First off let me just say that Jigdo is great and I've used it to download Debian 3 a few times. Now I just have some questions and ideas about how it could be possibly improved/altered.
So Jigdo files and the templates are the basis for the iso creation, and it downloads .deb files. My question is how are the .jigdo files and templates created and will there be an easy program/way to do this so that one could basically design their own iso with custom packages. I think this would be great as it would allow a great increase in the flexibility/usability of debian. People could create their own custom releases that have the packages they want/need while not wasting time on packages that they won't use and couldn't comprehend. I mean someone could create a .jigdo file and template customized for older PCs say 486s that would focus on packages that would run easier on the older platform, while avoiding newer packages that are too bloated for a older pc to handle. This is something I'm interested in doing in general, since I work at a community center with a lot of older donated PCs that might be able to make decent workstations if I could get some thinner software, I mean the fact that debian optimizes it's packages to the 386 architecture still conducive to this idea. I just don't know if anybody has really worked on it. I mean the other possibilties for customized isos that could still be downloaded from all of the debian mirrors are pretty exciting to me. I don't know any of the other distributions that this would be possible with. So what are the technical details that need to be filled in to accomplish this ? I mean obviously if a program that allowed people to customize their ISOs it would have to have a list of all the debian packages, it would probably be very similar to DSELECT but hopefully GUI, is StormPkg the only one that has been coded ? My ideal would be a nice gui that could also be used for the install process, something that explains each package, ideally each GUI app would have a screen shot to go along with it to let people see what they're getting. These are high expectations that I doubt could easily be implemented, but it would be nice. I mean the DSELECT process is just a little cumbersome to new people and doesn't really make debian seem very up to date when compared to the slicker/easier installs that other people utilize. With a program like this people could do the package selection before they even start the install process and then the deselect aspect could be skipped and the distro would just install all packages, making the debian install seem to zoom by. I mean how hard would it be to code a package selector program for Linux/Xwindows/Windows that would work on most platforms since one idea against a GUI install is that it wouldn't be easily implemented cross platform. I guess there would be a lot of ideas/concerns, I mean some people would want to use the testing database for their ISOs and that could mean that they go outdated, or they might want packages that aren't available within the standard woody distribution but jigdo wouldn't be able to download them unless you did something similar to the whole NON-US allowing people to input custom mirrors for packages that they have compiled to be compatible with woody but they aren't. That might be kind of sticky ish and add more complex issues. So these are my thoughts, I think that if something like this was possible it would alter the way debian works. I would like to hear feedback on the feasibility and interest in this concept. I'd love to work on it, but my programming skills are relatively undeveloped, although I'm trying to learn and teach myself.
