Bug#762392: Publish self-contained debootstrapped tarballs
On Sun, Sep 21, 2014 at 09:57:05PM +0300, Eduard - Gabriel Munteanu wrote:
>Package: cdimage.debian.org
>Severity: wishlist
>
>Installing Debian when debootstrap isn't available can be extremely
>inconvenient, because the only alternative is the installer, which is:
>- slow
>- requires booting the media
>- primarily aimed for stable
>- inflexible and difficult to customize and/or automate
>
>A better alternative in such situations is using debootstrapped
>tarballs, which can be simply unpacked into a suitable mountpoint and
>further configured (similar to Gentoo's stage3 tarballs). It should also
>be faster as an installation method than using the Debian Installer.
>
>Generating them can be quite straightforward, and doesn't even require
>root privileges:
>$ cdebootstrap --foreign --arch=ARCH [...]
>$ tar [...]
>
>Usecases:
>- VM provisioning
>- automated installs, possibly handing over to a configuration
>management system
>- rescue environments
>- manual installation from an existing non-Debian OS
>- custom setups unsupported by the Debian Installer
>
>Generally, I don't think the Debian Installer is a good idea in such
>cases, and it's best left for interactive installation.
>
>Please consider distributing Debian in this manner.
Hi!
It's an option we're considering for work in the near future; we're
thinking of distributing images more than tarballs, though, to make
them more useful directly for a number of reasons. Mainly images will
be more useful for non-Linux users, I think.
--
Steve McIntyre, Cambridge, UK. steve@einval.com
"This dress doesn't reverse." -- Alden Spiess
Reply to: