Mike Gerdts wrote: > On Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 3:04 PM, Shawn Walker<swalker at opensolaris.org> > wrote: >> The current installer projects don't currently support package-based >> installs; only 'cpio-based' installs as far as I know (which means a >> pre-installed image). > > I thought that the text-based installer handled this differently. AI > certainly does, but you've already corrected your statement on that > point.
It may, but my understanding of the text installer is fuzzy at best. >> Finally, remember that each media product requires additional resources, >> testing, time, review, processing, etc. Since the repository images are >> needed regardless of what happens with the installation media, there are >> still additional costs in to providing additional media options such as >> 'DVD'. > > Certainly. I'm not sure that it is terribly practical to distribute > such media. What is actually more intriguing is being able to easily > build a custom auto-install DVD image (again to present through a > hypervisor usually) that installs the system properly including the > various agents that are specific to my environment to meet security > and manageability requirements. Which I think will be what the Distribution Constructor provides. At least I would hope that the Distribution Constructor could be used to create a bootable AI image someday. >> Also note that that the number of available packages is expanding, and I >> sincerely doubt that (in the near future) that it would be possible, even if >> you limited a DVD to x86 or SPARC files only, to fit every possible package >> on a single disc of 4.x GiB optical media. > > Agreed. But a single DVD image (or USB drive) that I can use with any > platform would make it so that those that feel the need to carry one > around to fix really broken systems or install new systems would only > need to have one. My guess is that a CD image would be big enough to > hold the miniroot for x86 and sparc and a large enough repo to install > systems that look kinda like SUNWCrnet plus required management > agents. Such media would just be the bootstraps to let the enterprise > management tools take over to configure the system the way it really > needs to be configured. You can essentially use the current OpenSolaris 2009.06 CD + a USB stick with the repo-on-a-stick method for this now. What would be really cool to me would be a minimal OpenSolaris CD using the text-based installer that could boot off SPARC or x86, and would automatically detect and use the repo-on-a-stick if it was mounted via USB, etc. There are lots of great opportunities here for community members that have the time :) Cheers, -- Shawn Walker
