Pre-seed debconf prompts

You can pre-seed all debconf prompts. To pre-seed means to store responses in the debconf database so that debconf does not prompt the user for responses. Pre-seeding enables a hands-free installation for users. The package maintainer creates scripts that automatically configure the services.

The following example shows how to pre-seed an automated MySQL Server installation:

MYSQL_PASSWORD=MYSQL_PASSWORD
echo "mysql-server-5.5 mysql-server/root_password password ${MYSQL_PASSWORD}
mysql-server-5.5 mysql-server/root_password seen true
mysql-server-5.5 mysql-server/root_password_again password ${MYSQL_PASSWORD}
mysql-server-5.5 mysql-server/root_password_again seen true
" | debconf-set-selections
DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get install -y --force-yes mysql-server

The seen true option tells debconf that a specified screen was already seen by the user so do not show it again. This option is useful for upgrades.