Public SourceMage Discussion List

[Ladislav Hagara <ladislav.hagara AT unob.cz>]

Howdy all,

> But I still don't like cutting the user out of creating the config file

I have just installed linux-new spell after some time again.
I am still confused. I really do not like it. Sorry I know there was a 
lot of work on it but I look at it as a user now.
Some comments:

According to kernel.org: The latest stable version of the Linux kernel 
is: 2.6.11.11. User probably wants this one.
According to linux-new spell the LATEST_2_6 is 2.6.11. Of course there 
is a item LATEST_maintenance_patches (it should be probably only patch, 
it is only one patch) but user is not interested in some patches. He/she 
just wants to use the latest stable version. IMHO, this should be placed 
on the main screen.

I very like the options (check boxes) to chose patches on "old" linux 
spell. It is great if I see them all in one screen and can very easy 
select/deselect them.
With linux-new spell I several times removed my selections and had to 
make it from scratch.

From the developer's view it is very demanding/difficult to maintain or 
update linux-new spell.
Several new files have to be created, several files should be removed. I 
know there is some script but I prefer simple solutions.

I do not understand why the default answer for "Would you like to have 
linux-new update your bootloader?" is no.
Again, users are not interested is some options. Just "sorcery 
system-updated" should update all system including linux-new and 
updating bootloader.
This default answer can cause for example that  the linux kernel 2.8.8 
is installed but user still use 2.6.10 due to the old lilo.conf.

I did not see any message about gpg checking of linux kernel sources.
linux-new spell should use config from linux spell.
Version of linux-new is still missing on 
http://codex.sourcemage.org/listing.html

Moreover some error:
Unpacking source file linux-2.6.11.tar.bz2 for spell linux-new.
/var/lib/sorcery/codex/test/kernels/linux-new/PRE_BUILD: line 52: 
/var/lib/sorcery/codex/test/kernels/linux-new/info/patches/maintenance_patches/.info: 
No such file or directory

PS:
Yes, there are users who really do not know what the lilo is, they are 
not interested in hundreds of options, they do not want to still anwer 
the same questions, they only want to run "sorcery system-update" and 
want their system is up-to-date. They have chosen Source Mage because we 
have up-to-date versions of their favourite programs, that we provide 
spells which are not included in other distributions, that Source Mage 
is easier to maintain than binary distros (yes, it is, only "sorcery 
system-update"). We can not force all our users to study what the lilo 
is, what is the meaning of hundreds of options of our spells. Users are 
not interested in it.
For example, I really recovered the box where the crucial init scripts 
were disabled. Some questions should be hidden from users.

--
Have you visit http://distrowatch.com/sourcemage today ? :-)

Ladislav Hagara
Source Mage GNU/Linux Developer
http://www.sourcemage.org/