I suspect that this suggestion may involve even more work, but I will
throw the idea in the ring:
Would a .iso of a full Evergreen installation on either Ubuntu or Debian
be a viable option? Being able to pop in a disk, reboot the computer,
and work with the software without having to install would move the
evaluation of Evergreen into the "comfort zone" of quite a few people
who can't or won't go through the extra trouble.
It also allows for demos and distribution at conferences and other
gatherings, and can allow for the tweaking of settings to ensure that a
given installation is showing the software at its best.
This could also be useful as a training platform for libraries that are
switching to Evergreen.
I have thought about doing a full installation and attempting to create
a disk image, but never having done it before, I don't know what
time/effort/hassles it may involve.
Just a thought...
Rick Mason
http://www.libology.com/blog/
Karen Schneider wrote:
"To be honest, though, all of those packaging steps require a surprising
amount of time in testing and documentation to get it all right."
That is indeed the crux of the issue. The images are potentially
valuable to the community at large. If there were a group that wanted to
help create these images -- right through the documentation and testing
milestones -- that would be a plus.
But given that we aren't there right now, it's a question for discussion
among the community members whether the Evergreen project website should
even offer images right now, given such limited resources for producing
them. There's an implied suggestion of functionality that if not carried
through in the images could unintentionally reflect less than positively
on the community as a whole. This is not a decision Equinox can or
should make... but it is certainly a good one for broad discussion (and
thank you for bringing this up).
--
--
| Karen G. Schneider
| Community Librarian
| Equinox Software Inc. "The Evergreen Experts"
| Toll-free: 1.877.Open.ILS (1.877.673.6457) x712
| [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
| Web: http://www.esilibrary.com
| Be a part of the Evergreen International Conference, May 20-22, 2009!
| http://www.lyrasis.org/evergreen
