Date: Wed, 23 Dec 2009 08:59:54 -0800 From: Randi Harper <randi@freebsd.org> To: Tony Theodore <tonyt@logyst.com> Cc: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org, "Julian H. Stacey" <jhs@berklix.com> Subject: Re: why BSDs got no love Message-ID: <e277d6c80912230859m2f948c19j2ee11ced257f0349@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <22166b750912230853m4a889656rbb6020f0eb133410@mail.gmail.com> References: <e277d6c80912230658k45c946ddga3ea807704d7dc61@mail.gmail.com> <200912231548.nBNFmcn3064359@fire.js.berklix.net> <e277d6c80912230804k57470a3akda9c943ccc40e0d4@mail.gmail.com> <22166b750912230853m4a889656rbb6020f0eb133410@mail.gmail.com>
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On Wed, Dec 23, 2009 at 8:53 AM, Tony Theodore <tonyt@logyst.com> wrote: >>>> > Perhaps the way to go is a common table of target defaults eg >>>> > =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0/usr/src/usr.sbin/sysinstall/install.cfg >>>> > Which could then be edited by all of >>>> > =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0Front end CLI =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 (*) >>>> > =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0Front end curses GUI =A0 =A0(*) >>>> > =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0(*) =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Maybe the= se 2 alternatives should be >>>> > =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0the f= irst question the installer asks ? >>>> > =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0Front end X11 GUI (for later after main install compl= ete >>>> > =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0- Shu= dder, Not that I'd use it, but someone >>>> > =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0w= ould probably want to write one). >>>> > =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0vi - for editing, & writing back to new boot media, >>>> > =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0to auto install on multiple identical= new machines. >>>> >>>> >>>> I would sooner stab myself in the face. >>> >>> Not obvious at all which your personal revulsion applies to >>> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0CLI ? ncurses ? install.cfg ?, X11 ?, vi ? >> >> >> All of the above. The bug list for sysinstall is not small. Even if >> this wasn't the case, I'm not even going to work on introducing that >> many options and obfuscating the code that much more. The mere thought >> of the rewrite involved in adding that kind of support makes my head >> feel like the knife is already in place. > > The idea is that it "simplifies" the code by making it more modular. > All the final "sysinstall" has to do is execute the specifics of > install.cfg. It's just a text file, anything can modify it - of > course, in a standardised way. The suggestion is to develop front-ends > that can generate/modify such a file which the installer back-end will > execute. Think of it as functional programming for installers - define > the installations options in a declarative way, and let the installer > take care of the rest. > > Yes, trying to implement such a thing may drive you to stab yourself > in the face - you can do that with a toothpick, but the idea should > cause you to sharpen a different blade. No one is asking you to do it, > just think of some possibilities. > > >> The only support I've been *thinking* about adding is a simple CLI in >> addition to the existing libdialog (ncurses) install. This would still >> be a not insignificant modification, but there are issues that make >> using a libdialog based installer problematic on some displays. It's a >> fun idea to kick around, but it's not a priority. >> >> I don't even know what you mean by vi, but it sounds confusing and >> unnecessary. This is what install.cfg is for - so you can define the >> parameters of an installation beforehand. > > vi is an arcane, obscure text editor that is used by alpha/uber-geeks > to modify *.cfg files ;) No one in their right mind would suggest the > possibility of manually editing a text file, let alone the sysinstall > .cfg file. Who knows what configuration options would be possible? Yeah... I know what vi *is*. I don't see how it's relevant as an installation option. And by the way, you do edit the install.cfg file by hand. We don't have a handy tool to automagically create one of these as far as I know. You know what options are possible by looking at the sysinstall man page, looking at the example install.cfg file, or reading sysinstall.h. > > Having cli/X11/ncurses/text interfaces to install.cfg seems ideal to > me. The technical difficulty alone would in all likelihood ground it, > it doesn't need to be shot down. I'm shooting it down as in "I am not doing this" because I'm currently the person working on sysinstall. ;) -- randi
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