Anil Gulecha wrote: > On 9/10/07, Eric Ray <Eric.Ray at sun.com> wrote: >> >> Anil Gulecha wrote: >>>> It's not clear to me that this needs to be a specific feature. IMHO >>>> branding should be supplied in packages dedicated to the purpose, and if >>>> that's done then it's just a matter of selecting the desired package. >>>> >>> Is the disto constructor aimed at distro makers(those who make >>> distributions for large section of the community) or the users who >>> want to create their own custom/minimal OS base. >>> >>> If its the former, then your suggestion is right. >>> >>> If it's the latter, then you cannot expect the user to learn how to >>> create packages. The solution here would be to create another utility >>> that takes various inputs (Name/logo/etc) and generates the package. >>> The better option would be to integrate this (at least minimally) into >>> the distro constructor. So creating a whole new distro is just a >>> matter of clicking Next>Next>... and selecting various options. Add a >>> "Built on opensolaris" somewhere in.. >>> >>> I'm looking forward to the distro constructor project (as I'm sure >>> many others are). Branding (even minimalistic) would be a very >>> attractive feature. I've looked a bit and haven't found any linux tool >>> that does this (other than RH revisor and Knoppix remastering >>> projects). "Another great feature in Opensolaris" >>> >> +1 >> >> I believe the target audience is both the former (distro/derivative >> makers) and the latter (custom/minimal CDs for various purposes). >> >> Karen and I discussed this offline, so she's heard more of my opinion >> on this than she likely wants to hear ;-) Fundamentally, I agree with >> your comments, Anil. Moreover, of the ~5 different people/groups that >> I discussed this project with last week, ALL wanted to be able to >> rebrand, and most only wanted to make minimal changes to the distro >> proper (e.g., adding a couple of packages and information files, >> rebranding, shipping/distributing). >> >> I'd say that the minimal desired rebranding features would be: >> * Replace desktop background image >> * Add symlinks to Desktop linked to arbitrary files/URLs. >> * Reset default Firefox homepage >> > > * Grub startup image is another visible component. > > Regards, > Anil > >> For minimal changes, I do think it'd be nice to be able to get there >> without having to overhaul packages manually. >>
I will stand by my assertion that branding needs to be consumed by the Distro Constructor as one or more packages. That doesn't mean they have to be hard to construct; to the contrary, I would expect a tool to be built or imported which will make it easy to do so (and I expect that construction of packages will be much easier under the new system than the existing SVR4 process, anyway). Whether that tool is something the Distro Constructor project should include is a fair question to discuss, but let us agree that packages are the basic unit of delivery. Dave
