Proposed directory structure for the installation "disks"

[Ross Boylan <RossBoylan@stanfordalumni.org>]

I think the current file arrangements under main/disks-i386, along with
the readme, are unnecessarily cryptic.  That is, it's not clear what
files one should get.  Here's an alternative proposal.  I know this is
a bit late, but I think this is a very important area: it's people's
first exposure to debian, and it determines whether they will take the
next step.  

I think it will be clearer if I state the principles first.  However,
you may find it easier to skip to the bottom to see what it all means.

PROPOSAL 1: Clear the top level directory of material "used for some
installation methods."

This could be done by changing the readme to provide specific
information about when those files are needed (that is, a
documentation change would eliminate the offending, unhelpful phrase
"used for some installation methods").  However, if I
understand, most of these files are for installs from hard disk.  So

PROPOSAL 1a:  Create a subdirectory for hard disk files, and populate
it appropriately.
So along with images-${size} (disks-${size} before Randolph's
proposal) there would be a directory called hard-drive (or perhaps
images-hard or images-big).  It would get base2_2.tgz, drivers.tgz,
install.bat, linux, loadlin.exe.

PROPOSAL 1b: Create a utility (floppy-utility?) subdirectory.
It would get rawrite*.  
It would be nice to put links to these files under each of the floppy
directories so people can get one-stop shopping.

If the directory is called utility one might put install.bat here too,
rather than under hard-drive.


This would leave the top level with a readme, basecont.txt, and
md5sum.txt.

---------------------------------------------------------------
PROPOSAL 2: If flavors are present, treat the regular install as just
another flavor.

The goal here is to clarify that people interested in the flavor do
not need the "regular" files in the directory above, and that people
who want the regular files do not need the flavor subdirectories.  I
think the latter is currently more obvious than the former.

So, for example,
disks-1.44/ would contain no files, only the directories
   standard/
   compact/
   safe/
The files currently directly under disks-1.44 would go under
disks-1.44/standard/.

The material currently under flavors at the top level would go to an
appropriate subdirectory (of utility or hard-disk I suspect).

-------------------------------------------------------------
PROPOSAL 3: Provide a clear way for people who wish to switch media to
do so.

Concretely, this means people who want to start the install from
floppies and switch to hard drive or network ASAP.  I think the recipe
is something like "get floppy specific files *excluding* the base
files.  Get the base image and loadlin from hard-drive."  But perhaps
things are not simple?  
* Do different flavors need different base images or "linux" files?
* Does one need files beside base2_2.tgz?  For example, in my installs it
seems to read the drivers.tgz file from disk, even though I've
previously fed it the diskette.
* Warning: you need to put the file in a directory hiearchy which
mirrors that in the archive up to potato.  (I gather this is the case
now, though it would be nice to eliminate it).

Aside from documentation, one might create an alternate route into
directory structure which was based on stage of installation as the
top level.  That would use links.

---------------------------------------------------------------
PROPOSAL 4: The top level readme should explain what the different
flavors are for.  (This is pretty independent of the other proposals).

----------------------------------------------------------------
BOTTOM LINE

The net effect of all these proposals would be to create the following
file structure under, for example, main/disks-i386/current (sorry
Joey, this is still a bit i386 centric; I'm not sure how this would
play for other architectures):

readme.txt
basecont.txt
md5sum.txt
doc/
   [unchanged]
disks-1.20/
disks-1.44/
	standard/
	  [files which were directly under disks-1.44 go here]
	safe/
	compact/
	flavor/
          [as before]
	   
disks-2.88/

hard-drive/
  standard/
    base2_2.tgz
    drivers.tgz
    install.bat  [might go elsewhere]
    linux
    loadlin.exe
  flavors/
    [as appropriate from stuff which was under flavor/ at the top level]

utility/
  rawrite2.exe
  rawrite2.txt