Cannot install debian on ALT-F

[PoluQxxTroy]

Hello,

When i try to install Debian chroot in Menu Setup > Debian using many sources and storage md1, i get an error message below.

<h2 class="title">Installing Debian </h2> <h5 class="error"><a class="error" href="/cgi-bin/settings.cgi" onmouseover="popUp(event,'tt_settings')" onmouseout="popDown('tt_settings')"> When done you must <u>save settings</u> <img src="../help.png" width="11" height="11" alt="help"></a></h5> <small><h4>Installing Alt-F xz and libcurl packages...</h4><pre> Package xz (5.0.5) installed in /Alt-F is up to date. Nothing to be done Successfully terminated. Package libcurl (7.68.0-1) installed in /Alt-F is up to date. Nothing to be done Successfully terminated. </pre><small><h4>Downloading installer...</h4><pre> --2026-01-22 12:28:31-- http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/c/cdebootstrap/cdebootstrap-static_0.7.9+b5_armel.deb Resolving ftp.us.debian.org... 2600:3404:200:237::2, 208.80.154.139, 64.50.233.100, ... Connecting to ftp.us.debian.org|2600:3404:200:237::2|:80... failed: Address family not supported by protocol. Connecting to ftp.us.debian.org|208.80.154.139|:80... connected. HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK Length: 419108 (409K) [application/vnd.debian.binary-package] Saving to: 'cdebootstrap-static_0.7.9+b5_armel.deb' 0K ................ ................ ................ 93% 1001K 0s 384K ... 100% 39.4K=1.0s 2026-01-22 12:28:43 (399 KB/s) - 'cdebootstrap-static_0.7.9+b5_armel.deb' saved [419108/419108] </pre><h4>Extracting installer...</h4><pre> </pre><h4>Downloading and installing Debian, this might take some time...</h4><pre> cdebootstrap-static: too much arguments Try `cdebootstrap-static --help' for more information. </pre><h4>An error has occurred, cleaning up.</h4><input type=button value="Back" onclick="history.back()"></body></html>

Can you assist ? Thank you.

[PoluQxxTroy]

If i change the  cdebootstrap-static command in file /usr/www/cgi-bin/debian_proc.cgi line 117 with below i don't get the same error message.

Command :

cdebootstrap-static --allow-unauthenticated --arch=arml \
                --include=openssh-server,kexec-tools,mdadm,linux-image-kirkwood \
                jessie /mnt/volume_1/debian/ http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/

Error :

Extracting installer... Downloading and installing Debian, this might take some time... I: Can't find keyring debian-archive-keyring.gpg P: Retrieving Release E: Couldn't download Release! An error has occurred, cleaning up.

I then copied the file sha256sum from below in /usr/bin/ and chmod +x /usr/bin/sha256sum but still having the error.

https://groups.google.com/g/alt-f/c/Ua2Lb_-DsGk/m/ojSv-dR-AgAJ

Swap is ok 3% of 1035MB

Enough space on /dev/md1 where i configure installation

Dev. Label Capacity Available FS Mode Dirty Automatic FSCK in
md1 volume_1 1.8TB 208.8GB ext4 RW 2 mounts or 175 days
sda4 460.6MB  372.4MB ext4 RW 49 mounts or 175 days
sdb4 460.6MB  447.1MB ext4 RW 49 mounts or 175 days

Tried many debian sources at different moment.

Any clue ? Thanks

[Phil Smith]

I found a way.

1. First, need do download and install a debian archive keyring package that contains a GPG key for Debian 8 Jessie:

wget https://archive.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/debian-archive-keyring/debian-archive-keyring_2017.5+deb9u1_all.deb -O debian-archive-keyring.deb ar x debian-archive-keyring.deb xzcat data.tar.xz | tar -C / -xf -

2. Then, edit the file /usr/www/cgi-bin/deb-mirrors.txt and add a line with a archive repo mirror (since Debian 8 Jessie is unavailable on default mirrors):

http://archive.debian.org/debian ARCHIVE

Or follow the installation via web UI and put http://archive.debian.org/debian on Debian mirror field.

3. After that, start the install process via web UI using the ARCHIVE Debian mirror from the list.

[Phil Smith]

Troubleshooting

- If you got the error:

E: Execution failed: No such file or directory W: Couldn't validate Release!

Just ignore!

- At the end of installation process, if you get the error:

Setting the root password to be the same as Alt-F web admin password... /bin/bash: ***: command not found root:***

Probably because of special chars on your password. Run the command:

chroot /mnt/sdc1 /bin/bash -c "/bin/echo root:'<your_password>' | /usr/sbin/chpasswd"

Replacing <your_password> with your web admin password.

[PoluQxxTroy]

Thanks for your help.

I'm still having an error with the cdebootstrap installation.

Saving to: 'cdebootstrap-static_0.7.8+b3_armel.deb' 0K ................ ................ ............ 100% 11.5M=0.03s 2026-02-13 15:09:24 (11.5 MB/s) - 'cdebootstrap-static_0.7.8+b3_armel.deb' saved [360584/360584] Extracting installer... Downloading and installing Debian, this might take some time... P: Retrieving Release E: Couldn't download Release! An error has occurred, cleaning up.

Did you modify the cdbootstrap command in /usr/www/cgi-bin/debian_proc.cgi  ? 

[PoluQxxTroy]

Ok i changed the command below with correct link to archive and get another error message.

command :

cdebootstrap-static --allow-unauthenticated --arch=arml \
                --include=openssh-server,kexec-tools,mdadm,linux-image-kirkwood \
                jessie /mnt/volume_1/debian/ http://archive.debian.org/debian/

Error :

Extracting installer...

Downloading and installing Debian, this might take some time...

Retrieving Release

Retrieving Release.gpg
Validating Release

Execution failed: No such file or directory

W: Couldn't validate Release

Parsing Release

Retrieving Packages.xz

Retrieving Packages.gz

Couldn't download Packages!

An error has occurred, cleaning up

Debian command give No Debian installation found

Debian -chroot give umount: can't umount

Thanks

Le jeudi 12 février 2026 à 21:49:46 UTC+1, mett...@gmail.com a écrit :

[Phil Smith]

Add debug flags -v --debug on cdebootstrap command to get bettera error message.

The command I’ve used last time:

cdebootstrap-static -v --debug --allow-unauthenticated --arch=armel \ --include=openssh-server,kexec-tools,mdadm,linux-image-kirkwood \ jessie /mnt/sdc1 http://archive.debian.org/debian

Fix your command:
--arch=arml => --arch=armel (add an e)
http://archive.debian.org/debian/ => http://archive.debian.org/debian (remove / at the end)

​

[Phil Smith]

Rn I’m getting and error with apt-get on jessie. Aparently all jessie repos certificates have expired in 2022 and I can’t found any alt pkg mirror with valid certs. So I’ve made some changes on debian_proc.cgi to install Debian 10 Buster:

Line 62 (or 57 depending on your hardware model): SoC=kirkwood or SoC=orion5x => SoC=marvell

Line 117 on cdebootstrap-static command: jessie => buster

Point to ARCHIVE repo and follow web UI install.

​