[Cooker] PLEASE address build/install problems

[Frank Griffin]

I've been building and testing cooker systems for over a year, primarily 
by creating ISOs with MakeCD and burning them.  I've tried harddrive and 
network installs, but they don't work for me (as documented in bug 3295).

Recently, as documented in bug 4057, burning ISOs stopped working as 
well, and a previous comment in this list drew a response that indicates 
that at least one other person is having the same problem with MakeCD.

There's been a lot of traffic on this list about telling people that 
they'd better report certain problems by a certain point in the 
development cycle if they want to see the bug addressed in the final 
release.  That's quite reasonable, but it falls apart if the 
build/install process itself is broken and just stays that way. 

I entered bug 3295 on March 14 (hd/network installs giving package 
errors that ISO installs from ISOs burned from the exact same 
directories do NOT give), and nobody's commented on it but me.

After finding bug 4057 (installs from ISOs hang at "looking for 
available packages"), I no longer have any way to build or install a 
Cooker system.  This bug showed up sometime between the beginning of 
June and mid-June.  There was another mkcd bug which Warly addressed 
around mid-June that had made it impossible to build ISO images at all 
from about June 3 to June 12, so I can't tell when in that timeframe bug 
4057 surfaced.

I would very much like to continue testing Cooker for you, and I realize 
that you are short-staffed.  If I had never gotten a build to work, I 
could understand a certain amount of skepticism about bug reports saying 
"my cooker won't work".  But that's not the case here.  If I can 
build/burn ISOs which install without problems, yet the exact same 
directories won't install without problems if I do an hd or network 
install, then I don't think the problem is in the directories.  
Likewise, if I have been building/installing burned ISO systems all 
along, and they suddenly stop installing when I haven't changed my 
mirroring code, AND someone else is seeing the same problem, the problem 
isn't in my copy of Cooker.

Recent posts to this list indicate that we're coming close to a beta 
milepost for 9.2, and it is really annoying to not be able to test 
anything, since I will no doubt hear later on that I should have 
reported that bug back in whenever.

Please take a look at these bug reports and provide some feedback.