Hi Sanjay.
On 07/13/09 23:17, sanjay nadkarni (Laptop) wrote:
> Jack Schwartz wrote:
>> Hi Sanjay.
>>
>> On 07/09/09 23:36, sanjay nadkarni (Laptop) wrote:
>>> Jack Schwartz wrote:
>>>> Hi everyone.
>>>>
>>>> An installer may require a special driver (that is, a driver not
>>>> delivered by default) to reach an unusual installation disk or storage
>>>> medium, if that installer is to be able to install on truly any
>>>> system.
>>>> Likewise, there may be other special devices for which a driver is
>>>> normally not installed, but for which a driver is required.
>>>>
>>>> Installers will need to support the use and installation of drivers
>>>> not
>>>> delivered by default, both to the system they are installing, and to
>>>> their own installation environment (booted while the installer is
>>>> running). The latter may be required to reach the installation
>>>> medium to complete the installation.
>>>>
>>>> The effort to make this happen will be known as the Driver Updates
>>>> Project.
>>>>
>>>> A proposed problem statement:
>>>> "All OpenSolaris installers must be able to install on any system,
>>>> regardless of any unusual devices a system has (storage devices, in
>>>> particular) and the drivers required to operate those unusual devices,
>>>> as long as those drivers are available. All OpenSolaris installers
>>>> should make it as easy as possible to locate trusted and reliable
>>>> drivers for all devices."
>>> The use of the word "unusual" is rather awkward. I suggest
>>> rewording the problem statement to capture the key issues
>>> explicitly. As I see it, the key issue is that device drivers
>>> needed to instantiate a device may not be on the install media.
>>> This could occur for various reasons, such as closed drivers, third
>>> party drivers or support for the new devices was added after the
>>> media was published. To enable support for these cases, the ability
>>> to asynchronously deliver drivers needed for install critical.
>>> This is why DU is required.
>> Thanks for your input. Eloquently put. Here's a revision:
>>
>> All OpenSolaris installers must be able to install on any system.
>> Yet there could be a device driver which is not part of the
>> installation media, which is needed to operate a system device. This
>> could occur for various reasons: the driver could be closed or third
>> party, or could be support for a new device which was added after the
>> media was published. To enable support for these cases, the ability
>> to deliver drivers from locations other than the installation media
>> for install is critical. OpenSolaris installers should make it as
>> easy as possible to locate trusted and reliable drivers for all
>> devices, including drivers which do not exist on the installation
>> media."
>>
>> Please let me know any additional feedback sometime today.
>>
> Please add "locate and install drivers".
OK
> "Trusted" is a loaded term. I think what you mean is "known" or do
> you mean "signed" as in digitally signed. If so why is this a
> requirement ? For example, an external contributor could set up a
> repo and provide a driver. The user may decide to either choose or
> ignore that location.
"Trusted" means "known". That said, it is not the purpose of the
installer to determine which drivers are reliable and which are not,
except to prevent obvious problems (like architectural mismatches).
So, changing "locate trusted and reliable drivers" to "locate and
install drivers" is what is needed here.
Here's how the problem statement now stands:
"All OpenSolaris installers must be able to install on any system. Yet
there could be a device driver which is not part of the installation
media, which is needed to operate a system device. This could occur for
various reasons: the driver could be closed or third party, or could be
support for a new device which was added after the media was published.
To enable support for these cases, the ability to deliver drivers from
locations other than the installation media for install is critical.
OpenSolaris installers should make it as easy as possible to locate and
install drivers for all devices, including drivers which do not exist on
the installation media."
Thanks,
Jack
P.S. Note that in the case of an automatic "install all missing
drivers" scenario, preference should be given to those drivers which
have the greatest potential to be reliable (i.e. from an official
OpenSolaris repo) if no other user-preference is provided. This will be
noted later as part of the functional spec, though...
