On Wed, 15 Aug 2007 00:02:07 -0400 Jeremy Huntwork <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Hello, > > As I've been giving some thought to what might make the LiveCD > project more manageable, more open to community development and > better all around, it occurred to me that our build method could be > adjusted. Right now the build is automated by a long series of > Makefiles that was, in some respects, the inspiration for jhalfs. You > set some variables, run make, wait 6 hours or so, and voila! > (hopefully) a LiveCD. It gets very difficult (or, at least, annoying) > to develop because of the long times involved in building the entire > thing. First up, I should say that until yesterday I didn't use the LiveCD, I had one (from long long ago) but it was curio. I build the next LFS on the old LFS... Yesterday my friend gives me his old laptop - I'm looking for a zero-cost zero-fan replacement for my router, and I need LFS on it quickly. I downloaded the 6.2-5 image and was up in am hour - it even correctly detected the pcmcia lan card, and the xorg.conf was spot on. Note also that neither fedora-6 nor ubuntu-7 would have anything to do with this box. So I'm impressed. (and I'd like to see instructions for loading the precompiled image onto the HD and making it bootable - I can do it, but then...) > So an idea is brewing... > > Essentially, the LiveCD is a distribution. But it is a distribution > without something that nearly all others have: package management. Up > to now, there hasn't really been a need. But, if the CD incorporated > PM at its very heart, developers could focus more on tightening > individual components instead of always building the entire CD in one > shot. If the LiveCD build process has a package manager, then 'ipso facto', so does {b}lfs. > For example, let's say a flaw was found in one of the pieces of > software included on the CD. With the PM incorporated into the build, > all we would need to do is grab the latest packages, run a small > script to install them into a working directory with the proper > configuration, update the build commands for the package in question, > rebuild it, re-package it, and re-release an ISO. Working in this > method should shorten build times, help solidify the build, and open > up a host of other possibilities. A package manager doesn't absolve you from regression testing. It just makes it easier to get the thing built. The Live CD, almost more than the Book, needs to work for a big proportion of those that try it. > If you like the sound of this new approach, please share your > thoughts on what might help make it work. Details need to be > discussed, such as the exact development model, package management > tools, updated development scripts, tracking dependencies and > standards for development. I'll wait until there is some discussion > before I speak any further on some of the details that are already > forming in my head. If you use some little odd-ball PM, rather than, say RPM you will end up spending more development effort on the PM than on the LiveCD. Frankly, I think we should have a PM in LFS, indeed it MIGHT be good to build LFS as a distribution - so that you end up, not with a partition to boot, but with an LiveCD that has an Install application. > Lastly, I'm posting this to {,b}lfs-dev because I'd like to make sure > those current groups of readers have the opportunity to comment. If > possible, though, please send discussion to the livecd list. Can't use LiveCD list, it's not on gmane. Let's try and get it on gmane, shall we? The arch-hives are the important thing. R. -- http://linuxfromscratch.org/mailman/listinfo/blfs-dev FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/faq.html Unsubscribe: See the above information page