Re: Ideas/Questions about Jigdo...
On Tue, Dec 03, 2002 at 09:19:41PM -0800, Paul E Condon wrote: I'm curious about the process of creating Official iso images. How is it done? There must be a directory tree that is populated with package files, some programs that support the installation of a Debian GNU/Linux system on the HD, another Debian GNU/Linux system that runs from the CD, and an autoboot program. Are these placed in the image manually, somehow? Are there scripts that automate some of the process? What special skills are required? How many individual Debian developers are considered fully capable of performing this task which seems to me rather daunting? Is there a document in the Debian archives that discusses this? See the debian-cd package. It contains the Makefiles and scripts needed to generate CD images and makes it (nearly) fool-proof, so long as you have easy access to a mirror. -- Steve McIntyre, Plasmon [EMAIL PROTECTED] Oh My God! They Killed init! You Bastards! Can't keep my eyes from the circling sky, Tongue-tied twisted, Just an earth-bound misfit, I... -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Ideas/Questions about Jigdo...
On Tue, Dec 03, 2002 at 09:19:41PM -0800, Paul E Condon wrote: I'm curious about the process of creating Official iso images. How is it done? There must be a directory tree that is populated with package files, some programs that support the installation of a Debian GNU/Linux system on the HD, another Debian GNU/Linux system that runs from the CD, and an autoboot program. Are these placed in the image manually, somehow? Are there scripts that automate some of the process? What special skills are required? How many individual Debian developers are considered fully capable of performing this task which seems to me rather daunting? Is there a document in the Debian archives that discusses this? See the debian-cd package. It contains the Makefiles and scripts needed to generate CD images and makes it (nearly) fool-proof, so long as you have easy access to a mirror. -- Steve McIntyre, Plasmon [EMAIL PROTECTED] Oh My God! They Killed init! You Bastards! Can't keep my eyes from the circling sky, Tongue-tied twisted, Just an earth-bound misfit, I...
Re: Ideas/Questions about Jigdo...
At 10:30 AM 02/12/03 -0600, Erisian wrote: First off let me just say that Jigdo is great I like it too. So Jigdo files and the templates are the basis for the iso creation, Backwards, actually. The official iso image is created first, and the jigdo process creates the jigdo and template files. 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. Jigdo is rather more a distribution tool than a custom CD package. -snip- I think this would be great as it would allow a great I suggest you correspond with Chris Severance who posted on this list a few days ago - perhaps you can collaborate on this project. My ideal would be a nice gui that could also be used for the install process, something that explains each package, I look forward to your project. Regards, Gordon -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Ideas/Questions about Jigdo...
On Tue, Dec 03, 2002 at 10:30:49AM -0600, Erisian Saint Vinge wrote: 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. Yes, this is possible, but no, it isn't really easy. First, you need to create your custom ISO image in whatever way you like. Then, you call the jigdo-file command line tool, and by taking the .jigdo file it outputs and tweaking it appropriately, you'll be able to make jigdo download the individual .deb packages for your custom CD from the Debian mirrors. You might want to have a look at http://atterer.net/jigdo/jigdo-file.html#EXAMPLES to get an idea of what types of things you can do with jigdo. 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. Yes, but note that jigdo can give you no help whatsoever with actually *creating* the ISO... there currently isn't an end-user friendly way to create custom CDs, because the debian-cd scripts require a local Debian mirror to be present. 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. [...] One idea that I've been contemplating and which is roughly the same: Should we extend the popularity-contest package so that people can choose what type of user they are? The resulting stats could be used to create one Debian server CD release, a Debian desktop one, a Debian workstation one, etc. - much like the different distros e.g. from SuSE. For this to make any sense, the special-purpose CD releases should only consist of 2 or 3 CDs each, and only the extra Debian full CD release would come with the complete set of packages on 7 CDs. 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. It's perfectly possible to create, say, a custom CD with Redhat RPMs on it and let jigdo download the RPMs from a Redhat mirror. It's just that nobody has done that yet. 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, [snip snip] Sounds like a nice idea, but it'd be lots of work - good luck writing it! ;-) Cheers, Richard -- __ _ |_) /| Richard Atterer | CS student at the Technische | GnuPG key: | \/¯| http://atterer.net | Universität München, Germany | 0x888354F7 ¯ '` ¯ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Ideas/Questions about Jigdo...
