Knowledge Base (Posts about virt-install)

Fedora 43: Lessons learned

bgstack15 — Sun, 18 Jan 2026 13:41:00 GMT

Here's a partially-reheated post from the last time that I didn't read.

Operations for each new OS level release

I need to create a few new files.

/mnt/public/www/domainname/repo/mirror/bgstack15-stackrpms-fedora-43.repo
/mnt/public/www/domainname/repo/mirror/example-bundle-fedora43.repo

Lessons learned

Rpm 6.0 has dropped old signature algorithms, which means some packages in my signed repositories are suddenly not good enough anymore. This stymied the package installation when the offending packages are in section %packages.

So for now, I've had to connect to the new vm, and attempt to install the offending packages, and then visit the cache and rpm -i them manually, after installing the dependencies, of course.
```
sudo dnf install moreutils # my dependencies
sudo dnf install bgconf bgscripts-core bgscripts # this fails
cd /var/cache/libdnf5/internalrpm-32eaedcb537c4bfd/packages
sudo rpm -ivh --nodigest ./*.rpm
```
Like it's 2001 or something.
X11 and Xfce are still available.

Some of the news about Fedora suggests they're going to get rid of these trusty technologies. If and when that happens, I guess I'll stop blogging about it because it won't be usable anymore. I already have to run on a special EL9 host with spice support re-enabled in qemu. Apparently good tech is dying, and is being replaced with garbage and incomplete tooling. I think I'm old now.

Fedora 41: Lessons learned

bgstack15 — Sun, 19 Jan 2025 13:41:00 GMT

Operations for each new OS level release

I need to create a few new files.

/mnt/public/www/domainname/repo/mirror/bgstack15-stackrpms-fedora-41.repo
/mnt/public/www/domainname/repo/mirror/example-bundle-fedora41.repo

Lessons learned

Fedora 41 now needs more than 2GB of RAM for the installation, despite the hardware overview saying 2GB is enough.
If you experience the forever dots beneath "Starting automated install.Checking storage configuration...", the problem might be in your kickstart file. You might not be able to access one of the --repo values. You can learn which one by pressing CTRL+C on the text console, and letting it dump to the /tmp/anaconda-tb* file(s) for more details. Then you can find:
```
WARNING org.fedoraproject.Anaconda.Modules.Payloads:    raise SourceSetupError(msg.format(name=respotiroy.name, details=str(e))) from None
WARNING org.fedoraproject.Anaconda.Modules.Payloads:pyanaconda.modules.common.errors.payload.SourceSetupError: Failed to add the 'fedora-cisco-openh264' repository: Failed ot download metadata for repo 'fedora-cisco-openh264': Cannot download repomd.xml: Cannot download repodata/repomd.xml: All mirrors were tried
```
It's a shame this couldn't be more visible, or offered to skip, but it is supposed to be an automated install. But an automated install should make errors more visible on the completely-stuck part.

Install AlmaLinux 8 with kickstart and virt-install

bgstack15 — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 12:57:08 GMT

I have previously written about deploying the new-defunct CentOS 8, and now here is the replacement.

I am pleased with the design direction of the installer. It now handles invalid package names in the %packages set. It paused to ask, "These packages are not available, do you want to proceed without them?" Before, it would just fail out with "Invalid package selection," and leave it up to the admin to go poke through the logs to find what package failed. Also, my deployment is only 12 minutes long. I seem to remember in the past that it would take 27 minutes, but thatwas specifically for Fedora. I haven't deployed a CentOS 7 or 8 vm in a long time so I don't recall that deployment time specifically.

The kickstart file

# File: /mnt/public/Support/Platforms/AlmaLinux8/almalinux8-ks.cfg
# Locations:
#    /mnt/public/Support/Platforms/AlmaLinux8/almalinux8-ks.cfg
# Author: bgstack15
# Startdate: 2017-06-02
# Title: Kickstart for AlmaLinux 8 for ipa.internal.com
# Purpose: To provide an easy installation for VMs and other systems in the Internal network
# History:
#    2017-06 I learned how to use kickstart files for the RHCSA EX-200 exam
#    2017-08-08 Added notifyemail to --extra-args
#    2017-10-29 major revision to use local repository
#
#
#
#
#    2019-09-24 fork for CentOS 8
#    2020-11-08 update for 2004 iso
#    2022-03-18 change to AlmaLinux 8
# Usage with virt-install:
#    vm=a8-01a ; time sudo virt-install -n "${vm}" --memory 2048 --vcpus=1 --os-variant=centos8 --accelerate -v --disk path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/"${vm}".qcow2,size=20 -l /mnt/public/Support/SetupsBig/Linux/AlmaLinux-8.5-x86_64-minimal.iso --initrd-inject=/mnt/public/Support/Platforms/AlmaLinux8/almalinux8-ks.cfg --extra-args "inst.ks=file:/almalinux8-ks.cfg SERVERNAME=${vm} NOTIFYEMAIL=bgstack15@gmail.com net.ifnames=0 biosdevname=0" --debug --network type=bridge,source=br0 --noautoconsole
#    vm=c8-02a; sudo virsh destroy "${vm}"; sudo virsh undefine --remove-all-storage "${vm}";
# Reference:
#    https://sysadmin.compxtreme.ro/automatically-set-the-hostname-during-kickstart-installation/
#    /mnt/public/Support/Platforms/CentOS7/install-vm.txt

#platform=x86, AMD64, or Intel EM64T
#version=DEVEL
# Install OS instead of upgrade
#install # NO LONGER USED, ALMALINUX8
# Keyboard layouts
keyboard 'us'
# Root password
rootpw --plaintext plaintextexamplepw
# my user
user --groups=wheel --name=bgstack15-local --password=$6$.gh9u8vg2HDJPPX/$g3X2l.q75gs7r0UKnt6h88bD8o1mSGsj/1DGNUzebMzb0TBh8of4iN6WyxYs/y379UiqgEPqqsYOI5FNrXNUa. --iscrypted --gecos="bgstack15-local"

# System language
lang en_US.UTF-8
# Firewall configuration
firewall --enabled --ssh
# Reboot after installation
reboot
# Network information
#attempting to put it in the included ks file that accepts hostname from the virsh command.
#network  --bootproto=dhcp --device=eth0 --ipv6=auto --activate
%include /tmp/network.ks
# System timezone
timezone America/New_York --utc
# System authorization information
auth  --useshadow  --passalgo=sha512
# Use network installation instead of CDROM installation media
url --url="http://www.example.com/mirror/almalinux/8/BaseOS/x86_64/os"
# WORKHERE, point to my mirror
#url --url="http://ord.mirror.rackspace.com/almalinux/8/BaseOS/x86_64/os"

# Use text mode install
text
# SELinux configuration
selinux --enforcing
# Do not configure the X Window System
skipx

# Use all local repositories
# Online repos
repo --name=internalrpm --baseurl=http://www.example.com/internal/repo/rpm/
repo --name=internalel8 --baseurl=http://www.example.com/internal/repo/rpm-el8/
repo --name=copr-bgstack15-stackrpms --baseurl=https://www.example.com/mirror/copr-bgstack15-stackrpms/epel-$releasever-$basearch/
repo --name=base --baseurl=https://www.example.com/mirror/almalinux/$releasever/BaseOS/$basearch/os/
repo --name=appstream --baseurl=https://www.example.com/mirror/almalinux/$releasever/AppStream/$basearch/os/
repo --name=extras --baseurl=https://www.example.com/mirror/almalinux/$releasever/extras/$basearch/os/
repo --name=powertools --baseurl=https://www.example.com/mirror/almalinux/$releasever/PowerTools/$basearch/os/
repo --name=epel --baseurl=https://www.example.com/mirror/fedora/epel/$releasever/Everything/$basearch

# Offline repos
#
#
#
#
#

firstboot --disabled

# System bootloader configuration
bootloader --location=mbr
# Partition clearing information
clearpart --all --initlabel
# Disk partitioning information
autopart --type=lvm

%pre
echo "network  --bootproto=dhcp --device=eth0 --ipv6=auto --activate --hostname renameme.ipa.internal.com" > /tmp/network.ks
for x in $( cat /proc/cmdline );
do
   case $x in
      SERVERNAME*)
         eval $x
         echo "network  --bootproto=dhcp --device=eth0 --ipv6=auto --activate --hostname ${SERVERNAME}.ipa.internal.com" > /tmp/network.ks
         ;;
      NOTIFYEMAIL*)
         eval $x
         echo "${NOTIFYEMAIL}" > /mnt/sysroot/root/notifyemail.txt
     ;;
   esac
done
cp -p /run/install/repo/ca-ipa.internal.com.crt /etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors/ 2>/dev/null || :
wget http://www.example.com/internal/certs/ca-ipa.internal.com.crt -O /etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors/ca-ipa.internal-wget.com.crt || :
update-ca-trust || :
%end

%post
(
   # Set temporary hostname
   #hostnamectl set-hostname renameme.ipa.internal.com;

