Mike Gerdts wrote: > On Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 2:30 PM, Shawn Walker<swalker at opensolaris.org> > wrote: >> Michael Sichler wrote: >>> Glen, >>> >>> Thanks for the quick response. >>> >>> I'm not sure I am aware of 'repo-on-dvd.' Is this were one would download >>> the ISO repository image and install it as a local repository? >> Hi, the 'repository on dvd' is the media product mentioned to you >> previously, found here: >> >> http://www.opensolaris.org/jive/thread.jspa?threadID=108575&tstart=15 >> http://blogs.sun.com/observatory/entry/repo_on_a_stick >> http://blogs.sun.com/observatory/entry/local_repository_mirror >> >> While for practical reasons, it is more suitable to put it on a USB flash >> device, you can also use suitable DVD media if you have the appropriate >> hardware. > > If the repo is already on a DVD (or USB) drive, it would seem to be > "no big deal" (TM) to make the DVD bootable, fire up a pkg server > listening on localhost then kick off the text-based installer. Big > bonus points if the media could be used to boot sparc and x86.
The current installer projects don't currently support package-based installs; only 'cpio-based' installs as far as I know (which means a pre-installed image). Even if they did/will support package-based installs, the remaining issue is that the structure of the repository itself is gigantic (around 350K directories currently) and would provide very poor performance if installing from bootable optical media. Although it would probably be fine for flash media. Finally, remember that each media product requires additional resources, testing, time, review, processing, etc. Since the repository images are needed regardless of what happens with the installation media, there are still additional costs in to providing additional media options such as 'DVD'. Also note that that the number of available packages is expanding, and I sincerely doubt that (in the near future) that it would be possible, even if you limited a DVD to x86 or SPARC files only, to fit every possible package on a single disc of 4.x GiB optical media. Cheers, -- Shawn Walker
