debinst: debconf based installer
Ive been working on writting a debconf in c, im calling it
debconf-native at the moment.
If we can make the user interface for debconf a bit more flexible, it
would be ideal to base the entire woody isntaller around.
Debconf would be great for users becasue it would be same tool they
could use post-install to reconfigure.
A native debconf can be small, the installer can just be busybox
debconfig and a few scripts.
Microwindows could be an attractive default debconf frontend, we would
still need slang for terminals and text for worst case senario.
Debconf-native is set up as a multi-call binary (like busybox) to
provide the various debconf commands (db_init, db_title, db_input etc),
i havent got the functionality yet, just getting things in place.
Ive been having heaps of fun with dynamic modules, ive got it so that it
searches for libraries that match a certain pattern (<module
type>_<module name>.so.<version>) to initially identify them as
debconf-native modules, then checks the modules internally to identify
via version checks.
Got a bit of a file parser happening, it gets default values for
prefered user interface module and prefered database module, i dont
think much else needs to be put into the config file.
No modules actually provide functionality yet (except version check),
very much a work in progress, but if anyone whats to see what i have i
can email it.
Glenn
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