UNIX admin writes:
> > I think there's a fundamental flaw in he current
> > installers; the
> > installer needs to copy the 100s of megabytes of data
> > it by and large
> > does not use into memory before it starts working.
>
> It could load the miniroot into the swap slice instead; if the disk has no
> Solaris swap slices, it could use the newly ported qparted to offer to
> resize/reslice and create the necessary swap slice to load the miniroot into,
> and run it from there.
Except, of course, that swap slices aren't a required part of the
system.
> RAM requirements for such code are minimal, on the order of few hundred
> kilobytes, plus whatever qparted needs. Even at 24-bit depth, installer
> graphics could be made to fit in under 2MB at decent resolution.
The big trade-off is with development time and support: re-using
common components (such as Xorg and GNOME) means that development is
much easier and we end up with rapid development of new install
features and good, lasting support.
It's entirely possible to create a tiny installer using custom parts.
We could probably fit the whole darned thing in 100KB if we wanted.
The trade off would be:
- It'd be custom stuff, so nobody would know how to write to it.
Bugs would be inevitable.
- It'd be unshared with the rest of the system, so when there are
problems, nobody would care about it. (Unless we posit a lifetime
spent dedicated to supporting this obscure corner; an unlikely act
by someone who works in engineering.)
- When new hardware is developed, it wouldn't be supported, and
might never be supported if the installer team has long since gone
off to greener pastures.
I agree that some of these parts are bloated and could be put on a
diet. If you're interested in engineering this part of the system (in
detail) then please do bring it up in install-discuss and the Caiman
project in particular. There's likely a lot of interesting work yet
to be done here.
--
James Carlson, Solaris Networking <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sun Microsystems / 1 Network Drive 71.232W Vox +1 781 442 2084
MS UBUR02-212 / Burlington MA 01803-2757 42.496N Fax +1 781 442 1677
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