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  • From: Eric Sandall <eric AT sandall.us>
  • To: sm-discuss AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [SM-Discuss] Tempory Cauldron Component Lead Vote
  • Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2007 19:08:28 -0800

On Wednesday 07 February 2007 16:18:40 Karsten Behrmann wrote:
> Heya everyone!
<snip>
> I didn't only say generation scripts though, I also said installer.
> This is where we'll probably make the most significant changes.
> People have said our installer "didn't work", was awkward to use for
> non-mainstream cases, or that they'd just plain prefer doing things
> themselves. Also we've had a bunch of cases where people were surprised
> that they had to install software via the command line, because we had
> this flashy menu-driven installer babysitting them through the install
> process.
>
> I intend to change this. The obvious advantage is that without our current
> complicated installer, iso generation becomes simpler, we spend less time
> debugging the installer, and people get a more realistic expectation of
> what they're going to get when they've installed SMGL.
>
> Mind, I won't leave people hanging. What I (and most other cauldron team
> members) have in mind is still a 'guided' installer, but guiding by telling
> the users what to do, not by doing it for them. Examples explain best, so
> here's one:
>
> --- snip ---
> You should now partition your disks. We assume you know about partition
> tables, types, and what sort of partitions you want. If you don't, type
> 'help partitioning' at the command prompt below.
>
> You have the following commands available for partitioning:
> parted - powerful program with a lot of features
> cfdisk - easy-to-use curses-based tool. Recommended for new users
> fdisk - command-line based tool. For power users.
> sfdisk - I believe the 's' is for 'sicko'. For _real_ power users ;)
>
> You seem to have the following disks available:
> /dev/hda (20 GB)
> /dev/sda (120 GB)
>
> Please partition your disks now, type 'next' when you're done.
> Example:
> cfdisk /dev/hda
>
> root@installer ~#
> --- snap ---
> (images not to scale. details may change without notice. Does not include
> toddler. colors different in print.)
>
> People would be told which config files they need to edit instead of what
> we currently have with e.g. the "choose preferred editor" menu item. Again,
> this shows them how they'll need to make such adjustments later on. It'll
> also make us document our config files better, which is a Good Thing.
>
> I'm open for suggestions though, so if you think this is a horrible idea,
> feel free to jump into #sourcemage-cauldron and yell at us, or send me an
> email.

If you're saying we won't have a guided installer that actually *does* the
steps, then yes, this is a *horrible* idea. ;) This would be akin to Gentoo's
installer with their instruction page printed out, which I hate (I've
installed two now (on my SPARCs)).

I like the idea of actually doing the steps for them (as our current
installer
does), but *also* providing instructions (again, our current installer does
this, though the instructions may be outdated) and a shell (we currently do
this as well ;)) for those who like to do their own.

-sandalle

--
Eric Sandall | Source Mage GNU/Linux Developer
eric at sandall.us PGP: 0xA8EFDD61 | http://www.sourcemage.org/
http://eric.sandall.us/ | http://counter.li.org/ #196285

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