From owner-freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Dec 28 17:59:04 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 90DEE106568F for ; Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:59:04 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from petrus4@tpg.com.au) Received: from mail11.tpgi.com.au (mail11.tpgi.com.au [203.12.160.161]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 273178FC3B for ; Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:59:03 +0000 (UTC) X-TPG-Junk-Status: Message not scanned DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=tpg.com.au; s=alpha; t=1262023142; bh=dui/SMpJVa+kpytE6Ail9ppQWOvWChm6BAbnpWfI6gU=; h=X-TPG-Abuse:Message-ID:From:To:Subject:Date:MIME-Version: Content-Type; b=bBxiUSReLkS+oRNtDZgWYri0QiIGVt8epStrkNCPNncwD3huEFji5txjtSuYUNRsJ 8to4Yg9Y55W1X9+pb4+3HDZMXnLiIVa309x5xxdp8DcKiLAIyjWk/U6zG8r8yFBcsm sRRl3uAjkkjqmpC00BoT7ZwkkXuc+C3plKxJaNyY= X-TPG-Antivirus: Passed X-TPG-Abuse: host=203-219-254-191.static.tpgi.com.au; ip=203.219.254.191; date=Tue, 29 Dec 2009 04:59:02 +1100 Received: from jim4fb89194d83 (203-219-254-191.static.tpgi.com.au [203.219.254.191]) by mail11.tpgi.com.au (envelope-from petrus4@tpg.com.au) (8.14.3/8.14.3) with SMTP id nBSHx0ua016994 for ; Tue, 29 Dec 2009 04:59:02 +1100 Message-ID: <001001ca87e7$70b00760$0301a8c0@jim4fb89194d83> From: "Petrus" To: References: <75813f040912260730w40e7ebfge72fb0686c455cd9@mail.gmail.com> Date: Tue, 29 Dec 2009 03:59:00 +1000 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="UTF-8"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2905 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2962 Subject: Re: why BSDs got no love X-BeenThere: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: FreeBSD Evangelism List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:59:04 -0000 > There is absolutely no reason to change the default FreeBSD installer in > my > opinion, when the PC-BSD one will suffice for the 'snazzy' desktop > installs. I won't say that sysinstall couldn't benefit from at least *some* renovation. ;) The interface is fine, sure, but what I'm primarily talking about is the download mechanism. Apparently when certain files get downloaded with it, they actually get copied in-place during the transfer process, which means that if you abort it, you can end up with partially digested conf files (my /etc/passwd got hosed once) all over the place. What I'd propose would be caching whatever files the system needs to download until everything is cached locally, and then installing the lot after that, rather than doing both downloading and installing/copying in the same step. That way you can safely abort during the process if you need to. A scenario where individual files that are to be rewritten, get temporarily backed up until the setup is complete would probably also really help. So as said, the interface is fine, but I think the internal mechanism could definitely benefit from being made a bit more robust.