   # Get local mirror root ca certificate
   wget http://www.example.com/internal/certs/ca-ipa.internal.com.crt -O /etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors/ca-ipa.internal.com.crt && update-ca-trust

   # Get local mirror repositories
   wget https://www.example.com/internal/Support/Platforms/almalinux8/set-my-repos.sh --output-document /usr/local/sbin/set-my-scripts.sh ; chmod +x /usr/local/sbin/set-my-scripts.sh ; sh -x /usr/local/sbin/set-my-scripts.sh

   # NONE TO REMOVE dnf -y remove dnfdragora ;
   yum clean all ;
   yum update -y ;

   # Remove graphical boot and add serial console
   sed -i -r -e '/^GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=/{s/(\s*)(rhgb|quiet)\s*/\1/g;};' -e '/^GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=/{s/(\s*)\"$/ console=ttyS0 console=tty1\"/;}' /etc/default/grub
   grub2-mkconfig > /boot/grub2/grub.cfg

   # Send IP address to myself
   thisip="$( ifconfig 2>/dev/null | awk '/Bcast|broadcast/{print $2}' | tr -cd '[^0-9\.\n]' | head -n1 )"
   {
      echo "${SERVER} has IP ${thisip}."
      echo "system finished kickstart at $( date "+%Y-%m-%d %T" )";
   } | $( find /usr/share/bgscripts/send.sh /usr/bin/send 2>/dev/null | head -n1 ) -f "root@$( hostname --fqdn )" \
      -h -s "${SERVER} is ${thisip}" $( cat /root/notifyemail.txt 2>/dev/null )

   # No changes to graphical boot
   #

   # fix the mkhomedir problem
   systemctl enable oddjobd.service && systemctl start oddjobd.service

   # Personal customizations
   mkdir -p /mnt/bgstack15 /mnt/public
   su bgstack15-local -c "sudo /usr/bin/bgconf.py"

) >> /root/install.log 2>&1
%end

%packages
@core
@^minimal install
bc
bgconf
bgscripts-core
bind-utils
cifs-utils
cryptsetup
curl
dosfstools
epel-release
expect
firewalld
git
iotop
ipa-client
-iwl*-firmware
locale-en_BS
mailx
man
mlocate
net-tools
nfs-utils
p7zip
parted
postfix
python3-policycoreutils
rpm-build
rsync
screen
strace
sysstat
tcpdump
telnet
vim
wget
yum-utils
%end

Now slightly more prominent than before, is my set-my-repos.sh script. I adapted this from one I wrote for my Devuan GNU+Linux installations. Here is my rpm-based version:

#!/bin/sh
# File: /mnt/public/Support/Platforms/AlmaLinux8/set-my-repos.sh
# Location:
# Author: bgstack15
# Startdate: 2019-08-10 16:02
# Title: Script that Establishes the repos needed for GNU/Linux
# Purpose: Set up the 3 repos I always need on devuan clients
# History:
#     2019-09-24 forked from devuan set-my-repos.
#     2022-03-18 changed from C8 to A8, changed if-then line #44 to not use ! and instead use : else
# Usage:
#    sudo set-my-repos.sh
# Reference:
#    /mnt/public/Support/Platforms/devuan/devuan.txt
# Improve:
# Documentation:

ALLREPOSGLOB="/etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo"
REPOSBASE="/etc/yum.repos.d"

# confirm key
confirm_key() {
   # call: confirm_key "${SEARCHPHRASE}" "${URL_OF_KEY}"
   ___ck_repo="${1}"
   ___ck_sp="${2}"
   ___ck_url="${3}"
   if rpm -q gpg-pubkey --qf '%{NAME}-%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE}\t%{SUMMARY}\n' 2>/dev/null | grep -qe "${___ck_sp}" ;
   then
      :
   else
      # not found so please add it
      echo "Adding key for ${___ck_repo}" 1>&2
      wget -O- "${___ck_url}" | sudo rpm --import -
   fi
}

# confirm repo
confirm_repo_byurl() {
   # call: confirm_repo "${REPO_FILENAME}" "${REPO_FILE_URL}" "${SEARCHGLOB}"
   ___cr_repo="${1}"
   ___cr_url="${2}"
   ___cr_sf="${3}"
   # if we cannot find a file matching the requested name in the glob
   if ! grep -q -F -e "${___cr_repo}" ${ALLREPOSGLOB} 2>/dev/null ;
   then
   #   :
   #else
      # not found so please download it
      echo "Adding repo ${___cr_repo}" 1>&2
      wget -O- "${___cr_url}" --quiet >> "${REPOSBASE}/${___cr_sf}"
   fi
}

# REPO 1: internal bundle
confirm_repo_byurl "[baseos-internal]" "https://www.example.com/internal/repo/mirror/internal-bundle-almalinux8.repo" "internal-bundle-almalinux8.repo"
# It is a good idea to run this too.
distro=almalinux8 ; grep -oP "(?<=^\[).*(?=-internal])" /etc/yum.repos.d/internal-bundle-${distro}.repo | while read thisrepo; do yum-config-manager --disable "${thisrepo}"; done

# REPO 2: local internalrpm
confirm_repo_byurl "[internalrpm]" "https://www.example.com/internal/repo/rpm/internalrpm.repo" "internalrpm.repo"
wget --continue "https://www.example.com/internal/repo/rpm/internalrpm.mirrorlist" --output-document "${REPOSBASE}/internalrpm.mirrorlist" --quiet

# REPO 3: copr
# yum will download key and ask for confirmation during first use.
confirm_repo_byurl "[copr:copr.fedorainfracloud.org:bgstack15:stackrpms]" "https://www.example.com/internal/repo/mirror/bgstack15-stackrpms-epel-8.repo" "bgstack15-stackrpms-epel-8.repo"

And that script above calls file internal-bundle-almalinux8.repo which has these contents.

# internal-bundle-almalinux8.repo
# Install with:
# distro=almalinux8 ; sudo wget https://www.example.com/internal/repo/mirror/internal-bundle-${distro}.repo -O /etc/yum.repos.d/internal-bundle-${distro}.repo && grep -oP "(?<=^\[).*(?=-internal])" /etc/yum.repos.d/internal-bundle-${distro}.repo | while read thisrepo; do sudo yum-config-manager --disable "${thisrepo}"; done
# 2022-03-18 incomplete! needs to point to local.

[baseos-internal]
name=AlmaLinux $releasever - BaseOS internal
#mirrorlist=https://mirrors.almalinux.org/mirrorlist/$releasever/baseos
#baseurl=https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/$releasever/BaseOS/$basearch/os/
baseurl=https://www.example.com/mirror/almalinux/$releasever/BaseOS/$basearch/os/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-AlmaLinux

[appstream-internal]
name=AlmaLinux $releasever - AppStream internal
#mirrorlist=https://mirrors.almalinux.org/mirrorlist/$releasever/appstream
#baseurl=https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/$releasever/AppStream/$basearch/os/
baseurl=https://www.example.com/mirror/almalinux/$releasever/AppStream/$basearch/os/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-AlmaLinux

[extras-internal]
name=AlmaLinux $releasever - Extras internal
#mirrorlist=https://mirrors.almalinux.org/mirrorlist/$releasever/extras
#baseurl=https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/$releasever/extras/$basearch/os/
baseurl=https://www.example.com/mirror/almalinux/$releasever/extras/$basearch/os/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-AlmaLinux

[powertools-internal]
name=AlmaLinux $releasever - PowerTools internal
#mirrorlist=https://mirrors.almalinux.org/mirrorlist/$releasever/powertools
#baseurl=https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/$releasever/PowerTools/$basearch/os/
baseurl=https://www.example.com/mirror/almalinux/$releasever/PowerTools/$basearch/os/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-AlmaLinux

[epel-internal]
name=EPEL for AlmaLinux 8 - $basearch internal
#metalink=https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/metalink?repo=epel-8&arch=$basearch
#baseurl=http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/8/$basearch
baseurl=https://www.example.com/mirror/fedora/epel/$releasever/Everything/$basearch
#failovermethod=priority
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-EPEL-8

Obviously I mirror these repositories for myself, ergo the example.com baseurls.

Use virt-install to fully automate the install for Devuan Ceres with preseed, May 2021 edition

bgstack15 — Sun, 23 May 2021 12:55:28 GMT

This article is a follow-up or replacement to the following older posts: Use virt-install to fully automate the install for Devuan with preseed Use virt-install to fully automate the install for Devuan Ceres with preseed, March 2020 edition I also have a series on building RHEL-like VMs with virt-install: My kickstart for Fedora 34 VMs Install CentOS 8 with kickstart and virt-install

Installing Devuan Ceres with preseed

I use libvirt with qemu+kvm to run my virtualization environment. My latest work includes updating my Devuan Ceres VM build process to use a recent alpha release ISO for Devuan Chimaera (4.0). I had to modify my urlfetcher.py again in the libvirt files to handle the current locations (described in above article from March 2020) which you can determine with 7z. I was too lazy to investigate how to read contents of a iso file properly.

