard"-style
graphical user interface. ubiquity must be run as root, and will esca‐
late privileges for itself using gksudo, kdesu, kdesudo, or sudo as
appropriate.
ubiquity has multiple frontends, including one written using GTK+
(gtk_ui) and one written for KDE (kde_ui). The first non-option argu‐
ment, if any, is interpreted as the name of the frontend to use.
The following options are available:
--desktop file
This option is passed through to gksudo to provide a better
description for its privilege-escalation message. It is only rele‐
vant when using the gtk_ui frontend.
-d, --debug
Run in debugging mode, sending verbose information to
/var/log/installer/debug that may be useful to developers. (The
/var/log/syslog file is usually required in any case, along with
/var/log/partman in the case of problems related to partitioning.)
Note that passwords will be logged in debugging mode!
--pdb
Drop into the Python debugger in the event of a crash. Only effec‐
tive if ubiquity is being run from a terminal.
--cdebconf
Use cdebconf instead of the traditional Perl debconf implementa‐
tion. In future this may provide enough memory efficiency benefits
to be made the default, but for now it is not really worthwhile and
is therefore for experimental use only.
--automatic
Skip over questions that have been pre-answered by use of a preseed
file. This is useful for unattended installations.
--only
Tell ubiquity that it is the only desktop program running so that
it can customize its user interface to better suit a minimal envi‐
ronment. This allows the installer to be run standalone, reducing
memory requirements.
--query
Print the frontend that would be used and then exit.
AUTHORS
Ubiquity was formerly known as "Espresso", and originally as "Ubuntu
Express", which is written and maintained by Javier Carranza
⟨javier.carranza@interactors.coop⟩ and Juanje Ojeda Croissier
⟨juanje@interactors.coop⟩. This version draws on the work done on Ubuntu
Express, but was renamed to avoid confusion, to reduce awkward branding
considerations, and because Ubiquity concentrates on reusing
debian-installer code and reducing duplicated translation and branding
work as much as possible. Ubiquity has now substantially diverged from
Ubuntu Express and is an independent project.
ubiquity was mainly developed by Colin Watson ⟨cjwatson@ubuntu.com⟩ and
Evan Dandrea ⟨ev@ubuntu.com⟩, with contributions from many others.
The mythbuntu_ui frontend was developed by Mario Limonciello
⟨superm1@ubuntu.com⟩.
Ubuntu August 9, 2007 Ubuntu