Subject: RE: kernel size

From: Casper BodenCummins <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 20 Aug 1996 15:43:41 +0100

Sherwood,

I like your suggestion of configuring packages as a separate step. The
option in dselect to 'configure remaining unconfigured packages' could
handle this, instead of the 'install selected packages' option. In this
scenario, the 'install' option would became 'load packages' and all
configuration would be relegated to the 'configure' option. If something
goes wrong during configuration, you can just re-run dselect and hit the
configure option. Good Idea.

Yes, it would be snazzy - and rather helpful - if the system
automatically installed the required packages once an installation
method was selected. It would also make the steps more distinct, as you
say.

Casper Boden-Cummins.

>----------
>From: 	Sherwood Botsford[SMTP:[email-masked]]
>Sent: 	19 August 1996 17:07
>To: 	Casper BodenCummins
>Subject: 	RE: kernel size
>
>That's part of the point. More to the point is that there needs to be
>some form of checkpointing for each of these stages.  I should be able
>to back down the ladder too.  If dselect screws up, I should be able,
>with a single command, to revert the system to a bare bones, just after
>the 5 floppy disk install.  Or back to Required only.  All this stuff
>is sort of there.  (Sort of -- yeah.  HOw do you revert to required
>packages only if dselect/dpkg doesn't work. -- or if they work, but
>their databases are gone or corrupt.)  
>
>Right now the separation is vague.  E.g.  
>>From 1-2 --floppy to boot off the hard disk, you get asked for a bunch
>of extraneous info, and if you don't succeed, you have to start again
>with 5 floppies in your hand.  The path from floppies in hand to tiny
>system on disk needs to be made tighter.
>
>The deselect stage right now is a jumble of three different actions:
>1.  Load required base system software.
>2.  Load optional package sets.
>3.  Configure packages.    
>
>I'm saying that stage 1 should be fully automatic after selecting an
>access method.
>
>Stage 2 needs to be redone so that all the install is done, then
>all the config is done. YOu can start a select, and have it stop 
>after 10 minutes while it asks
>you a questions. YOu have to keep coming back to it every several
>minutes to hit a few keys. This is annoying as hell. 
>
>During one installation I asked for an X install  during the requried
>install, then managed to lock up my box during the X configuration.
>Result -- machine in ambigious state.

---

From: Hamish Moffatt <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 21 Aug 1996 16:56:39 +1000 (EST)

> configure option. Good Idea.

One thing I find a bit annoying with dselect/dpkg is the way it checks
the version of EVERY package when you pick Install. Last night I did
an NFS installation (and the remote source was from CD-ROM), and this
step was very slow. Can anything be done about this, eg trusting
the packages list instead of looking for newer versions, or whatever?

Also, how does dselect cope if it doesn't have the root debian tree?
For the past few days I've been fiddling a lot and I've had the
Debian CD in my CD-ROM drive all the time, but I'm about to lend it
to someone. Will dselect still work with nothing but a local directory,
or should I just use dpkg by hand?

thanks,
Hamish

---

From: "Susan G. Kleinmann" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 21 Aug 1996 16:07:39 -0400

Hi Hamish --

You asked:
> Will dselect still work with nothing but a local directory,

Sure.  Just specify the local directory with option 1, Access method.

> or should I just use dpkg by hand?

That would work too.

Regards,
Susan Kleinmann