$ 7z l devuan_chimaera_4.0.alpha-20210510_amd64_netinstall.iso | grep -E '\/(linux|initrd\.gz)$'
2021-03-15 07:44:18 .....     62400333     62400333  boot/isolinux/initrd.gz
2021-03-15 07:44:18 .....      5278960      5278960  boot/isolinux/linux

So the urlfetcher.py class needs to have values:

        if self.arch == "x86_64":
            kernel_initrd_pair = ("boot/isolinux/linux",
                                  "boot/isolinux/initrd.gz")

The preseed file

So, with the libvirt configuration out of the way, I have a preseed file which I have updated to match my current needs and the answers that the Devuan installer wants to see.

# File: /mnt/public/Support/Platforms/devuan/devuan-preseed1.txt
# Locations:
#    /mnt/public/Support/Platforms/devuan/devuan-preseed1.txt
# Author: bgstack15
# Startdate: 2019-06-25
# Title: Preseed for devuan vms for ipa.internal.com
# Purpose: To provide an easy installation for VMs and other systems in the Internal network
# History:
#    2017-06 I learned how to use kickstart files for the RHCSA EX-200 exam
#    2017-08-08 Added notifyemail to --extra-args
#    2017-10-29 major revision to use local repository
#    2019-06-25 fork from centos7-ks.cfg
#    2018-12-29 fix up repos and in-target conclusion stuff
#    2020-02-27 heavy rewrite to use ascii 2.1
#    2021-05-16 bump to chimaera which upgrades self to ceres
# Usage with virt-install:
#    vm=d2-04a ; time sudo virt-install -n "${vm}" --memory 2048 --vcpus=1 --os-variant=debiantesting -v --disk path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/"${vm}".qcow2,size=20 -l /mnt/public/Support/SetupsBig/Linux/devuan_chimaera_4.0.alpha-20210510_amd64_netinstall.iso --initrd-inject=/mnt/public/Support/Platforms/devuan/preseed/preseed.cfg --extra-args "hostname=${vm} NOTIFYEMAIL=bgstack15@gmail.com interface=auto" --debug --network type=bridge,source=br0 --noautoconsole
#    vm=d2-04a; sudo virsh destroy "${vm}"; sudo virsh undefine --remove-all-storage "${vm}";
# Reference:
#    https://sysadmin.compxtreme.ro/automatically-set-the-hostname-during-kickstart-installation/
#    /mnt/public/Support/Platforms/CentOS7/install-vm.txt
#    https://serverfault.com/questions/481244/preseed-command-string-fail-with-newline-character-using-virt-install-initrd-inj
#    https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/apbs01.html.en
#    https://github.com/jameswthorne/preseeds/blob/master/debian-7-wheezy-unattended.seed
#    syntax for --location https://www.queryxchange.com/q/1_908324/virt-install-preseed-not-working/
#    example preseed https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/example-preseed.txt
#    skip next dvd question https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/409212/preseed-directive-to-skip-another-cd-dvd-scanning
#    grub problem caused by consolekit:amd64 https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=915947#10
#    https://stackoverflow.com/questions/39861614/how-to-fully-automate-unattended-virt-install
#    https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/apbs03.html.en
#    https://dev1galaxy.org/viewtopic.php?id=1853
#    https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/howto-setup-serial-console-on-debian-linux/
#    https://github.com/virt-manager/virt-manager/blob/master/virtinst/install/urldetect.py
#    /mnt/public/Support/Platforms/devuan/fix-virt-manager.txt
#    https://dev1galaxy.org/viewtopic.php?id=3332
#    https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2387570
#    sudo debconf-get-selections -c /mnt/public/Support/Platforms/devuan/preseed/preseed.cfg
#    on d2-03a: sudo debconf-get-selections --installer
#    https://serverfault.com/questions/593388/unable-to-nfs-mount-in-debian-preseed-target/593389
#    https://preseed.debian.net/debian-preseed/sid/amd64-main-full.txt
# Improve:
#    discover how to send email, using postfix or sendmail. Don't care which, but exclude exim4.
#    echo "$( hostname ) has IP $( ip -4 -o a s eth0 | awk '{print $4}' | sed -r -e 's/\/.*$//' )" |

d-i debian-installer/country string US
d-i debian-installer/keymap select us
d-i debian-installer/language string en
d-i debian-installer/locale string en_US
d-i localechooser/supported-locales string en_US.UTF-8

d-i keyboard-configuration/layoutcode string us
d-i keyboard-configuration/variantcode string
d-i keyboard-configuration/xkb-keymap select us

d-i netcfg/disable_autoconfig boolean false
d-i netcfg/get_domain string ipa.internal.com
d-i netcfg/wireless_wep string
# disable asking for non-free firmware, because this is a vm and has none
d-i hw-detect/load_firmware boolean false

#d-i apt-setup/enable-source-repositories boolean false
# ORIGINAL d-i apt-setup/services-select multiselect security updates, release updates, backported software
d-i apt-setup/services-select multiselect release updates
d-i apt-setup/contrib boolean true
d-i apt-setup/disable-cdrom-entries boolean true
d-i apt-setup/non-free boolean true
d-i apt-setup/use_mirror boolean true
d-i mirror/country string manual
d-i mirror/http/directory string /merged
d-i mirror/http/hostname string deb.devuan.org
d-i mirror/http/proxy string
d-i mirror/protocol string http
d-i mirror/suite string testing

d-i apt-setup/cdrom/set-failed boolean false
d-i apt-setup/cdrom/set-first boolean false
d-i apt-setup/cdrom/set-next boolean false

## my repos and ceres
d-i apt-setup/local0/comment    string internaldeb
d-i apt-setup/local0/key        string http://www.example.com/internal/repo/deb/internaldeb.gpg
d-i apt-setup/local0/repository string http://www.example.com/internal/repo/deb/ /
d-i apt-setup/local1/comment    string devuan-deb
d-i apt-setup/local1/key        string http://www.example.com/internal/repo/deb/internaldeb.gpg
d-i apt-setup/local1/repository string http://www.example.com/internal/repo/devuan-deb/ /
d-i apt-setup/local2/comment    string ceres
d-i apt-setup/local2/key        string http://www.example.com/mirror/devuan/dists/ceres/Release.gpg
d-i apt-setup/local2/repository string http://www.example.com/mirror/devuan ceres main contrib non-free
#d-i apt-setup/local2/key        string http://pkgmaster.devuan.org/merged/dists/ceres/Release.gpg
#d-i apt-setup/local2/repository string http://pkgmaster.devuan.org/merged ceres main contrib non-free
d-i apt-setup/local3/comment    string obsmirror
d-i apt-setup/local3/key        string http://www.example.com/mirror/obs/Release.key
d-i apt-setup/local3/repository string http://www.example.com/mirror/obs/ /
# if for some reason I really need to turn off the gpg key check:
#d-i debian-installer/allow_unauthenticated boolean false

#tasksel tasksel/first multiselect standard, ssh-server
tasksel tasksel/first multiselect none

# adapted from /mnt/public/Support/Platforms/devuan/devuan.txt, main fluxbox desktop, but for a vm
# no xscreensaver, for a vm.
#d-i pkgsel/include string \
#   alsamixergui alttab apt-transport-https bgconf bgscripts bgscripts-core \
#   cifs-utils curl fluxbox freeipa-client git grub lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter \
#   mlocate net-tools nfs-common ntpdate oddjob-mkhomedir=0.0.1-1 openssh-server \
#   p7zip palemoon palemoon-ublock-origin parted qemu-guest-agent rsync scite \
#   screen spice-vdagent strace sudo tcpdump vim vlc volumeicon-alsa waterfox \
#   xfce4-terminal xfe xserver-xorg-video-qxl fluxbox-themes-stackrpms
#d-i pkgsel/include string cifs-utils curl grub lightdm vim sudo vlc screen p7zip nfs-common
d-i pkgsel/include string openssh-server wget curl

d-i pkgsel/upgrade select none

popularity-contest popularity-contest/participate boolean true

d-i clock-setup/ntp boolean true
d-i clock-setup/ntp-server string dns1.ipa.internal.com
d-i time/zone string America/New_York

# skip grub during main part, because we will do it in late_command
#d-i grub-installer/skip boolean true
#d-i grub-installer/skip-again boolean true
#d-i grub-installer/skip-confirm boolean true
#d-i grub-installer/confirm_skip boolean true
#d-i nobootloader/confirmation_common boolean true
d-i     choose-init/select_init select  sysvinit
d-i     choose-init/selected_sysvinit bool   true
grub-installer  grub-installer/choose_bootdev   select  /dev/vda

d-i lilo-installer/skip boolean true
#d-i grub-installer/with_other_os boolean true
d-i grub-installer/only_debian boolean true
d-i grub-installer/grub2_instead_of_grub_legacy boolean true
#d-i grub-installer/bootdev string /dev/vda
#d-i grub-installer/choose_bootdev select /dev/vda
#grub-installer grub-installer/force-efi-extra-removable boolean false

d-i passwd/root-password password plaintextexamplepw
d-i passwd/root-password-again password plaintextexamplepw

d-i partman-auto/choose_recipe select home
d-i partman-auto-crypto/erase_disks boolean false
d-i partman-auto/disk string /dev/vda
d-i partman-auto/init_automatically_partition select biggest_free
d-i partman-auto/method string lvm
d-i partman/choose_label string gpt
d-i partman/choose_partition select finish
d-i partman/confirm boolean true
d-i partman/confirm_nooverwrite boolean true
d-i partman/confirm_write_new_label boolean true
d-i partman/default_label string gpt
#d-i partman-lvm/confirm boolean true
d-i partman-lvm/confirm_nooverwrite boolean true
d-i partman-md/confirm_nooverwrite boolean true
#d-i partman/mount_style select uuid
d-i partman-partitioning/confirm_write_new_label boolean true
d-i partman-auto-lvm/guided_size string 100%

