Stephen Hahn wrote: > * Kyle McDonald <KMcDonald at Egenera.COM> [2008-04-29 16:06]: > >> Bart Smaalders wrote: >> >>> Benjamin Brumaire wrote: >>> >>> >>>> Hi, >>>> >>>> I experienced the new installation process while setting a new >>>> system. >>>> It feels very easy to install Solaris Express Community Edition b87 and >>>> I think it 's a good thing to simplify the process. But making thing >>>> easier shouldn't make the process inflexible. In Unix-style there should >>>> be room for modification. Especialy disk layout. Maybe I missed >>>> something but I wasn't able to find a way to modify the default layout. >>>> In that case I think the simplification process of installing >>>> opensolaris went too far. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>> Is the problem that you wish to repartition the disk? Note that ZFS doesn't >>> use fixed boundaries for filesystems, so space allocation should not be >>> an issue >>> inside the disk/partition chosen for OpenSolaris. >>> >>> >> Even with ZFS, the installer should let you define which sub trees (/, >> /usr, /var) are separate ZFS filesystems, and set fixed sizes (Quotas? >> Reservations?) on them. >> > > (Once zfs split shows up, all of these can be done post-installation.) > Is there a plan for zfs split? I'd heard it requested, discussed, but must have missed any plan or commitment. > I guess I'm confused why a graphical installation tool would need to > offer these features; I could easily argue that the resulting > installed image is the preferred install, and that sites that want to > define their own installation preferences should use one of the > distribution constructor or automatic installer to do so. Maybe > there's more rationale to share here? > I agree that simplification is best for new users. The installation experience shouldn't be anything that will scare them away. However some of the users you're hoping to attract will be coming from platforms that have allowed this. For those who want things a certain way, being forced to jump through a bunch of manual hoops (that they may not know exist, or where to find!) after the install is complete can be a turn-off, instead of having a 'ready-to-go' system to try out and get to work on.
As for your analysis that this belongs in DC and AI, I'll agree. I'd definitely consider AI lacking if it couldn't do this. This leads me to another thought I had recently... In the interest of minimizingf duplication, Is there any plan in the future to have the interactive installer just create a config file interactively that is then fed to AI to do the install? -Kyle > - Stephen > >
