* Shawn Walker (swalker at opensolaris.org) wrote: > Mike Gerdts wrote: > >On Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 3:04 PM, Shawn Walker<swalker at opensolaris.org> > >wrote: > >>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). > > > >I thought that the text-based installer handled this differently. AI > >certainly does, but you've already corrected your statement on that > >point. > > It may, but my understanding of the text installer is fuzzy at best.
The text installer actually does install directly from IPS and not media like the gui-install/liveCD. > >>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'. > > > >Certainly. I'm not sure that it is terribly practical to distribute > >such media. What is actually more intriguing is being able to easily > >build a custom auto-install DVD image (again to present through a > >hypervisor usually) that installs the system properly including the > >various agents that are specific to my environment to meet security > >and manageability requirements. > > Which I think will be what the Distribution Constructor provides. > At least I would hope that the Distribution Constructor could be > used to create a bootable AI image someday. You won't have to wait too long. We have a project underway as I type this to create bootable AI media. > >>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. > > > >Agreed. But a single DVD image (or USB drive) that I can use with any > >platform would make it so that those that feel the need to carry one > >around to fix really broken systems or install new systems would only > >need to have one. My guess is that a CD image would be big enough to > >hold the miniroot for x86 and sparc and a large enough repo to install > >systems that look kinda like SUNWCrnet plus required management > >agents. Such media would just be the bootstraps to let the enterprise > >management tools take over to configure the system the way it really > >needs to be configured. > > You can essentially use the current OpenSolaris 2009.06 CD + a USB > stick with the repo-on-a-stick method for this now. > > What would be really cool to me would be a minimal OpenSolaris CD > using the text-based installer that could boot off SPARC or x86, and > would automatically detect and use the repo-on-a-stick if it was > mounted via USB, etc. > > There are lots of great opportunities here for community members > that have the time :) Ain't that the truth. :-D -- Glenn
