From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (qmail 18317 invoked from network); 14 Jan 2004 22:08:52 +0000 Received: from smtp.gentoo.org (128.193.0.39) by eagle.gentoo.oregonstate.edu with DES-CBC3-SHA encrypted SMTP; 14 Jan 2004 22:08:52 +0000 Received: from lists.gentoo.org ([128.193.0.34] helo=eagle.gentoo.org) by smtp.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.24) id 1AgtC0-0004vF-BA for arch-gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org; Wed, 14 Jan 2004 22:08:52 +0000 Received: (qmail 29869 invoked by uid 50004); 14 Jan 2004 22:08:52 +0000 Mailing-List: contact gentoo-dev-help@gentoo.org; run by ezmlm Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-dev@gentoo.org Received: (qmail 32012 invoked from network); 14 Jan 2004 22:08:49 +0000 From: Patrick Lauer To: Brian Dwornick Cc: gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org In-Reply-To: <001101c3dae2$a8596200$d30111ac@spider> References: <4005682C.2070708@stevesworld.hopto.org> <001101c3dae2$a8596200$d30111ac@spider> Content-Type: text/plain Message-Id: <1074118134.10480.13.camel@localhost> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Ximian Evolution 1.4.5 Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2004 23:08:54 +0100 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: [gentoo-dev] Installer For Gentoo X-Archives-Salt: 122f0974-a49a-4148-9db5-dd647577e435 X-Archives-Hash: 71ce42f820ce1cd5c41acc0db1ed89e7 On Wed, 2004-01-14 at 22:09, Brian Dwornick wrote: > There are two very different reasons that I can see for making an installer. > One is to make it easier to install gentoo for people that are not > comfortable with linux. This in my opinion would be a bad move as gentoo > isn't aimed to be the first linux distribution someone uses. I disagree. Teaching people something because it might be easier in the beginning is not always the best strategy. Just look at all the people that need a mouse and a pretty icon to click at. How did they work with text-based editors a few years ago? Why can't the secretary that used DOS 3.3 to copy files use the Dos-box in Windows? I've observed that those people that are interested in learning (as opposed to those that want to get their work done) can benefit a lot from gentoo, and the others don't care (if there is a problem, _you_ better fix it), so you can't loose (I hope) So, from my point of view, Gentoo is good since it teaches those that want to learn and makes life easier for me if I have to "repair" a broken system. > The seconds > reason would be to make it easier to install in a corporate enviroment > (server farms, multiple offices, etc.) With this in mind, I believe an > "installer" should be implemented as a text based script, not a pretty GUI. I'm more for a config-file driven thingy with different frontends (nice GUI with text fallback or something like that), but someone has to implement it ... > It should read a config file made by whoever is doing the install that has > many default configs in it and maybe prompt for the uses of the machine. > IE: If you could save / restore a config file you could easily clone a setup onto different hardware, and if you had automatic processor detection you could clone the setup _and_ optimise at the same time! :-) > The following configs have been detected please choose one: > [0] Prompt for config > [1] Desktop (KDE) > [2] Laptop (KDE) > [3] Email/Web/DNS Server (No X) > [4] Rendering Farm > ? 2 Yes, that should be nice. Maybe a two- or three-layer menu, but nothing as horrible as dselect, please. > What stage would you like to start from? > [1] > [2] > [3] > ... > At this point the installer could make choices that would produce the > optimal system but without the system admin having to sit and type the same > things over and over. The make.conf could be generated by using /proc and > the settings from the loaded config. You expect a lot of magic. I tend to dislike automatic detection of hardware since it can never work on all available systems. But if it worked very well (99,999% ;-) ) it'd be really nice to have. Still, I'd like to have full manual control, e.g. disable automagic detection, force-load this module, ... > Basically, distributions like Redhat make many decisions for you. I would > hate to see an installer that took choices from the users hands, as, gentoo > seems to be about choice. I agree. > My two cents, Euro or dollar? Patrick -- gentoo-dev@gentoo.org mailing list