Multi-arch CDs!
I've made a lot of progress over the last couple of days, and I'm now
happy I can build working multi-arch CDs and DVDs using my development
branch of debian-cd. \o/
I've also tested the new code at building single-arch discs, and they
still seem to work too! \o/
My plan for now looks like:
1) I have a couple of initial images that I'd like some help testing[1]:
a) a combined i386/amd64/ppc netinst CD - I've tested i386 and
amd64 and they work fine, but I don't have much in the way of
ppc hw to test with. A confirmation that the installer boots OK
and gets as far as the partitioner would be *very* useful.
b) a DVD full of i386/amd64/ppc and the source to go with all of
the packages - my ideal Expo-giveaway DVD. Again, I've checked
that i386 and amd64 work fine but a ppc test would still be
useful.
Both of these images are built on top of the RC1 version of d-i
for my own sanity, so don't expect them to fix any bugs there.
2) As there's a full weekly build about to happen on farbror, I'm
going to let that run using existing debian-cd code. Ditto the
couple of dailies today.
3) After that, I'm planning on merging my debian-cd development
branch onto svn head and doing some aggressive test building to
make sure it all still works.
There are a few reasons to move over to the new code that I think are
quite compelling:
1) Multi-arch!!! :-)
2) Significantly simplified handling of source discs - source is now
(basically) just another arch in terms of how builds are done
3) Layout of discs is now much more sensible: I've changed from
"estimate CD sizes up front" to "fill each CD until it's full,
then start the next one"
4) Significant amounts of other cleanup, which make the code easier
to work with and maintain and (hopefully) faster too
Of course, there is some risk involved in making large changes this
late. In the case that we have problems, we'll still be able to go
back to the older known-stable debian-cd code, so I'm happy enough to
go ahead.
So, what does this lot mean for the Etch release? I'm expecting we'll
have lots of things building regularly for testing before then, so we
should be ready to ship with:
* normal businesscard and netinst images for most arches (as previously)
* normal CDs and DVDs for all arches and source (as previously)
* Joey's KDE CD for all arches
* the 3-arch netinst CD
* the 3-arch+source DVD
* live CDs for common arches
If you have anything else to add (e.g. ideas on the migration, or if
there's anything else you'd like to see built) please comment ASAP.
[1] http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/multi-arch-testing/
--
Steve McIntyre, Cambridge, UK. steve@einval.com
Is there anybody out there?
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