Re: D-I Etch+1/2 CD images (was: D-I Etch+1/2 kernel selection)

[dann frazier <dannf@dannf.org>]

On Wed, Feb 06, 2008 at 10:01:53PM +0100, Frans Pop wrote:
> On Monday 04 February 2008, Frans Pop wrote:
> > The required patches for the installer are attached. I have successfully
> > tested them using a custom built netinst CD that had both the 2.6.18 and
> > 2.6.22-686 kernels on it.
> 
> The needed changes to D-I have now all been uploaded.
> 
> > - There has as yet been no discussion about exactly which "Etch + Lenny
> >   D-I" CD images to create and exactly what should be included on them.
> 
> I have just discussed this on #debian-cd with Sledge, and we've come up with 
> the following (rather brilliant) proposal.
> 
> Architectures
> =============
> Most architectures just do not have the type of hardware changes that will 
> prevent a user from installing with 2.6.18 and then upgrading to 2.6.24 
> after the installation, so for those new installation CDs that use and 
> install the new kernels are really not needed.
> 
> We therefore propose to _only_ create "etchnhalf" installation CDs for:
> - i386
> - amd64
> - any other architectures for which a porter replies to this mail and can
>   demonstrate that some hardware that is not supported with the regular
>   Etch update, would be supported with the etchnhalf images
> 
> Images
> ======
> We don't really want to create a huge number of extra image and certainly 
> not additional full sets. Not only would that waste mirror space, but too 
> many different images will also just confuse users.
> 
> Solution we propose is that we only create a netinst image with the 
> etchnhalf installer and kernels. However, this netinst image will be 
> modified in such a way that it can be used as "CD 0" of the regular updated 
> Etch full CD and DVD sets.
> This idea makes use of the fact that the D-I Beta1 installer will offer to 
> scan additional CDs if the installation CD is part of a set.
> 
> Nice extra is that this also means that the "etchnhalf netinst" could even 
> be used in combination with Etch CD/DVD sets from previous (point) 
> releases.

Let me try and reiterate some points of your proposal to make sure I
understand. The only install media for etchnhalf will be netinst
cds. These cds will be limited to i386, amd64, and other archs for
which a need is demonstrated.

It sounds good to me - an additional benefit is that it reduces the
number of images we need to test.

-- 
dann frazier