This email may be of interest to you if you:
- Use one of the live installer images (live CD, text installer,
or automated installer whether booted from net or media (AI))
- Are interested in adding additional drivers to a booted live
environment before performing a target disk installation, to
allow that installation to proceed
- Build live installer images (flag day)
The Driver Update project, along with enhancements to the Device
Driver Utility (DDU), now allows you to add additional drivers to a
booted live installer image so that installations to third party or
other devices can be completed. The installers of those images will
also install those additional drivers to the target as well. Driver
Update and the DDU will attempt to locate packages containing missing
drivers in the system's configured repository and install them.
Specific driver packages can also be specified explicitly; IPS
packages, SVR4 packages and DU/ITU images are supported.
Features/Changes to live environments:
======================================
Live CD:
When the "jack" user logs in (including when Live CD boots), the DDU
will be invoked in the background to check for devices which are
missing their drivers and will pop up a notification if such devices
are found. Clicking on the DDU icon in the screen's side tray will
bring up the DDU GUI which will attempt to install the missing drivers
it finds automatically. Use the GUI to install explicitly-requested
driver packages as well.
Text installer:
The installation menu now has a selection (2) for "Installing
Additional Drivers". Selecting this will bring up a text-mode version
of the DDU. The DDU will search for devices missing drivers when it
starts. To install a driver for a device it finds, select that
device, press <return> and then F2 to install. Install drivers
manually by filling out the bottom of the screen and selecting F2.
Automated installer:
A new section has been added to AI client manifests. This section is
optional, and is enveloped by <ai_add_drivers> tags. By default, AI
will search for missing drivers so that all system devices are
active. AI, however, is capable of accepting manual requests for
driver packages. Please see the amply-commented sample AI manifest at
/usr/share/auto_install/ai_manifest.xml
for details.
Caveats:
========
- Driver Update and the DDU on live images will not work with
packages that install files into /usr, /opt or other areas
mounted read-only.
- Drivers being installed must be immediately usable without a
reboot.
- Overlaying a new version of a driver on top of an already-
operational version is not supported.
Note: you can work around any of these issues by building your own
live image using the Distribution Constructor (DC). Some links for
your reference are:
http://blogs.sun.com/nadkarni/entry/using_distro_constructor_to_add
http://hub.opensolaris.org/bin/download/Project+caiman/files/DistroConst.pdf
Building live / installer images:
=================================
The installer and live-image enhancements have gone back to
slim_source, but new DDU packages are also needed for building images
and these will be made available around build 140. Please see the full
heads-up / flag day message on the Driver Update page at:
http://hub.opensolaris.org/bin/view/Project+caiman/Driver_Update_Heads_Up
for options in building live images in the meantime.
Filing bugs:
============
Please log bugs found to defect.opensolaris.org.
- File bugs found regarding startup of the new functionality,
or manifest parsing to:
product:installer
component: autoinstall, gui or textui as appropriate.
- File all other bugs to:
product:opensolaris, component: device-utility.
- Please add "Driver-Update" to the bug's Whiteboard field.
Thank you and enjoy,
Jack Schwartz, Solaris Install
Xue-Yang Yan, Zhongyuan Sun, Tony Hu, DDU team
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