# Uncomment this to add multiarch configuration for i386
#d-i apt-setup/multiarch string i386

d-i passwd/make-user boolean true
d-i passwd/user-fullname string bgstack15-local
d-i passwd/username string bgstack15-local
d-i passwd/user-password-crypted password $6$BxyYQfM7A1TEeS6X$S0SALxIk6.n6SU21s.ojeQ9F06AMcnnHS7vODHTufeWXLpNu6EmpsDN7eLVSyYXXU4moiXVgzIiTJYXatdGBz0/
d-i passwd/user-default-groups string audio cdrom video

d-i finish-install/reboot_in_progress note
d-i cdrom-detect/eject boolean true

# additional application stuff just in case it works and is useful
# LDAP server URI:
d-i shared/ldapns/ldap-server   string  ldapi:///ipa.internal.com

d-i openssh-server/password-authentication  boolean true
d-i openssh-server/permit-root-login    boolean false

d-i preseed/late_command string mkdir -p /target/etc/apt/sources.list.d /target/mnt/bgstack15 /target/mnt/public /target/etc/apt/sources.list.d /target/root/input ; touch /target/etc/apt/sources.list.d/empty ; cd /target/etc/apt ; \
   in-target apt-get install -q -y -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confdef" -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confold" gpg grub-pc sudo ; \
   in-target curl --no-progress-meter --output /root/set-local-devuan-repo.sh http://www.example.com/internal/Support/Platforms/devuan/scripts/set-local-devuan-repo.sh ; in-target sh /root/set-local-devuan-repo.sh ; \
   in-target curl --no-progress-meter --output /root/input/52apt-file-stackrpms.conf http://www.example.com/internal/Support/Platforms/devuan/scripts/input/52apt-file-stackrpms.conf ; in-target curl --no-progress-meter --output /root/set-my-repos.sh http://www.example.com/internal/Support/Platforms/devuan/scripts/set-my-repos.sh ; in-target sh /root/set-my-repos.sh || : ; \
   in-target rm /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/ceres.gpg || : ; \
   in-target curl --no-progress-meter http://www.example.com/internal/certs/ca-ipa.internal.com.crt --output /usr/local/share/ca-certificates/ca-ipa.internal.com.crt && in-target update-ca-certificates || : ; \
   in-target apt-get install -q -y -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confdef" -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confold" alsamixergui alttab bgconf bgscripts bgscripts-core ca-certificates cifs-utils curl desktop-base fluxbox fluxbox-themes-stackrpms freeipa-client freeipa-helper git grub-pc gtk3-nocsd gtk3-nooverlayscrollbar krb5-auth-dialog logout-manager man mlocate net-tools newmoon nfs-common ntpdate oddjob-mkhomedir=0.0.1-1 p7zip parted postfix qemu-guest-agent rsync scite screen spice-vdagent strace sudo tcpdump ublock-origin-combined vim vlc volumeicon-alsa xdgmenumaker xfce4-terminal xfe xserver-xorg-input-libinput xserver-xorg-video-qxl ; \
   in-target apt-mark hold oddjob-mkhomedir ; \
   rm -f /target/etc/apt/sources.list.d/empty || : ; \
   in-target sed -i -r -e '/^\s*linux/s/(\s*console=.{1,7}[0-9])*\s*$/ console=tty0 console=ttyS0/;' /boot/grub/grub.cfg || : ; \
   in-target sed -i -r -e '/^\s*kernel/s/(\s*console=.{1,7}[0-9])*\s*$/ console=tty0 console=ttyS0/;' /boot/grub/menu.lst || : ; \
   in-target sed -i -r -e '$aT0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 9600 vt100' /etc/inittab ; \
   in-target apt-get update ; \
   in-target apt-get purge -q -y -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confdef" -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confold" consolekit exim4\* lxqt\* udev ; \
   in-target curl --no-progress-meter --output /root/lightdm-elogind.sh http://www.example.com/internal/Support/Platforms/devuan/scripts/lightdm-elogind.sh ; in-target sh /root/lightdm-elogind.sh -y ; \
   in-target su bgstack15-local -c "sudo /usr/bin/bgconf.py -d 10 1>/home/bgstack15-local/clone.log 2>&1" ; \
   in-target wget -O /root/update-devuan.sh http://www.example.com/internal/Support/Platforms/devuan/scripts/update-devuan.sh ; in-target sh /root/update-devuan.sh preseed ; \
   in-target curl --no-progress-meter --output /root/send-mail-ip-address.sh http://www.example.com/internal/Support/Platforms/devuan/scripts/send-mail-ip-address.sh ; in-target sh /root/send-mail-ip-address.sh bgstack15@gmail.com ;

Explanations

Some of the choices here need explanation. New since March 2020 is "partman- auto-lvm/guided_size string 100%". I like to use lvm for my VMs because I sometimes need to extend filesystems (particularly when trying to build mozilla-based browsers). I use my own local mirror of Devuan but it is a truly flattened repository and not the complex amprolla two-layer (proxying back to usptream Debian files) ordeal that upstream Devuan uses. It makes it possible for me to understand that apt repo, as well as facilitates the speed of downloads when it's just across my LAN! I discovered that a good portion of my logic that used to be in my preseed late_command I have already replicated with various shell scripts. So I just download them and execute them. They are included here as appendices. I install grub-pc (which is grub2) instead of grub-legacy like I used to. I forget why and don't care. I'm more familiar with grub2 anyway. There's some busted ceres.gpg file that could be part of the alpha-release ISO but it's not important for some odd reason. I always enable popcon to contribute stats upstream. Vote early, and vote often! The big apt-get install list has multiple choices in it that are significant. I don't use the pkgsel include because it would always flake out and I got tired of troubleshooting it.

The bgconf, bgscripts, and stackrpm options are all my own packages for my own themes, files, configurations, etc. However, some logic in the scripts that this preseed run depend on bgscripts-core specifically.
newmoon and waterfox are just my preferred web browsers
oddjob-mkhomedir is a custom empty package to satisfy freeipa-common requirements. I describe it in article Devuan join freeipa domain
qemu-guest-agent and spice-vdagent. While a modern Devuan installer will recognize it's in qemu and install that package, it doesn't catch spice-vdagent, which is incredibly useful including for resizing the screen of the guest console
xserver-xorg-input-libinput and xserver-xorg-video-xql are the drivers to enable mouse and keyboard input and graphical (X11) output on the guest in spice-viewer. These are explicitly listed now but in the past they were not specifically named; I'm guessing they are no longer part of -all packages or similar.

One of my scripts, as you will see below, uses a glob of /etc/apt/sources.list.d/* and to stave off any errors I just made an empty file. The grub.cfg an dmenu.lst logic add a serial console to the VM which I've already covered a few times. I dislike exim and not just because of it's security vulnerabilities; it had some weird bugs a few years ago and also I just don't like it. So I use postfix xor sendmail like a graybeard.

Appendices

set-local-devuan-repo.sh

#!/bin/sh
# Startdate: 2020-03-12
# Purpose: Replace original devuan repos with my local devuan mirror
# History:
#    2021-01-27 remove prebuilt file. Just use heredoc
# Documentation:
# Use the network file if available, otherwise, use this hardcoded heredoc.
tf=/etc/apt/sources.list
touch "${tf}"
{
   cat <<'EOF'
# file: /mnt/public/Support/Platforms/devuan/sources.list 
# date: 2019-12-25

# the 3 main ones: ascii main/security/updates
# uncomment all of them when needing winehq-staging for AoC.
# If using ascii, there are multiple lines: ascii ascii-security ascii-updates
deb http://www.example.com/mirror/devuan ceres main contrib non-free
deb-src http://pkgmaster.devuan.org/merged ceres main
EOF
} > "${tf}"

set-my-repos.sh

This script also uses file input/52apt-file-stackrpms.conf.

