===== Win32-Loader - 0.9.4+deb10u2 =====

== What is Win32-Loader? ==

win32-loader is a component of the Debian-Installer that runs on Windows and
has the ability to load the actual installer either from the network or from
CD-ROM media (as in the version included in the official CD images).

This executable is the standalone flavour, which downloads the Debian
Installer from official Debian mirrors.

== How does it work? ==

After the language choice, the executable prompts the user for some
options and tries to get defaults from the Windows environment. It then
downloads the Debian installer and kernel from official Debian mirrors. It
puts them in a Windows directory and safely modifies the Windows bootloader to
enable a choice between the legacy Windows installation and the Debian
installer at boot time.

On the next reboot, the user can choose to continue the installation of
Debian. The installation will be run using the defaults gathered from the
runtime analysis and user prompting.

== Installation Guide ==

As the Debian Installer is a minimal system, one might want to take a look at
the Debian Installation Guide before launching win32-loader.exe:

	http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/installmanual

== Removal ==

When win32-loader.exe is uninstalled, it removes the Debian-Installer image
and kernel and restores the Windows bootloader settings.

== NSIS ==

win32-loader is heavily based on the "Nullsoft Scriptable Install System". In
fact it could not have seen the light without the flexibility and all the
features NSIS provides. This win32-loader.exe was built using the NSIS Debian
package in its 3.04-1 version.

== Embedded software ==

win32-loader in its standalone flavour embeds various files and win32
executables from the following Debian packages:

grub2                     2.02+dfsg1-20             http://deb.debian.org/debian/pool/main/g/grub2
cpio                      2.12+dfsg-9               http://deb.debian.org/debian/pool/main/c/cpio
gzip                      1.9-3                     http://deb.debian.org/debian/pool/main/g/gzip
gnupg2                    2.2.12-1                  http://deb.debian.org/debian/pool/main/g/gnupg2
debian-archive-keyring    2019.1                    http://deb.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/debian-archive-keyring
loadlin                   1.6f-6                    http://deb.debian.org/debian/pool/main/l/loadlin
ipxe                      1.0.0+git-20190125.36a4c8 http://deb.debian.org/debian/pool/main/i/ipxe
nsis                      3.04-1                    http://deb.debian.org/debian/pool/main/n/nsis
libgcrypt20               1.8.4-5                   http://deb.debian.org/debian/pool/main/l/libgcrypt20
libgpg-error              1.35-1                    http://deb.debian.org/debian/pool/main/l/libgpg-error

== Authors and licensing ==

Format: https://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/copyright-format/1.0/
Upstream-Name: win32-loader
Upstream-Contact: debian-boot@lists.debian.org
Source: http://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/w/win32-loader/

Files: *
Copyright: 2007, 2008, 2009 Robert Millan <rmh@debian.org>
           2010, 2011, 2016
License: GPL-3+
 This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
 (at your option) any later version.
 .
 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 GNU General Public License for more details.
 .
 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 .
 On Debian systems, the full text of the GNU General Public License
 version 3 can be found in the file `/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-3'.