From owner-freebsd-hackers Wed Jul 11 22:24:31 2001 Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from softweyr.com (softweyr.com [208.247.99.111]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DDE3737B403 for ; Wed, 11 Jul 2001 22:24:25 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from wes@softweyr.com) Received: from localhost.softweyr.com ([127.0.0.1] helo=softweyr.com ident=5742f9e777bf774552e7eb535c7d20af) by softweyr.com with esmtp (Exim 3.16 #1) id 15KZ32-0000DT-00; Wed, 11 Jul 2001 23:30:00 -0600 Message-ID: <3B4D35D7.21721EDF@softweyr.com> Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 23:29:59 -0600 From: Wes Peters Organization: Softweyr LLC X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.75 [en] (X11; U; Linux 2.2.12 i386) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Paul Robinson Cc: Bill Moran , freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FreeBSD Mall now BSDCentral References: <3B49F8D5.2C9BFA73@mindspring.com> <3B4A0124.26025FB5@iowna.com> <3B4A1423.E8E365E@mindspring.com> <86ofqth6p3.fsf@hades.hell.gr> <3B4A7D9C.A64230D9@softweyr.com> <3B4B07DE.4801D208@iowna.com> <3B4B1B66.C011BF2B@softweyr.com> <3B4B32F3.7AC70D66@iowna.com> <3B4C0C3A.64E05112@softweyr.com> <3B4C46E1.8E65DB80@iowna.com> <20010711141439.B73193@jake.akitanet.co.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG Paul Robinson wrote: > > On Jul 11, Bill Moran wrote: > > > Along with that, I think I'm finally getting a handle on what really > > needs done to sysinstall. It's been a painful process, wrought with > > misunderstandings and confusion, but I think I'm finally getting what > > the point is. > > To me, the point seems to be that to increase the userbase an installer that > a 10 year old could use is a Good Thing. You're headed in the wrong direction there. I'm not worried about the average 10 year old, they'll tackle just about anything. I'm worried about the average 40- or 50-year old, who might be looking for a mail server, a workstation, or maybe just to learn something, but doesn't know enough details about their computer to install FreeBSD as it is now. > However, there should be an option > before the installer starts up to go to a more traditional install > (/stand/sysinstall is still fine for me, because I'm used to it), or whilst > in the "magical fairies do it all for me"-installer, there should be the Yes, I agree. What is there now isn't terrible; some parts of it are fairly good. (Speaking from the outside, user view, only.) The goal isn't to make all the complexity disappear, but rather to break up the current stuff into discrete pieces, add some functionality, then be able to layer a user interface on top of that. Ideally, the installation will be broken into functional steps, like it is now, and you'll be able to select what level of detail you want as you go along. For instance, the first task is to allocate some disk space for FreeBSD. If there is an existing FreeBSD partition on the disk, you can simply ask if the user wants to use that space, and continue if they answer yes. If not, or if he answers no, he needs to partition the disk, so you go to the disk partitioning tool. It initially shows a simple view of the disks(s) in the system and the partition entries on each disk, and allows the user to manipulate them. Hitting the "details" button give you a cylinder-by-cylinder view or something equally fitting and detailed. Next, you install the basic system. You get a list of various canned types, like "Basic" or "X Kern Developer", or the ability to jump to a more detailed installation. And so on. Various developers in FreeBSD are working on some of the infrastructure needed to implement this. I haven't kept up to date on the progress of libh, etc., but it apparently is still getting some attention. > ability to get a detailed amount of status information and an > "Advanced" option on the dialogues to be able to allow people to have more > control if they need it at various points. Yeah. I think I'd like to see it relatively smart; if I've gone 2 levels of detail deeper than the simplest install, it would be nice for it to stay at that level as I move to the next step. Maybe. What do you think? > The idea of more packages being > installed and configured as a default is probably a good one too. Or perhaps in groups. Wouldn't it be nice if you could select a "Base + source" install, then a "profile" that equates to "Bind cache-only + postfix + cyrus imapd" for your mailserver? -- "Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?" Wes Peters Softweyr LLC wes@softweyr.com http://softweyr.com/ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message