# File: /etc/apt/apt.preferences.d/52apt-file-stackrpms.conf
# Part of support devuan scripts
# This enables the flat apt repos in internal to be supported by apt-file
Acquire::IndexTargets {
    deb::Contents-stackrpms {
        MetaKey "Contents-$(ARCHITECTURE)";
        ShortDescription "Contents-$(ARCHITECTURE)";
        Description "$(RELEASE) $(ARCHITECTURE) Contents (deb)";

        flatMetaKey "Contents-$(ARCHITECTURE)";
        flatDescription "$(RELEASE) Contents (deb)";
        PDiffs "true";
        KeepCompressed "true";
        DefaultEnabled "false";
        Identifier "Contents-deb";
    };
};

And now, set-my-repos.sh

#!/bin/sh
# File: /mnt/public/Support/Platforms/devuan/set-my-repos.sh
# Location:
# Author: bgstack15
# Startdate: 2019-08-10 16:02
# Title: Script that Establishes the repos needed for Devuan
# Purpose: Set up the 3 repos I always need on devuan clients
# History:
#    2020-02-01 customize clients for devuan-archive
#    2020-10-23 add apt-file compatibility
#    2021-01-27 disable devuan-archive
# Usage:
#    sudo set-my-repos.sh
# Reference:
#    /mnt/public/Support/Platforms/devuan/devuan.txt
# Improve:
#    need to control the sources.list file itself to have the main, contrib, etc., for ceres.
# Documentation:

test -z "${ALLREPOSGLOB}" && ALLREPOSGLOB="/etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/*"
test -z "${REPOSBASE}" && REPOSBASE="/etc/apt/sources.list.d"
test -z "${PREFSBASE}" && PREFSBASE="/etc/apt/preferences.d"
test -z "${ADDLCONFBASE}" && ADDLCONFBASE="/etc/apt/apt.conf.d"

# confirm key
confirm_key() {
   # call: confirm_key "${PRETTYNAME}" "${SEARCHPHRASE}" "${URL_OF_KEY}"
   ___ck_repo="${1}"
   ___ck_sp="${2}"
   ___ck_url="${3}"
   if apt-key list 2>/dev/null | grep -qe "${___ck_sp}" ;
   then
      :
   else
      # not found so please add it
      echo "Adding key for ${___ck_repo}" 1>&2
      #wget -O- "${___ck_url}" | sudo apt-key add -
      ___ck_keyfile="/etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/$( echo "${___ck_repo}" | tr '[: ]' '_' ).gpg"
      wget -O- --quiet "${___ck_url}" | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee "${___ck_keyfile}" 1>/dev/null
   fi
}

# confirm repo
confirm_repo() {
   # call: confirm_repo "${PRETTYNAME}" "${SEARCHPHRASE}" "${SEARCHGLOB}" "${FULLSTRING}" "${PREFERRED_FILENAME}" "${OVERWRITE}"
   ___cr_repo="${1}"
   ___cr_sp="${2}"
   ___cr_sf="${3}"
   ___cr_full="${4}"
   ___cr_pref="${5}"
   ___cr_overwrite="${6}"
   if ! grep -E -qe "${___cr_sp}" ${___cr_sf} ;
   then
      # not found so please add it to preferred file
      echo "Adding repo ${___cr_repo}" 1>&2
      if test "${___cr_overwrite}" = "true" ;
      then
         # overwrite, instead of append
         echo "${___cr_full}" > "${REPOSBASE}/${___cr_pref:-99_misc.list}"
      else
         echo "${___cr_full}" >> "${REPOSBASE}/${___cr_pref:-99_misc.list}"
      fi
   fi
}

confirm_preferences() {
   # call: confirm_preferences "${PRETTYNAME}" "${FILENAME}" "{PACKAGE}" "${PIN_EXPRESSION}" "{PRIORITY}"
   ___cp_prettyname="${1}"
   ___cp_pref="${2}"
   ___cp_package="${3}"
   ___cp_pin_expression="${4}"
   ___cp_priority="${5}"

   ___cp_tempfile="$( mktemp )"
   {
      echo "Package: ${___cp_package}"
      echo "Pin: ${___cp_pin_expression}"
      echo "Pin-Priority: ${___cp_priority}"
   } > "${___cp_tempfile}"

   diff "${PREFSBASE}/${___cp_pref}" "${___cp_tempfile}" 1>/dev/null 2>&1 || {
      echo "Setting preferences for ${___cp_prettyname}"
      touch "${PREFSBASE}/${___cp_pref}" ; chmod 0644 "${PREFSBASE}/${___cp_pref}"
      cat "${___cp_tempfile}" > "${PREFSBASE}/${___cp_pref}"
   }

   rm -f "${___cp_tempfile:-NOTHINGTODEL}" 1>/dev/null 2>&1
}

# REPO 1: local internaldeb
confirm_key "internaldeb" "bgstack15.*www\.no-ip\.biz" "http://www.example.com/internal/repo/deb/internaldeb.gpg"
confirm_repo "internaldeb" "target.*internal\/repo\/deb" "${ALLREPOSGLOB}" "deb [target-=Contents-deb target+=Contents-stackrpms] http://www.example.com/internal/repo/deb/ /" "internaldeb.list" "true"

# REPO 2: local devuan-deb
confirm_key "devuan-deb" "bgstack15.*www\.no-ip\.biz" "http://www.example.com/internal/repo/deb/internaldeb.gpg"
confirm_repo "devuan-deb" "target.*internal\/repo\/devuan-deb" "${ALLREPOSGLOB}" "deb [target-=Contents-deb target+=Contents-stackrpms] http://www.example.com/internal/repo/devuan-deb/ /" "devuan-deb.list" "true"

# REPO 3: local obs
#confirm_key "OBS bgstack15" "bgstack15@build\.opensuse\.org" "https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:bgstack15/Debian_Unstable/Release.key"
#confirm_repo "OBS bgstack15" "repositories\/home:\/bgstack15\/Debian_Unstable" "${ALLREPOSGLOB}" "deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/bgstack15/Debian_Unstable/ /" "home:bgstack15.list"
confirm_key "OBS bgstack15" "bgstack15@build\.opensuse\.org" "http://www.example.com/mirror/obs/Release.key"
confirm_repo "OBS bgstack15" "mirror\/obs" "${ALLREPOSGLOB}" "deb http://www.example.com/mirror/obs/ /" "home:bgstack15.list"

# REPO 4: local devuan-archive
#confirm_key "devuan-archive" "bgstack15.*www\.no-ip\.biz" "http://www.example.com/internal/repo/deb/internaldeb.gpg"
#confirm_repo "devuan-archive" "target.*server1((\.ipa)?\.internal\.com)?(:180)?.*internal\/repo\/devuan-archive" "${ALLREPOSGLOB}" "deb [target-=Contents-deb target+=Contents-stackrpms] http://server1.ipa.internal.com:180/internal/repo/devuan-archive/ /" "devuan-archive.list" "true"
#confirm_preferences "devuan-archive" "puddletag" "*" "origin server1.ipa.internal.com" "700"

# REPO 5: local obs-aftermozilla key for non-local aftermozilla repo
# just the key
confirm_key "OBS bgstack15 aftermozilla" "bgstack15@build\.opensuse\.org" "https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:bgstack15:aftermozilla/Debian_Unstable/Release.key"

# ADDITIONAL APT PREFS
# important for the [target] stuff to work on repos so apt-file can work
cp -p "$( dirname "$( readlink -f "${0}" )")/input/52apt-file-stackrpms.conf" "${ADDLCONFBASE}/"

This script just enforces the contents of /etc/apt/sources.list.d/.

lightdm-elogind.sh

#!/bin/sh
# Reference: /posts/2019/09/01/devuan-with-lightdm-and-xfce-will-not-let-user-reboot-or-shutdown-from-user-session/
# Startdate: 2019-08-11
# History:
#    2020-04-30 updated
# only for devuan ceres
unset YESSTRING
echo " ${@} " | grep -qE -e " -y " && export YESSTRING="-y"

sudo apt-get install "${YESSTRING}" --no-install-recommends policykit-1 libpam-elogind lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter
sudo sed -i -r -e '/session\s+optional\s+pam_systemd\.so/s/systemd/elogind/;' /etc/pam.d/lightdm-greeter

update-devuan.sh

This script is already covered in Unattended updates for Devuan Ceres, 2021 edition

send-mail-ip-address.sh

#!/bin/sh
# File: send-mail-ip-address.sh
# Startdate: 2021-05-17 08:59
# 
# Purpose: send email message from newly build VM to myself with new hostname and IP address

# Usage:
#    send-mail-ip-address.sh 
# Dependencies:
#    bgscripts-core (>=1.5.0)

test -z "${ADDRESS}" && export ADDRESS="${1}" # use ADDRESS environment variable or else use first parameter
test -z "${ADDRESS}" && export ADDRESS=bgstack15@gmail.com

test -z "${SERVER}" && export SERVER="$( hostname --fqdn )"

# Ensure PATH contains /sbin and /usr/sbin for ip and sendmail (called by send)
echo "${PATH}" | grep -qE '^\/usr\/sbin|:\/usr\/sbin' || export PATH="${PATH}:/usr/sbin"
echo "${PATH}" | grep -qE '^\/sbin|:\/sbin'           || export PATH="${PATH}:/sbin"

# Modified and improved from bgscripts framework.sh 2021-02-16a
thisip="$( ip -4 -o a s | awk '$1 !~ /^lo$/ && $2 !~ /^lo$/ && ($1 ~ /^e/ || $2 ~/^e/) {print $3,$4}' | awk -F'/' '{print $1}' | tr -dc '[0-9\.]' )"

# Send message
{
   echo "${SERVER} has IP address ${thisip}."
   echo "system finished build at $( TZ=UTC date "+%FT%TZ" )"
# leave cat INFILE unquoted in case it is inaccessible
} | send -f "root@${SERVER}" -h -s "${SERVER} is ${thisip}" "${ADDRESS}"

Use virt-install to fully automate the install for Devuan Ceres with preseed, March 2020 edition

bgstack15 — Thu, 26 Mar 2020 12:55:52 GMT

I have previously written about using virt-install to automate installing a new Devuan GNU+Linux virtual machine in libvirt/qemu. This article is the March 2020 edition, that uses devuan_ascii_2.1_amd64_dvd-1.iso which is the latest Devuan Ascii iso available. With this new iso, a number of changes have been made to the image itself, that will interfere with the default settings of virt-install. The branding of the ISO file was updated, so now isoinfo shows "Devuan" in the name and not Debian.

