On Fri, May 26, 2000 at 04:01:53PM +0200, Denis HAVLIK wrote:
-> :~>Is it possible to think about an install program that works just the same (not
-> :~>two different versions!) in text AND graphic mode (with fb for example)?
-> :~>This could be an aswer to which do not do the same work twice, one for text
-> :~>mode and one for graphic mode.
-> :~>Isn'it a "brilliant" (c) idea?
->
-> Yes, this is definitively a briliant idea if you ask me. You can count on
-> me backing up idea of having all of our config-programs working in both X
-> and console mode (like linuxconf and emacs do), but i can already say
-> that this it is going to be very difficult to implement.
->
-> I would actually like to go even further: exactly the same
-> prog. which is used to configure "things" on a working system should be
-> also used by install prog, and all of these configuration tools should
-> work either under X or in console mode.
This suggests a layered approach.
Bottom layer: a program to manipulate the appropriate configuration files
for a given function. This will be console driven, with clearly defined
stdin and stdout input and output.
Install-time layer: a GUI or NCURSES program to establish defaults for the
function, and allow the user to adapt them. It is a front end for the
bottom layer.
Run-time layer: similar to the Install-time layer, but reads the existing
configuration files as its starting point.
The install-time and run-time programs could actually be the same program,
but they fulfill separate functions, so I separated them out.
Also, if the interfaces are done well enough, the bottom layer could also
be your console install-time or run time programs.
--
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