All content is set to ON.
The url doesn't automatically fill.
No error messages in AC error logs, other than that at Javascript console which is on every admin page;
Synchronous XMLHttpRequest on the main thread is deprecated because of its detrimental effects to the end user’s experience. For more help <external link to whatwg> jquery.min.js:4:25645
Using FF52 on linuxmint 18.1

AHA!

So the '=' are required, which is totally different from the documentation inside cli_install.php which says:

 * Command line tool for installing AbanteCart
 *
 * Usage:
 * cd install
 *
 *    php cli_install.php install
 *                               --db_hostname localhost
 *                                --db_username root
 *                                --db_password pass
 *                                --db_database abantecart
 *                                --db_driver mysqli
 *                                --db_port 3306
 *                                --username admin
 *                                --password admin
 

So now I have managed to install, thanks.

is there a sample config.php file somewhere ?
I want to try with that written manually

I am having trouble installing latest version on localhost, where I do all my dev work;
LinuxMint18.1 with Nginx and PHP7-FPM with MariaDB.
I get to /install/index.php?rt=install&runlevel=1 after submitting the config form, and it starts the progress scroller, then this:

Following error has occurred during installation:
OK:
Name   Info
10000::database error
Error: Could not load database file DB_DRIVER! in /home/onyx/htdocs/AbanteCart/public_html/core/lib/db.php on line 46


Config.php is writeable.
I have tried by Mysqli and PDO options for database, but it is still just using the POST field name DB_DRIVER to search for the database driver...wot the?