From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Sep 7 09:22:41 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7F5F41065670 for ; Sun, 7 Sep 2008 09:22:41 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jmc-freebsd2@milibyte.co.uk) Received: from pih-relay08.plus.net (pih-relay08.plus.net [212.159.14.20]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 379278FC08 for ; Sun, 7 Sep 2008 09:22:41 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jmc-freebsd2@milibyte.co.uk) Received: from [84.92.153.232] (helo=milibyte.co.uk) by pih-relay08.plus.net with esmtp (Exim) id 1KcGTf-0004LP-BD for freebsd-questions@freebsd.org; Sun, 07 Sep 2008 10:22:39 +0100 Received: by milibyte.co.uk with local (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1KcGTd-0000ol-Ub for freebsd-questions@freebsd.org; Sun, 07 Sep 2008 10:22:38 +0100 From: Mike Clarke To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Date: Sun, 7 Sep 2008 10:22:37 +0100 User-Agent: KMail/1.9.7 References: <4b2381fb0809060359u53f85d06u4696d527063c5e4d@mail.gmail.com> <48C26870.7050100@gmail.com> <4b2381fb0809062307x4b7ef550lfba5d74e9057dccf@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <4b2381fb0809062307x4b7ef550lfba5d74e9057dccf@mail.gmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline Message-Id: <200809071022.37765.jmc-freebsd2@milibyte.co.uk> X-SA-Exim-Connect-IP: X-SA-Exim-Mail-From: jmc-freebsd2@milibyte.co.uk X-SA-Exim-Scanned: No (on milibyte.co.uk); SAEximRunCond expanded to false X-Plusnet-Relay: 66543ab943e106a861327b29e0c20958 Subject: Re: switching discs during install X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 07 Sep 2008 09:22:41 -0000 On Sunday 07 September 2008, James Strother wrote: > That said, I still think that as long as the freebsd foundation > distributes CD images it would be worthwhile to make them as > effective as possible. Actually, even if the install were moved to a > DVD, the ordered install I proposed would still improve the > situation. =A0When the packages are haphazardly ordered on the disc, > the CD/DVD reader is forced to perform a large number of seeks that > dramatically reduces data throughput. =A0When they are read in order, > read rates should be much better. They might not be as haphazard as you suggest. ISTR once reading that=20 the CDs were arranged with the most popular packages on the first CD so=20 that you would only need to download disk 2 (and 3) if you wanted some=20 of the less common packages. With your suggested layout it's quite=20 likely that a package which most of the others depend on would be right=20 down at the bottom of the list with the result that you'd invariably=20 need to download all 3 CD images. I think the best way to avoid the need for frequent CD switching would=20 be for sysinstall to sort the list of selected packages into CD order=20 before installing them. I imagine this would require some changes to=20 pkg_add to prevent it from installing dependencies and I expect the=20 possible benefits would not be considered to be sufficient to justify=20 the effort. =2D-=20 Mike Clarke