$ isoinfo -J -i devuan_ascii_2.1_amd64_dvd-1.iso -x /.disk/info
Devuan GNU/Linux 2.1 (ascii) amd64 DVD1 - 2019-12-21 07:24:54 UTC

Virt-manager uses this identifying info to find the initramfs/initrd and kernel ("vmlinuz," "linux," or similar) to boot. With the branding change, the Devuan disc changed the name of its initrd for some reason. I wrote a patch for /usr/share/virt-manager/virtinst/urlfetcher.py for package virt- install-1.5.0-7.el7.noarch.

--- /usr/share/virt-manager/virtinst/urlfetcher.py.orig 2020-02-20 21:06:53.515076802 -0500
+++ /usr/share/virt-manager/virtinst/urlfetcher.py  2020-02-20 21:41:17.649056883 -0500
@@ -1279,6 +1279,33 @@
         logging.debug("Didn't find any known codename in the URL string")
         return self.os_variant

+class DevuanDistro(DebianDistro):
+    name = "Devuan"
+    urldistro = "devuan"
+    def _is_install_cd(self):
+        # For install CDs
+        if not self._check_info(".disk/info"):
+            return False
+
+        if self.arch == "x86_64":
+            kernel_initrd_pair = ("linux",
+                                  "initrd.gz")
+        elif self.arch == "i686":
+            kernel_initrd_pair = ("install.386/vmlinuz",
+                                  "install.386/initrd.gz")
+        elif self.arch == "aarch64":
+            kernel_initrd_pair = ("install.a64/vmlinuz",
+                                  "install.a64/initrd.gz")
+        elif self.arch == "ppc64le":
+            kernel_initrd_pair = ("install/vmlinux",
+                                  "install/initrd.gz")
+        elif self.arch == "s390x":
+            kernel_initrd_pair = ("boot/linux_vm", "boot/root.bin")
+        else:
+            kernel_initrd_pair = ("install/vmlinuz", "install/initrd.gz")
+        self._hvm_kernel_paths += [kernel_initrd_pair]
+        self._xen_kernel_paths += [kernel_initrd_pair]
+        return True

 class UbuntuDistro(DebianDistro):
     # http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/natty/main/installer-amd64/

It's clear that we are defining a number of architectures and the kernel and initrd pairs. I copied and altered the DebianDistro class to use the relevant info. I only tested with the x86_64 arch, but it should be easy for you to read the iso file for your architecture and adjust the other pairs as needed. No word is out on if the initrd and kernel filenames will be static now in Devuan, so I have not tried to submit a patch upstream, who have refactored now anyway. And now, here is my one-liner for installing with the following, updated preseed file.

vm=d2-04a ; time sudo virt-install -n "${vm}" --memory 2048 --vcpus=1 --os-variant=debiantesting -v --disk path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/"${vm}".qcow2,size=20 -l /mnt/public/Support/SetupsBig/Linux/devuan_ascii_2.1_amd64_dvd-1.iso --initrd-inject=/mnt/public/Support/Platforms/devuan/preseed/preseed.cfg --extra-args "hostname=${vm} NOTIFYEMAIL=bgstack15@gmail.com interface=auto" --debug --network type=bridge,source=br0 --noautoconsole

I usually omit the --no-autoconsole so my prompt returns after the VM has installed and rebooted.

Preseed file

# File: /mnt/public/Support/Platforms/devuan/preseed/preseed.cfg
# Locations:
#    /mnt/public/Support/Platforms/devuan/preseed/preseed.cfg
# Author: bgstack15
# Startdate: 2019-06-25
# Title: Preseed for devuan vms for ipa.example.com
# Purpose: To provide an easy installation for VMs and other systems in the Mersey network
# History:
#    2017-06 I learned how to use kickstart files for the RHCSA EX-200 exam
#    2017-08-08 Added notifyemail to --extra-args
#    2017-10-29 major revision to use local repository
#    2019-06-25 fork from centos7-ks.cfg
#    2019-12-29 fix up repos and in-target conclusion stuff
#    2020-02-27 heavy rewrite to use ascii 2.1
# Usage with virt-install:
#    vm=d2-04a ; time sudo virt-install -n "${vm}" --memory 2048 --vcpus=1 --os-variant=debiantesting -v --disk path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/"${vm}".qcow2,size=20 -l /mnt/public/Support/SetupsBig/Linux/devuan_ascii_2.1_amd64_dvd-1.iso --initrd-inject=/mnt/public/Support/Platforms/devuan/preseed/preseed.cfg --extra-args "hostname=${vm} NOTIFYEMAIL=bgstack15@gmail.com interface=auto" --debug --network type=bridge,source=br0 --noautoconsole
#    vm=d2-04a; sudo virsh destroy "${vm}"; sudo virsh undefine --remove-all-storage "${vm}";
# Reference:
#    https://sysadmin.compxtreme.ro/automatically-set-the-hostname-during-kickstart-installation/
#    /mnt/public/Support/Platforms/CentOS7/install-vm.txt
#    https://serverfault.com/questions/481244/preseed-command-string-fail-with-newline-character-using-virt-install-initrd-inj
#    https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/apbs01.html.en
#    https://github.com/jameswthorne/preseeds/blob/master/debian-7-wheezy-unattended.seed
#    syntax for --location https://www.queryxchange.com/q/1_908324/virt-install-preseed-not-working/
#    example preseed https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/example-preseed.txt
#    skip next dvd question https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/409212/preseed-directive-to-skip-another-cd-dvd-scanning
#    grub problem caused by consolekit:amd64 https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=915947#10
#    https://stackoverflow.com/questions/39861614/how-to-fully-automate-unattended-virt-install
#    https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/apbs03.html.en
#    https://dev1galaxy.org/viewtopic.php?id=1853
#    https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/howto-setup-serial-console-on-debian-linux/
#    https://github.com/virt-manager/virt-manager/blob/master/virtinst/install/urldetect.py
#    /mnt/public/Support/Platforms/devuan/fix-virt-manager.txt
#    https://dev1galaxy.org/viewtopic.php?id=3332
#    https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2387570
#    sudo debconf-get-selections -c /mnt/public/Support/Platforms/devuan/preseed/preseed.cfg
#    on d2-03a: sudo debconf-get-selections --installer
#    https://serverfault.com/questions/593388/unable-to-nfs-mount-in-debian-preseed-target/593389
# Improve:
#    discover how to send email, using postfix or sendmail. Don't care which, but exclude exim4.
#    echo "$( hostname ) has IP $( ip -4 -o a s eth0 | awk '{print $4}' | sed -r -e 's/\/.*$//' )" | 
#    2020-02-24 add the kernel lines: console=ttyS0 console=tty1. Get this to work; use grub.cfg and "linux" line, not "kernel"

d-i debian-installer/country string US
d-i debian-installer/keymap select us
d-i debian-installer/language string en
d-i debian-installer/locale string en_US
d-i localechooser/supported-locales string en_US.UTF-8

d-i keyboard-configuration/layoutcode string us
d-i keyboard-configuration/variantcode string
d-i keyboard-configuration/xkb-keymap select us

d-i netcfg/disable_autoconfig boolean false
d-i netcfg/get_domain string ipa.example.com
d-i netcfg/wireless_wep string
# disable asking for non-free firmware, because this is a vm and has none
d-i hw-detect/load_firmware boolean false

#d-i apt-setup/enable-source-repositories boolean false
# ORIGINAL d-i apt-setup/services-select multiselect security updates, release updates, backported software
d-i apt-setup/contrib boolean true
d-i apt-setup/disable-cdrom-entries boolean true
d-i apt-setup/non-free boolean true
d-i apt-setup/use_mirror boolean true
d-i mirror/country string manual
d-i mirror/http/directory string /merged
d-i mirror/http/hostname string deb.devuan.org
d-i mirror/http/proxy string
d-i mirror/protocol string http
d-i mirror/suite string testing

d-i apt-setup/cdrom/set-failed boolean false
d-i apt-setup/cdrom/set-first boolean false
d-i apt-setup/cdrom/set-next boolean false

