Listing 1 First.cnf shows a sampling of Debian Installer and base-config pre-configuration

# first.cnf - a simple configuration for the debian installer and 
#             base-config that loads in options for other packages 
#             from 'second.cnf'.
#
# syntax:
# package   configuration query             setting
# d-i       grub-installer/only_debian      boolean true
#
# Boot loader Configuration 
######################################################################
# Install grub to the MBR, even if there's another OS here
d-i grub-installer/only_debian      boolean true
d-i grub-installer/with_other_os    boolean true

# Base Config
######################################################################
# skip the bits where it pauses for you to hit enter
d-i         prebaseconfig/reboot_in_progress   note 
base-config base-config/intro                  note 
base-config base-config/login                  note 

# You might as well preseed your timezone; it doesn't change much.
base-config tzconfig/gmt                       boolean true
base-config tzconfig/choose_country_zone/US    select Eastern
base-config tzconfig/verify_choices            boolean true

# Networking
######################################################################
# Set up eth0 to use DHCP.  We could get much more elaborate here.
d-i netcfg/choose_interface select eth0
d-i netcfg/disable_dhcp     boolean false

# Automatic Disk Partitioning
######################################################################
# configure the hda to receive our installation
d-i partman-auto/disk   string /dev/discs/disc0/disc

# We can choose between many different installation strategies, and 
# can even script custom recipes.  Here, we take they easy way out.
d-i partman-auto/choose_recipe  select All files in one partition \
  (recommended for new users)

# It's not exactly automatic if you have to hit enter when you're done
d-i partman/choose_partition    select Finish partitioning and write \
                                changes to disk
d-i partman/confirm         boolean true

# Shell commands:
######################################################################
# It's also possible to run arbitrary shell commands at various points 
# in the installation.  This is a trivial example, but this is really 
# one of the most powerful parts of the Debian Installer's preseeds.

# preseed/early_command comes just after preseeding, but before the 
# Installer really gets going
d-i preseed/early_command string echo "early_command run!"

# Other file inclusions (must all be on one line):
######################################################################
d-i   preseed/include   second.cnf