Hi everyone.
Last week discussion ensued about the need for the text-mode DDU to have
a way of configuring the network, for the cases where the DDU needs to
read a repo or otherwise fetch a driver. The system would be coming up
with NWAM enabled, but if the net doesn't have DHCP the network still
won't be reachable. In this case, a (guided but) manual configuration
of the network is needed. The text-mode DDU would guide the user
through this configuration.
We agreed that there should be a "network setup" library which is shared
between the installer and DDU, so that there is consistency in the
network setup screens. I think implementation can be as two functions:
one function is for querying whether the network is up; the other is to
configure the network if it is not up. The DDU China team will need to
know how to call these functions.
The query function can take an argument of what to look for and return
True or False depending on whether that argument is pingable. It would
be up to the DDU to strip all but the system name from an ftp address or
other URL, and pass that system name to the query function. If in the
course of DDU use, multiple URLs are referenced (perhaps a repo first,
then an ftp URL), multiple network queries can be made.
boolean tm_query_net("URL") # The "tm" is text-mode
The configuration function (assumed written in Python) would display
screens to take configuration information (static IP, netmask, hostname,
gateway). These configuration items would be read from the system
dynamically using ifconfig, svcadm and other commands, and the screens
would be initialized with their information. After info entry, the
network would then be set up and tested. The function would throw an
exception on error.
tm_net_config()
When the DDU needs to make a network query, it could call the query
function first to verify the remote entity is reachable. If the network
entity is not reachable, the configuration function would be called.
The configuration function is a black box as far as its callers are
concerned. If for some reason the installer needs arguments passed in
or returned, the DDU can accommodate.
Does this sound reasonable? Have I left anything out? I welcome
comments, in particular from the Text-mode installer team and the DDU
China team. Please respond by Weds lunchtime.
Thanks,
Jack