## my repos and ceres
d-i apt-setup/local0/comment    string stack123deb
d-i apt-setup/local0/key        string http://www.example.com/stack123/repo/deb/stack123deb.gpg
d-i apt-setup/local0/repository string http://www.example.com/stack123/repo/deb/ /
d-i apt-setup/local1/comment    string devuan-deb
d-i apt-setup/local1/key        string http://www.example.com/stack123/repo/deb/stack123deb.gpg
d-i apt-setup/local1/repository string http://www.example.com/stack123/repo/devuan-deb/ /
d-i apt-setup/local2/comment    string ceres
d-i apt-setup/local2/key        string http://www.example.com/mirror/devuan/dists/ceres/Release.gpg
d-i apt-setup/local2/repository string http://www.example.com/mirror/devuan ceres main contrib non-free
#d-i apt-setup/local2/key        string http://pkgmaster.devuan.org/merged/dists/ceres/Release.gpg
#d-i apt-setup/local2/repository string http://pkgmaster.devuan.org/merged ceres main contrib non-free
d-i apt-setup/local3/comment    string obsmirror
d-i apt-setup/local3/key        string http://www.example.com/mirror/obs/Release.key
d-i apt-setup/local3/repository string http://www.example.com/mirror/obs/ /
# if for some reason I really need to turn off the gpg key check:
#d-i debian-installer/allow_unauthenticated boolean false

#tasksel tasksel/first multiselect standard, ssh-server
tasksel tasksel/first multiselect none

# adapted from /mnt/public/Support/Platforms/devuan/devuan.txt, main fluxbox desktop, but for a vm
# no xscreensaver, for a vm.
#d-i pkgsel/include string \
#   alsamixergui alttab apt-transport-https bgconf bgscripts bgscripts-core \
d-i pkgsel/include string openssh-server

d-i pkgsel/upgrade select none

popularity-contest popularity-contest/participate boolean true

d-i clock-setup/ntp boolean true
d-i clock-setup/ntp-server string dns1.ipa.example.com
d-i time/zone string America/New_York

# skip grub during main part, because we will do it in late_command
#d-i grub-installer/skip boolean true
#d-i grub-installer/skip-again boolean true
#d-i grub-installer/skip-confirm boolean true
#d-i grub-installer/confirm_skip boolean true
#d-i nobootloader/confirmation_common boolean true
d-i     choose-init/select_init select  sysvinit
d-i     choose-init/selected_sysvinit bool   true
grub-installer  grub-installer/choose_bootdev   select  /dev/vda

d-i lilo-installer/skip boolean true
#d-i grub-installer/with_other_os boolean true
d-i grub-installer/only_debian boolean true
d-i grub-installer/grub2_instead_of_grub_legacy boolean true
#d-i grub-installer/bootdev string /dev/vda
#d-i grub-installer/choose_bootdev select /dev/vda
#grub-installer grub-installer/force-efi-extra-removable boolean false

d-i passwd/root-password password somethingStrongHere
d-i passwd/root-password-again password somethingStrongHere

d-i partman-auto/choose_recipe select home
d-i partman-auto-crypto/erase_disks boolean false
d-i partman-auto/disk string /dev/vda
d-i partman-auto/init_automatically_partition select biggest_free
d-i partman-auto/method string lvm
d-i partman/choose_label string gpt
d-i partman/choose_partition select finish
d-i partman/confirm boolean true
d-i partman/confirm_nooverwrite boolean true
d-i partman/confirm_write_new_label boolean true
d-i partman/default_label string gpt
#d-i partman-lvm/confirm boolean true
d-i partman-lvm/confirm_nooverwrite boolean true
d-i partman-md/confirm_nooverwrite boolean true
#d-i partman/mount_style select uuid
d-i partman-partitioning/confirm_write_new_label boolean true

# Uncomment this to add multiarch configuration for i386
#d-i apt-setup/multiarch string i386

d-i passwd/make-user boolean true
d-i passwd/user-fullname string bgstack15-local
d-i passwd/username string bgstack15-local
d-i passwd/user-password-crypted password $6$85aKM2DkiD5g9r3D$zkBcVES1Bzu.b5dBJxklSGgEJzswZBlVAyc9lUUIzMA2OLRH3PD2ZWE9Q40ztw/32OyDm2nF031hfE4s5LGuG1
d-i passwd/user-default-groups string audio cdrom video

d-i finish-install/reboot_in_progress note
d-i cdrom-detect/eject boolean true

# additional application stuff just in case it works and is useful
# LDAP server URI:
d-i shared/ldapns/ldap-server   string  ldapi:///ipa.example.com

d-i openssh-server/password-authentication  boolean true
d-i openssh-server/permit-root-login    boolean false

d-i preseed/late_command string mkdir -p /target/etc/apt/sources.list.d /target/mnt/bgstack15 /target/mnt/public ; cd /target/etc/apt ; \
   in-target wget -O /Release.gpg http://www.example.com/mirror/devuan/dists/ceres/Release.gpg ; in-target apt-key add /Release.gpg ; \
   echo "deb http://www.example.com/mirror/devuan ceres main contrib non-free" > sources.list ; \
   in-target wget -O /stack123deb.gpg http://www.example.com/stack123/repo/deb/stack123deb.gpg ; in-target apt-key add /stack123deb.gpg ; \
   echo "deb http://www.example.com/stack123/repo/deb/ /" > sources.list.d/stack123deb.list ; \
   echo "deb http://www.example.com/stack123/repo/devuan-deb/ /" > sources.list.d/devuan-deb.list ; \
   in-target wget -O /Release.key http://www.example.com/mirror/obs/Release.key ; in-target apt-key add /Release.key ; \
   echo "deb http://www.example.com/mirror/obs/ /" > sources.list.d/home\:bgstack15.list ; \
   in-target apt-get update ; \
   in-target apt-get purge -q -y -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confdef" -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confold" consolekit exim4\* lxqt\* udev ; \
   in-target apt-get install -q -y -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confdef" -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confold" alsamixergui alttab apt-transport-https bgconf bgscripts bgscripts-core cifs-utils curl fluxbox freeipa-client git grub lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter mlocate net-tools nfs-common ntpdate oddjob-mkhomedir=0.0.1-1 openssh-server p7zip palemoon-ublock-origin parted qemu-guest-agent rsync scite screen spice-vdagent strace sudo tcpdump vim vlc volumeicon-alsa xfce4-terminal xfe xserver-xorg-video-qxl fluxbox-themes-stackrpms xdgmenumaker man logout-manager freeipa-helper palemoon waterfox ; \
   in-target wget http://www.example.com/stack123/certs/ca-ipa.example.com.crt -O /usr/local/share/ca-certificates/ca-ipa.example.com.crt && update-ca-certificates || : ; \
   in-target su bgstack15-local -c "sudo /usr/bin/bgconf.py -d 10 1>/home/bgstack15-local/clone.log 2>&1" ; \
   in-target wget -O /root/set-my-repos.sh http://www.example.com/stack123/Support/Platforms/devuan/set-my-repos.sh ; in-target sh /root/set-my-repos.sh ; \
   in-target wget -O /root/lightdm-elogind.sh http://www.example.com/stack123/Support/Platforms/devuan/lightdm-elogind.sh ; in-target sh /root/lightdm-elogind.sh ; \
   in-target wget -O /root/set-local-devuan-repo.sh http://www.example.com/stack123/Support/Platforms/devuan/set-local-devuan-repo.sh ; in-target sh /root/set-local-devuan-repo.sh ; \
   in-target apt-get install -q -y -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confdef" -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confold" postfix ; \
   in-target wget -O /root/update-devuan.sh http://www.example.com/stack123/Support/Platforms/devuan/update-devuan.sh ; in-target sh /root/update-devuan.sh preseed ; \
   in-target sed -i -r -e '/^\s*linux/s/(\s*console=.{1,7}[0-9])*\s*$/ console=tty0 console=ttyS0/;' /boot/grub/grub.cfg | grep -E '^\s*linux' ; \
   in-target sed -i -r -e '/^\s*kernel/s/(\s*console=.{1,7}[0-9])*\s*$/ console=tty0 console=ttyS0/;' /boot/grub/menu.lst ; \
   in-target sed -i -r -e '$aT0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 9600 vt100' /etc/inittab ;

#### SHOULDN'T NEED THIS ANYMORE
#   in-target install -m0644 /mnt/public/Support/Platforms/devuan/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list ; \

For some reason, the pkgsel/include answer would not work here. Also, the native answers for custom apt repositories wouldn't work, but it might have been implementation errors on my side. So I learned the tricky in-target or not in-target logic required to manipulate apt and install my phone book of packages.

