From: Joey Hess <
joeyh@debian.org>
To: 437018-done@bugs.debian.org
Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2007 16:13:23 -0400
Subject: Re: Bug#437018: Network shouldn't be used/enforced on non-network installs
Wouter Verhelst wrote:
> ("there's no working connection to the Internet, but what the heck,
> we'll try anyway, and if it doesn't work, the admin will have to wait
> for the connection to time out an insane number of times")
If there's no network connection *at all*, there is no timeout to wait
for. Try it yourself:
root@kodama:/home/joey>ifdown wlan0
...
root@kodama:/home/joey>time apt-get update
...
0.06user
0.04system 0:00.21elapsed 48%CPU (0avgtext+0avgdata 0maxresident)k
0inputs+0outputs (0major+3403minor)pagefaults 0swaps
zsh: exit 100 command time apt-get update
In the edge case where there is a network connection with a default route that
doesn't work, you get to wait for a timeout. We have discussed this before,
and this is a sufficiently uncommon enough case that it's not worth asking
in every install whether d-i should hit the network[1]. If you're in such a
situation, unplug your network cable, or fix your network before trying to
install Debian, or run the install in expert mode and tell it not to set
up a network connection.
I see what you're saying. However, one must still navigate the d-i steps related to networking in any case, and in my experience I've had to wait for a DHCP timeout on a disconnected network card. IMHO, it seems logical to add a "Don't use a network for this install" option as a choice on the screen which lists the available network cards. If that is selected, the updates step and all network-related steps would be skipped entirely.
I think that would be the ideal solution - it would make the install much more friendly to users who don't have networking during the install. This situation is probably more common than you think, since it includes every wi-fi-only user as well as anyone who uses authentication methods like
802.11x.
Could this be considered?
Tim
Tim