On Tue, 3 Dec 2002, Richard Atterer wrote: Should we extend the popularity-contest package so that people can choose what type of user they are? The resulting stats could be used to create one Debian server CD release, a Debian desktop one, a Debian workstation one, etc. - much like the different distros e.g. from SuSE. I'll bring the tar, who'll bring the feathers ? I'd start running now if i were you Richard - i imagine a few people would find this quite heretical :-) Yes, it'd be nifty to allow end users to do this, perhaps for a smaller subset of end-user that might be mirror site or cd reseller or user group rather than every person who wants to download debian. regards, -jason -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Ideas/Questions about Jigdo...
At 10:30 AM 02/12/03 -0600, Erisian wrote: First off let me just say that Jigdo is great I like it too. So Jigdo files and the templates are the basis for the iso creation, Backwards, actually. The official iso image is created first, and the jigdo process creates the jigdo and template files. 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. Jigdo is rather more a distribution tool than a custom CD package. -snip- I think this would be great as it would allow a great I suggest you correspond with Chris Severance who posted on this list a few days ago - perhaps you can collaborate on this project. My ideal would be a nice gui that could also be used for the install process, something that explains each package, I look forward to your project. Regards, Gordon
Re: Ideas/Questions about Jigdo...
On Tue, Dec 03, 2002 at 10:30:49AM -0600, Erisian Saint Vinge wrote: 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. Yes, this is possible, but no, it isn't really easy. First, you need to create your custom ISO image in whatever way you like. Then, you call the jigdo-file command line tool, and by taking the .jigdo file it outputs and tweaking it appropriately, you'll be able to make jigdo download the individual .deb packages for your custom CD from the Debian mirrors. You might want to have a look at http://atterer.net/jigdo/jigdo-file.html#EXAMPLES to get an idea of what types of things you can do with jigdo. 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. Yes, but note that jigdo can give you no help whatsoever with actually *creating* the ISO... there currently isn't an end-user friendly way to create custom CDs, because the debian-cd scripts require a local Debian mirror to be present. 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. [...] One idea that I've been contemplating and which is roughly the same: Should we extend the popularity-contest package so that people can choose what type of user they are? The resulting stats could be used to create one Debian server CD release, a Debian desktop one, a Debian workstation one, etc. - much like the different distros e.g. from SuSE. For this to make any sense, the special-purpose CD releases should only consist of 2 or 3 CDs each, and only the extra Debian full CD release would come with the complete set of packages on 7 CDs. 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. It's perfectly possible to create, say, a custom CD with Redhat RPMs on it and let jigdo download the RPMs from a Redhat mirror. It's just that nobody has done that yet. 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, [snip snip] Sounds like a nice idea, but it'd be lots of work - good luck writing it! ;-) Cheers, Richard -- __ _ |_) /| Richard Atterer | CS student at the Technische | GnuPG key: | \/¯| http://atterer.net | Universität München, Germany | 0x888354F7 ¯ '` ¯
Re: Ideas/Questions about Jigdo...
On Tue, 3 Dec 2002, Richard Atterer wrote: Should we extend the popularity-contest package so that people can choose what type of user they are? The resulting stats could be used to create one Debian server CD release, a Debian desktop one, a Debian workstation one, etc. - much like the different distros e.g. from SuSE. I'll bring the tar, who'll bring the feathers ? I'd start running now if i were you Richard - i imagine a few people would find this quite heretical :-) Yes, it'd be nifty to allow end users to do this, perhaps for a smaller subset of end-user that might be mirror site or cd reseller or user group rather than every person who wants to download debian. regards, -jason
Re: Ideas/Questions about Jigdo...
Gordon Huff wrote: -snip- So Jigdo files and the templates are the basis for the iso creation, Backwards, actually. The official iso image is created first, and the jigdo process creates the jigdo and template files. I'm curious about the process of creating Official iso images. How is it done? There must be a directory tree that is populated with package files, some programs that support the installation of a Debian GNU/Linux system on the HD, another Debian GNU/Linux system that runs from the CD, and an autoboot program. Are these placed in the image manually, somehow? Are there scripts that automate some of the process? What special skills are required? How many individual Debian developers are considered fully capable of performing this task which seems to me rather daunting? Is there a document in the Debian archives that discusses this? -snip-
