Re: Netboot Xen images for amd64
On Sat, 2009-04-18 at 12:49 +0200, Frans Pop wrote:
> On Saturday 18 April 2009, Ian Campbell wrote:
> > I think the ability to symlink the kernel or initrd will also be useful
> > to me when I start to consider cdrom-xen variants for both i386 and
> > amd64. i386 cannot share the kernel (needs 686-bigmem variant) but can
> > share the initrd with some small tweaks i.e. just by adding a small
> > subset of extra 686-bigmem udebs, not all udebs are needed due to the
> > constrained hardware in a Xen domU, possibly as little as just 320K for
> > the scsi-modules 686-bigmem will suffice. I think this is preferable to
> > duplicating the whole GTK >10M initrd.gz. Again the standard amd64
> > images should just work but I'd like to keep the xen variant for
> > consistency.
>
> Please do not increase the size of the standard initrd for i386, but
> rather examine the same method recently proposed for accessibility
> support: an *add-on* initrd that is loaded on top of the standard one by
> choosing a Xen boot option in the isolinux menu.
Is someone working on the generic part of this? The concern is to do
with runtime memory usage for the RAM disk rather than disk space,
right? We are talking about a few 10's a k I think, which could
potentially be early discarded before starting up the other memory
hungry bits of the installer (i.e. pre-GUI or whatever). Also I was
thinking of the GTK variant only -- crushingly low memory isn't such a
concern there, is it?
[...]
> Even the DVD1 image is getting tight as we currently support installation
> of _all_ desktop environments from it.
Oh, I was hoping there was more wiggle room with DVD1, I had already
discounted fitting things on the standard CD1.
Installing a kernel from CD/DVD != 1 doesn't work does it. I could look
into what that would take I guess -- any ideas?
I suppose a Xen specific CD1 for i386 could be an option, either a
formally supported one or one I publish myself -- seems like a shame
though.
With the alternative CD1s is there some magic which ensures that the
stuff which is on the primary CD1 but not the alternatives is also
duplicated on CD2+ such that it is still available to people installing
with e.g. the KDE CD1? (I admit I've never done an install which
required a second CD so I'm not sure how it goes).
> I'm really not at all convinced that this is something we really want to
> do at all.
With my work hat on[0] we just released a new beta with support for
netinst of Lenny and as I expected the first bit of feedback was "why no
CD installation method for Lenny?". I think it is something our users
(i.e. both Debian and XenServer's) want.
Ian.
[0] Full disclosure, although my d-i stuff is done with my personal hat
on I do have a slightly vested interest since I work on XenServer during
the day.
--
Ian Campbell
Current Noise: Reverend Bizarre - In The Rectory
knghtbrd: and the meek shall inherit k-mart
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