debinst, debconf & postinst.
The woody installer is planning on being based around a debconf like
program.
I read in a recent posts (cant find it right now) about postinst stuff
being unwelcome, to make everything preconfigurable.
I think the debian installer could make a lot of use of a post install
type setup. e.g. to do something complex like partitioning which is
probably the hardest thing the install has to do.
I think that there are two clearly different functions that need to be
catered for.
debconf: Package installation, configuring the package to work on the
system.
debian installer: Using the functionality provided by the package.
e.g. adduser wouldnt need to use debconf to install, but for the debian
installer could have a script that uses debconf like functionality to
add a user at install time.
So im thinking that rather than trying to reimplement the current
functionality of debconf in c for the installer, it would be better to
try and create a "cousin" of debconf focusing more on implementing the
functionality provided by packages in a standard way.
Debconf and its cousin could complement each other, they could use the
same user interface to tie them together for the isntaller.
Maybe im not looking at the big picture though, do all the bits fit?
Glenn
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