Re: [RFC] Call for review of GNU/screen support for D-I (was Re: Merge orion5x/kirkwood to flavour marvell and marvell-qnap)
On Mon, May 2, 2016, at 10:01 AM, Roger Shimizu wrote:
> On Sat, Apr 30, 2016 at 10:02 AM, Rick Thomas <rbthomas@pobox.com> wrote:
> > When I’m installing Debian on one of the serial-console-only boxes, such as the SheevaPlug or OpenRD, I usually use the “network console” option that allows me to use ssh to login and run the Debian installer from the comfort of my office chair — away from the cold noisy machine room! If I need to see the logs or test some parameters, I can always ssh again and get another shell window. Of course, I still have to be there at the start-up, to push the “reset” button and use the serial console to handle the initial bootstrap/installation questions before the ssh server becomes available, but that’s only for a few minutes.
> >
> > How does your proposed change alter that?
>
> As Martin pointed before (on my original RFC post), screen support
> seems not as important for network-console (SSH) target, compared to
> netboot (serial console) target.
>
> But here's some improvement by introducing screen to network-console:
> - you only need to have one SSH session to the device you run D-I, and
> you can have multiple task in one physical window: 1. run d-i; 2. have
> command line; 3. check install log
> - if your SSH connection is lost, by any reason, you can reconnect
> SSH, and screen will resume the session for you.
>
> Are you convinced?
OK, I think I get it now. This would make the serial console
installation functionally much closer to the "normal" install (e.g.
desktop machine with video console). The ability to pick up and resume
a dropped session is an added bonus.
As I said, I'll be happy to help test it.
Enjoy!
Rick
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