Hi, I was planning on asking how this was going. I think the requirements look good so far. It sounds like you've finalized the decision to use the Ncurses set-up, programming in C. I added just a couple comments/questions in-line below.
Please note, though, that the wiki link you posted is an internal link, and not available to everyone watching the caiman-discuss mailing list. In the future, just include a copy in the email. Thanks! -Keith > *Problem Statement*: Provide installation media for OpenSolaris that > delivers a purely text-based interface for users > > > *Requirements:* > > *Primary:* > > 1. Installation media will run on x86 architecture > > 2. Same options/configuration as GUI installer > > 3. Ncurses interface > > 4. Provided as option on current CD > > /Non-Functional Requirements:/ > > 1. Provide proper documentation > > 2. Ensure adequate testing is performed > What defines "adequate" testing? In terms of your involvement with this project, what degree of testing will you be doing? > > 3. Make sure that ncurses interface is user-friendly > > > *Secondary:* > > 1. Runs on SPARC architecture > > 2. Line-by-line interface > > 3. Network installation > > > *Use Cases:* > > 1. User has SPARC machine and wishes to install OpenSolaris by > inserting a CD and selecting configuration options through a console. > > 2. User has x86 machine and wishes to install OpenSolaris, but does > not have enough memory to run GNOME. User inserts the text-based > install CD. > > 3. User has x86 machine but graphics card is not supported by > OpenSolaris, so they run the text-based installer in order to install > OpenSolaris. > > 4. User starts install (situations 1-3) and the install runs to > completion with no problems. At the end the user is given back control > of the terminal from which they can explore the system or reboot. > What are the reasons for supporting this use case? Or rather, for drawing attention to it as desired behavior vs. automatically rebooting, for example? > > ALT 4: Error occurs during install, user is given log of install and > error messages, user regains control of terminal for troubleshooting > Thea Gab wrote: > The interns from Colorado School of Mines have posted information from > yesterday's meeting and an overview of the text-based installer > project at > http://installzone-wiki.central.sun.com/wiki/index.php/CSMInternResources. > > Also, after listening to all of the advice and ways to take this > project from the meeting today we have determined a different approach > would probably be better. Since we initially did not anticipate how > to connect Dialog to the installer code, specifically liborchestrator, > we feel like using this implementation will result in a much more > roundabout method in order to achieve the goals we're seeking. > Specifically: > > * Interaction with liborchestrator will require some intermediate > steps between bash and C which will introduce a new level of > complexity on top of the project > * This additional complexity would also leave the system prone to > breaking more easily than a single self contained C program. > * We also believe that using this approach would make the text > installer easier to implement for SPARC systems in the future, because > Dialog would not need to be added into the repositories. > * Further, we can reproduce Frank's mock ups to a closer degree. > * Learning how exactly to tweak Dialog to obtain just the right > type of interface could take just as long as programming up a near > perfect representation in ncurses. > > > We now think it would probably be better to just use a straight > ncurses implementation of the text based installer. > > Thea, Danny, Ryan, Mark > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > caiman-discuss mailing list > caiman-discuss at opensolaris.org > http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/caiman-discuss >
