One of the biggest improvements I'd like to see in the installer in general, including the netboot installer, is the ability to easily install a newer version than the ISO was created for. I know it can be done manually with debootstrap, and such, but being able to "self-update" the entire installation process to a newer version would mean being able to keep using the CD for a long period of time, instead of only getting a single use out of it in many cases.
On Mon, Mar 21, 2016 at 10:09 PM Boruch Baum <[email protected]> wrote: > On 03/21/2016 09:50 PM, Adam Borowski wrote: > > On Mon, Mar 21, 2016 at 05:19:33PM -0400, Boruch Baum wrote: > >> 1] For a day-to-day changing alpha release it makes plenty of sense to > >> keep the initial download as small as possible, since so much is > >> expected to change as part of the development process. > >> > >> 2] OTOH, a developer wants to encourage people to test the install and > >> the release often, so it makes sense to have an initial iso download > >> packed with the stable and large software packages that aren't central > >> to the what the distribution is innovating. Any time a user runs a > >> second test, she incurs a bandwidth burden of an entire new install. > >> > >> 3] One complicated solution would be to not destroy > >> /var/cache/apt/archive on the target when re-installing. It could be > >> done by having the installer suggest to mount that folder on its own > >> partition, and then have the installer refer to it at the download > stage. > > > > Trusting /var/cache/apt/archive on the target would risk way too many > modes > > of breakage, let's not go there. > > > > If you're doing frequent installs, you'd better install apt-cacher-ng (or > > one of its competitors) on a box on the local network, and use that > whenever > > asked for a mirror. > > > > The apt source will then be: > > deb http://$YOUR_CACHE_BOX:3142/ftp.$COUNTRY.debian.org/debian/ > > or > > deb http://$YOUR_CACHE_BOX:3142/packages.devuan.org/merged > > > > This way you download any package, binary or source, at most once. > > > > Good. But the point was to have that function folded into the installer, > with a fallback for a network download, in a manner simple for the > largest group of testers to use. Your suggestion seems to me in practice > to require of the user many more manual steps before, during, and after > each install. I've never used the technique, but you seem to also be > saying that it requires extra hardware, in the form of a local network > and a second box to host apt-cacher-ng. > > Come to think of it, I challenge your starting point contention: "would > risk way too many modes of breakage", so let's do go there, if only for > a bit. What are all those "too many modes" and how bad are the risks? > What's the worst downside, worse than a failed keysign check? > > -- > hkp://keys.gnupg.net > CA45 09B5 5351 7C11 A9D1 7286 0036 9E45 1595 8BC0 > > _______________________________________________ > Dng mailing list > [email protected] > https://mailinglists.dyne.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dng >
_______________________________________________ Dng mailing list [email protected] https://mailinglists.dyne.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dng
