If you did not choose to install X, then the previous anXious screens never happened. Either way the next activity is the installation of packages. After some clicks and whirs, apt-get will check for dependencies caused by the choices you made from the task selection screen. After assuring itself that all the packages it wants are in the archives it will list the ones it will be installing, followed by a synopsis of the results of its analysis. The list of packages to install may very well run off the top of the screen too fast to be read. Don't worry, dpkg can tell you exactly which package got installed, once the smoke clears.
On a typical installation, the synopsis lines might look like:
1 packages upgraded, 342 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B/161MB of archives. After unpacking 408MB will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]
Pressing ENTER causes the installation to begin.
Since you removed the CDs after you registered them with apt-get there will be no CD to install packages from. apt-get will prompt you to put the correct CD into the drive and press ENTER. Read the label presented here very carefully. While often the first CD is needed first, sometimes, depending on the packages chosen, a different CD will be needed. Load the CD with the corresponding label into the CD-ROM drive and then press ENTER.
apt-get will scan the packages on the CD and then, most likely, drop back into configuration mode. Many packages now support the use of debconf, which allows configuration information to be gathered before it is needed by the package installation. Once you have answered all the questions in this phase, you might expect the rest of the installation to proceed without your assistance.
Only one example will be presented here. The number of additional configuration screens you will actually receive depends upon which packages you choose to install.
If lynx is being installed you will get the following screen.
If a configuration screen is presented that you simply do not understand, either enter blank data, or, when provided, ask for no configuration at this time. All packages can be configured later, once you understand the necessary information required for their proper configuration.
Once all the configuration screens have been presented and completed, apt-get will proceed with the installation of the chosen packages. This will take some time, and will still require periodic intervention, telling those packages that don't yet use debconf what they need to know to complete their installation.
On those rare occasions apt-get will sometimes fail to install all of the packages correctly. This is most likely caused by an inconsequential error in the postinstall script, leaving an error code around for recovery by apt-get. Like dselect this requires an additional pass. When this happens, the offer to rerun the install will be made, so it is a bit more automatic than previous tools. Once all the packages have been installed the following information screen is displayed:
apt-get install <package name>
and that package will be installed from the proper CD.
You are now ready to begin using and hopefully enjoying your new Debian GNU/Linux operating system.