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Re: Wheezy release: CDs are not big enough any more...



[ re-adding CC to debian-cd and debian-boot ]

Adam Borowski wrote:
>On Sat, May 12, 2012 at 05:04:16PM +0100, Steve McIntyre wrote:
>> Hey folks,
>> 
>> Remembering the fun that we had during the Squeeze release with trying
>> to make single-CD installations work well, it's time to consider what
>> we're going to *claim* to support in Wheezy. We've had a history of
>> supporting the following single-CD installations:
>> 
>>  * Gnome desktop from CD#1
>>  * KDE desktop from "KDE CD#1"
>> 
>> At this point, I'm skeptical that either of the first two are going to
>> work acceptably with Wheezy.
>
>There is an easy solution: switch binary packages to xz compression.
>
>amd64's CD 1 is reduced to 2/3 of its current size (data from June(?) 2010).

OK. That'll help in the short term, I guess. But I've no idea how long
it will take for package builds to make a dent on this organically
(i.e. without a deliberate rebuild effort). I'm expecting that we'll
still struggle to get a *good* Gnome or KDE installation from a single
CD regardless. We've managed a minimal set in the past, but I'd rather
we give a good impression with a basic Debian installation than come
up with something that *only* just fits.

Related, I'm also pondering about:

1. Which installer images it makes sense to provide for wheezy

We currently provide a huge set of different images:

  * business card and netinst images for (almost) all architectures,
    in both iso and jigdo formats
  * a full set of "normal" CDs for all arches:
	+ all as iso and jigdo for amd64, i386 and source 
    + some as iso and jigdo for other arches, with the remaining as jigdo only
  * two extra CDs for all arches (KDE and "light") in both iso and jigdo formats
  * a full set of DVDs for all arches:
	+ all as iso and jigdo for amd64, i386 and source 
    + #1 as iso and jigdo for other arches, with the remaining as jigdo only
  * a full set of BDs and D-L BDs for amd64, i386 and source:
    + all as jigdo only

The current wheezy d-i alpha release gives an idea for how big Debian
is getting here - there are 71 CDs in the full amd64 set (!), or 10
DVDs. It's very tempting to switch amd64, i386 and source to the same
partial-iso state as the other arches.

2. USB-targeted images

I've also tweaked DVD#1 of each set to fit in 4GB instead of the
normal 4.7GB, so that it fits on a 4GB USB stick to make it more
useful. We could quite readily produce (say) 2GB images specifically
designed for smaller USB sticks if enough people consider that to be
useful. I'm thinking that would be a specific single extra
image. Thoughts?

3. Which installer image(s) should we link to as preferred?

We're currently linking to the multi-arch amd64/i386 netinst CD from
the front of www.debian.org. I think that's still a good choice, but
I'm open to being convinced otherwise.

4. What to do with s390(x)

I'm about to ask this on their mailing list...

-- 
Steve McIntyre, Cambridge, UK.                                steve@einval.com
"You can't barbecue lettuce!" -- Ellie Crane


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