References

Weblinks

My original conversation: Installing Devuan Ascii 2.1 with virt-install / Installation / Dev1 Galaxy Forum

Install CentOS 8 with kickstart and virt-install

bgstack15 — Sun, 27 Oct 2019 13:06:11 GMT

This is a modification of my process for using virt-install to fully automate the install for CentOS/Fedora with kickstart. Here is my kickstart file for CentOS 8. Only minor modifications were required. A few packages aren't available yet, but I've stopped using them, and a few renames.

How I use this

I define a variable, and plug it into the important parts.

vm=c8-02a ; time sudo virt-install -n "${vm}" --memory 2048 --vcpus=1 --os-variant=centos7.0 --accelerate -v --disk path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/"${vm}".qcow2,size=20 -l /mnt/public/Support/SetupsBig/Linux/CentOS-8-x86_64-1905-dvd1.iso --initrd-inject=/mnt/public/Support/Platforms/CentOS8/centos8-ks.cfg --extra-args "ks=file:/centos8-ks.cfg SERVERNAME=${vm} NOTIFYEMAIL=bgstack15@gmail.com net.ifnames=0 biosdevname=0" --debug --network type=bridge,source=br0 --noautoconsole

Some thoughts

The repository URLs are a little different for CentOS 8, but once I had one built I could examine the URLS and correct my kickstart to use my local repos.

Dependencies

The network card of the host machine should be bridged, so that you can add bridged virtual NICs like the oneliner does.
centos 8 iso

The kickstart file

# File: /mnt/public/Support/Platforms/CentOS8/centos8-ks.cfg
# Locations:
#    /mnt/public/Support/Platforms/CentOS8/centos8-ks.cfg
# Author: bgstack15
# Startdate: 2017-06-02
# Title: Kickstart for CentOS 8 for ipa.example.com
# Purpose: To provide an easy installation for VMs and other systems in the Mersey network
# History:
#    2017-06 I learned how to use kickstart files for the RHCSA EX-200 exam
#    2017-08-08 Added notifyemail to --extra-args
#    2017-10-29 major revision to use local repository
#
#
#
#
#    2019-09-24 fork for CentOS 8
# Usage with virt-install:
#    vm=c8-01a ; time sudo virt-install -n "${vm}" --memory 2048 --vcpus=1 --os-variant=centos7.0 --accelerate -v --disk path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/"${vm}".qcow2,size=20 -l /mnt/public/Support/SetupsBig/Linux/CentOS-8-x86_64-1905-dvd1.iso --initrd-inject=/mnt/public/Support/Platforms/CentOS8/centos8-ks.cfg --extra-args "ks=file:/centos8-ks.cfg SERVERNAME=${vm} NOTIFYEMAIL=bgstack15@gmail.com net.ifnames=0 biosdevname=0" --debug --network type=bridge,source=br0 --noautoconsole
#    vm=c8-01a; sudo virsh destroy "${vm}"; sudo virsh undefine --remove-all-storage "${vm}";
# Reference:
#    https://sysadmin.compxtreme.ro/automatically-set-the-hostname-during-kickstart-installation/
#    /mnt/public/Support/Platforms/CentOS7/install-vm.txt

#platform=x86, AMD64, or Intel EM64T
#version=DEVEL
# Install OS instead of upgrade
install
# Keyboard layouts
keyboard 'us'
# Root password
rootpw --plaintext f0rg3tkickstart&
# my user
user --groups=wheel --name=bgstack15-local --password=$6$.gh9u7vg2HDJPPX/$g3X1l.q75fs7i0UKUt6h88bDIo1YSGGj/1DGeUzzbMTb0pBh4of6iNYWyxws/937qUiPgETqOsYFI5XNrkaUe. --iscrypted --gecos="bgstack15-local"

# System language
lang en_US.UTF-8
# Firewall configuration
firewall --enabled --ssh
# Reboot after installation
reboot
# Network information
#attempting to put it in the included ks file that accepts hostname from the virsh command.
#network  --bootproto=dhcp --device=eth0 --ipv6=auto --activate
%include /tmp/network.ks
# System timezone
timezone America/New_York --utc
# System authorization information
auth  --useshadow  --passalgo=sha512
# Use network installation instead of CDROM installation media
url --url="http://www.ipa.example.com/mirror/centos/8/BaseOS/x86_64/os"

# Use text mode install
text
# SELinux configuration
selinux --enforcing
# Do not configure the X Window System
skipx

# Use all local repositories
# Online repos
repo --name=examplerpm --baseurl=http://www.ipa.example.com/example/repo/rpm/
repo --name=base --baseurl=https://www.ipa.example.com/mirror/centos/$releasever/BaseOS/$basearch/os/
repo --name=appstream --baseurl=https://www.ipa.example.com/mirror/centos/$releasever/AppStream/$basearch/os/
repo --name=extras --baseurl=https://www.ipa.example.com/mirror/centos/$releasever/extras/$basearch/os/
repo --name=powertools --baseurl=https://www.ipa.example.com/mirror/centos/$releasever/PowerTools/$basearch/os/
repo --name=epel --baseurl=https://www.ipa.example.com/mirror/fedora/epel/$releasever/Everything/$basearch

# Offline repos
#
#
#
#
#

firstboot --disabled

# System bootloader configuration
bootloader --location=mbr
# Partition clearing information
clearpart --all --initlabel
# Disk partitioning information
autopart --type=lvm

%pre
echo "network  --bootproto=dhcp --device=eth0 --ipv6=auto --activate --hostname renameme.ipa.example.com" > /tmp/network.ks
for x in $( cat /proc/cmdline );
do
   case $x in
      SERVERNAME*)
         eval $x
         echo "network  --bootproto=dhcp --device=eth0 --ipv6=auto --activate --hostname ${SERVERNAME}.ipa.example.com" > /tmp/network.ks
         ;;
      NOTIFYEMAIL*)
         eval $x
         echo "${NOTIFYEMAIL}" > /mnt/sysroot/root/notifyemail.txt
     ;;
   esac
done
cp -p /run/install/repo/ca-ipa.example.com.crt /etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors/ 2>/dev/null || :
wget http://www.ipa.example.com/example/certs/ca-ipa.example.com.crt -O /etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors/ca-ipa.example-wget.com.crt || :
update-ca-trust || :
%end

%post
(
   # Set temporary hostname
   #hostnamectl set-hostname renameme.ipa.example.com;

   ifup eth0
   sed -i -r -e 's/ONBOOT=.*/ONBOOT=yes/;' /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-e*

   # Get local mirror root ca certificate
   wget http://www.ipa.example.com/example/certs/ca-ipa.example.com.crt -O /etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors/ca-ipa.example.com.crt && update-ca-trust

   # Get local mirror repositories
   wget https://www.ipa.example.com/example/repo/rpm/examplerpm.repo -O /etc/yum.repos.d/examplerpm.repo;
   wget http://www.ipa.example.com/example/repo/rpm/examplerpm.mirrorlist -O /etc/yum.repos.d/examplerpm.mirrorlist
   distro=centos8 ; wget https://www.ipa.example.com/example/repo/mirror/example-bundle-${distro}.repo -O /etc/yum.repos.d/example-bundle-${distro}.repo && grep -oP "(?<=^\[).*(?=-example])" /etc/yum.repos.d/example-bundle-${distro}.repo | while read thisrepo; do yum-config-manager --disable "${thisrepo}"; done # NONE TO REMOVE dnf -y remove dnfdragora ; yum clean all ; yum update -y ; # Remove graphical boot and add serial console sed -i -r -e '/^GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=/{s/(\s*)(rhgb|quiet)\s*/\1/g;};' -e '/^GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=/{s/(\s*)\"$/ console=ttyS0 console=tty1\"/;}' /etc/default/grub grub2-mkconfig > /boot/grub2/grub.cfg

   # postfix is already started by default on centos8
   # Send IP address to myself
   thisip="$( ifconfig 2>/dev/null | awk '/Bcast|broadcast/{print $2}' | tr -cd '[^0-9\.\n]' | head -n1 )"
   {
      echo "${SERVER} has IP ${thisip}."
      echo "system finished kickstart at $( date "+%Y-%m-%d %T" )";
   } | /usr/share/bgscripts/send.sh -f "root@$( hostname --fqdn )" \
      -h -s "${SERVER} is ${thisip}" $( cat /root/notifyemail.txt 2>/dev/null )

   # No changes to graphical boot
   #

   # fix the mkhomedir problem
   systemctl enable oddjobd.service && systemctl start oddjobd.service

   # Personal customizations
   mkdir -p /mnt/bgstack15 /mnt/public
   su bgstack15-local -c "sudo /usr/share/bgconf/bgconf.py"

) >> /root/install.log 2>&1
%end

%packages
@core
@^minimal install
bc
bgconf
bgscripts-core
bind-utils
cifs-utils
cryptsetup
dosfstools
epel-release
expect
firewalld
git
iotop
ipa-client
-iwl*-firmware
mailx
man
mlocate
net-tools
nfs-utils
p7zip
parted
python3-policycoreutils
rpm-build
rsync
screen
strace
sysstat
tcpdump
telnet
vim
wget
yum-utils
%end