From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Oct 15 00:15:40 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 82D3016A46B for ; Mon, 15 Oct 2007 00:15:40 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from tim1timau@yahoo.com) Received: from web50301.mail.re2.yahoo.com (web50301.mail.re2.yahoo.com [206.190.38.55]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 35E7E13C474 for ; Mon, 15 Oct 2007 00:15:40 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from tim1timau@yahoo.com) Received: (qmail 26626 invoked by uid 60001); 14 Oct 2007 23:48:59 -0000 DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=s1024; d=yahoo.com; h=X-YMail-OSG:Received:Date:From:Subject:To:In-Reply-To:MIME-Version:Content-Type:Content-Transfer-Encoding:Message-ID; b=KvJIyUZSxg9qB5uxO2WyBNVXKwHzhaT7Hcu3VqlKZh7mTmo8plhfj23FoC4hFy3Z1/zMqq7OsntzxX19D8cBZd1VNymEG3ZZ7TytWSMicJ4mFBqxjdVWResSfyP1nlzwLI7+bDH1K40jBe/hew0yW1rRT4fuJojJe3R3E0F2woY=; X-YMail-OSG: GdABjNcVM1m2OuivJRmt2NjSBTRchgHUJuoBDMlmqSsDtkcx612UW7CCPsEeY1EvTASY1Ehao1G5Mjymzagb4OG_JgY7lVO2_9Y_gXG9VXb6_VvgeIv_sgnrj9Zcbw-- Received: from [203.49.197.51] by web50301.mail.re2.yahoo.com via HTTP; Sun, 14 Oct 2007 16:48:58 PDT Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2007 16:48:58 -0700 (PDT) From: Tim Clewlow To: David Naylor , freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org In-Reply-To: <200710130959.45183.blackdragon@highveldmail.co.za> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Message-ID: <241790.26593.qm@web50301.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Cc: Subject: Re: Project Ideas and a question X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2007 00:15:40 -0000 --- David Naylor wrote: > Hi, > > The question first: init does allow a chroot before booting the system > however > does it allow the first device to be unmounted and use the new chroot as the > root device. If it does how can that be achieved. > > My motivation for this: Allow a USB device or CDROM to boot the system, then > init running of the removable device to execute a script that will allow the > system to be setup (such as configure devices, setup gdbe and geli, etc) then > > when init chroot's it unmounts the removable device and allows that device to > > be physically removed. > > I have some project ideas (due to lack of technical skills I can not pursue > them at this time but that is no reason not to share :-). If someone thinks > an idea is a good one could you please add it to the appropriate location > (the volunteer projects page???). My ideas: > > 1) Automatic module loading. Create a discovery system that upon identifying > > hardware that a module supports, loads the module. This would probably be a > user-land implementation? > Motivation: Additional ease of use (especially with sound) > > 2) Automatic kernel customisation. A tool that builds a custom kernel with > all the devices for the current system builtin and with everything not needed > > removed. > Motivation: Take the hard work out of building a custom kernel] > > 3) If question above is not implemented than add to idea list... > > Feedback is welcome. Thank you for listening to me. > > David Hello David, These all sound like great ideas, however they may have a better chance of being implemented on one of the sibling versions of FreeBSD, ie "Desktop BSD" or "PC BSD". These offerings have already made quite large steps in regard to automating the installation of a BSD system. The general aim is to make it as easy as possible for someone unfamiliar with BSD to install a desktop, ie so it can compete with other desktop operating systems that are already very easy to install. By contrast, the native version of FreeBSD is put to many uses, often not involving a desktop, eg servers, routers, embedded systems. The ability to customize/tune pretty much all of the kernel/world is what makes this possible. And so having an automated installation would have to be unbelievably intelligent, and complicated, in order to cater for all these possibilities. Lastly, keep going with the new ideas, they are always welcome. Perhaps you may want to send them to questions@freebsd.org as this would seem to be more appropriate for initial ideas postings - and more people will see them as well :-) Kind Regards, Tim. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Tonight's top picks. What will you watch tonight? Preview the hottest shows on Yahoo! TV. http://tv.yahoo.com/