Re: Debian 2.0 install
On 21 Jan 1999, James Troup wrote:
> Jason Gunthorpe <jgg@ualberta.ca> writes:
>
> > > cdrom Install from a CD-ROM.
> > > nfs Install from an NFS server (not yet mounted).
> > > harddisk Install from a hard disk partition (not yet mounted).
> > > mounted Install from a filesystem which is already mounted.
> > > ftp Install using ftp.
> > > http Install using http:, ftp:, and file: URLs.
> >
> > Last I heard these ones where really quite bad and had problems with
> > pre-depends and others. Other than the 'not yet mounted' stuff apt largely
> > replaces all of them -- there are some features a very small number of
> > people need that only those methods provide but that is fairly rare.
> Yes, well, you would say that, wouldn't you? Let's not get carried
> away with `apt' fervour, please. If there are known bugs or
Well I did say that and I think it is obvois I am biased :>
> obsolescence with these methods fine, but purging them on the basis
> that the apt author ``has heard'' that they are bad and have problems
> and that features which they provide are (in the apt authors opinion)
> ``rarely needed'' strikes me as a stunningly bad idea.
As for this, yes, the most important thing (pre-dep support) has been
included in hamm/slink in all of the above methods. The 'disk' methods
(cdrom, nfs, harddisk and mounted) provide exactly 1 'advantage' over APT
- you can make them work on deliberately broken or misconfigured systems.
Since the base disks are not deliberately broken or misconfigured there is
no reason to include these ones (on the base disks!)
ftp provides an additional advantage in that it supports a few FTP proxy
servers. [Look for the thread I started on this on -devel] FTP proxy
servers are rare and difficult to configure on the client and it is
unusual to see them in situtations where there is not http proxy. Again,
this does not need to be on the base disk.
If memory serves http has been abandoned by Drake. [No, I did not
check the mailing list archives] http was starting to get quite good, it
included Manoj's package order scriptage and was able to mix ftp, http
and file URIs much like APT.
> Remove them from the default choice list, if the problem is user
> confusion, by all means, but they should be available.
That was what we are talking about, they simply would not be on the boot
floppies but would be packaged seperately to advoid confusion. Ie we have
2 cdrom methods, 2 nfs methods, 4 'disk' methods, 3 ftp and 2 http !
Jason
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