On Tue, Dec 18, 2018 at 06:19:39PM +0100, KatolaZ wrote: > > It is my view that the configuration program should be capable of being > > run at any time after installation, even multiple times on separate > > occasions as required. > > I am not sure what you exactly mean here. The installer cannot be run > in "demo" mode, because almost any of the steps involved (except > keyboard and language selection) depend on the success of one or > usually several of the previous steps. In other words, the installer > is a *stateful* application. And could not be otherwise.
A good part of the questions can be [re-]done after the installation has completed. > You simply can't install the base system if you haven't downloaded the > needed packages I see no benefits from the installer being modular -- ie, udebs loaded on-demand. These days, that's just pointless complication. Note the difference between udebs (installer components) vs debs (the payload, relevant only for target system). Of course d-i can remain modular conceptually or source-wise, but there's no longer any benefit from it being modular at runtime. > and mounted the root filesystem. You cannot mount the > root filesystem if you have not formatted it. You cannot format the > root filesystem if you haven't created a partition for it. Yeah but all the partitioner questions can be asked before the action is committed. Not that mkfs takes a noticeable amount of time anyway... Downloading actual debs that are not found on install media can be done after the human-off cutoff. > You cannot create a partition if you haven't detected the available disks > and decided how to configure them. "Detect the disks" is a read-only action. You don't need to actually write partitions to the disk to answer any remaining questions. > Same for the packages: you cannot download the packages if you haven't > configured the package manager and set a mirror. Configuring the mirror and package selection are prime candidates for dry-run preseeding. > You can't configure a mirror if you haven't a working Internet connection. > You can't have a working Internet connection if you haven't detected the > available network hardware, loaded any needed firmware, fired it up, > assigned to it a valid IP address, configured a default GW, and set up a > DNS. That's mostly valid, but can be done as a read-only action. > > For a simple example of the concept see the Raspberry Pi 'raspi-config' > > utility. > > Differing configuration UI's could potentially be developed over time... > > zsh, then ncurses, Xorg based (QT?)... > You are confusing a simple config file that is read once and for all > during boot time (the config file on raspberry pis) with the complete > installation of a new system. They are not even comparable. There is > no thing like "oh I re-run the installer configuration to change the > layout of my partitions"..... Parts of raspi-config make sense only once, many others are reconfigurable. Meow! -- ⢀⣴⠾⠻⢶⣦⠀ ⣾⠁⢠⠒⠀⣿⡁ Ivan was a worldly man: born in St. Petersburg, raised in ⢿⡄⠘⠷⠚⠋⠀ Petrograd, lived most of his life in Leningrad, then returned ⠈⠳⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀ to the city of his birth to die. _______________________________________________ Dng mailing list Dng@lists.dyne.org https://mailinglists.dyne.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dng