Hello,
As I've been giving some thought to what might make the LiveCD project
more manageable, more open to community development and better all
around, it occurred to me that our build method could be adjusted. Right
now the build is automated by a long series of Makefiles that was, in
some respects, the inspiration for jhalfs. You set some variables, run
make, wait 6 hours or so, and voila! (hopefully) a LiveCD. It gets very
difficult (or, at least, annoying) to develop because of the long times
involved in building the entire thing.
So an idea is brewing...
Essentially, the LiveCD is a distribution. But it is a distribution
without something that nearly all others have: package management. Up to
now, there hasn't really been a need. But, if the CD incorporated PM at
its very heart, developers could focus more on tightening individual
components instead of always building the entire CD in one shot.
For example, let's say a flaw was found in one of the pieces of software
included on the CD. With the PM incorporated into the build, all we
would need to do is grab the latest packages, run a small script to
install them into a working directory with the proper configuration,
update the build commands for the package in question, rebuild it,
re-package it, and re-release an ISO. Working in this method should
shorten build times, help solidify the build, and open up a host of
other possibilities.
If you like the sound of this new approach, please share your thoughts
on what might help make it work. Details need to be discussed, such as
the exact development model, package management tools, updated
development scripts, tracking dependencies and standards for
development. I'll wait until there is some discussion before I speak any
further on some of the details that are already forming in my head.
Lastly, I'm posting this to {,b}lfs-dev because I'd like to make sure
those current groups of readers have the opportunity to comment. If
possible, though, please send discussion to the livecd list.
--
JH
--
http://linuxfromscratch.org/mailman/listinfo/lfs-dev
FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/faq/
Unsubscribe: See the above information page
