Re: anna's hard-coded priority list of retreivers

[Goswin von Brederlow <brederlo@informatik.uni-tuebingen.de>]

Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org> writes:

> I keep stumbling over anna's hard-coded priority list of retreivers.
> 
>     static const char * const retrievers[] = {
>         "net-retriever",
>         "cdrom-retriever",
>         "floppy-retriever",
>         NULL
>     };
> 
> anna defaults to using the one closest to the top that is installed. 

The retrievers should depend on the hardware thats found yet. Until
the floppy module is loaded and a floppy drive is found (is anyone
working on detecting this?) floppy-retriever should be disabled. As
long as no network module is loaded net-retriever should be
disabled. As long as no cdrom drive is available cdrom-retriver should
be disabled.

Actually the net configuration should depend on a net module being
loaded and cd-detect on a cdrom driver. That should prevent network
configuration or cd searching before its available.


Secondly it would be better to order them "cdrom, net, floppy" and try
each one in turn till one works. Trying means no errors or user
interactions. Don't ask for a cdrom if none was inserted. Even if I
have net access I rather take the udebs from cdrom (if available) than
download them via net. This will actually need support for multiple
retrivers. Its a wishlist.

MfG
        Goswin