Re: multiarch Netinstall CD
Martin-Eric Racine <q-funk@iki.fi> writes:
> Greetings,
>
> Upon seeing the excellent work done for the LinuxTag 2005 DVD,
> featuring Sarge CD #1 for amd64/i386/powerpc in a single DVD, I got
> the idea that a perhaps even more desirable product would be a smaller
> 650mb CD based on the Netinst image for as many architectures as can
> be made to cohabit on the same installation media.
>
> This CD would be based upon the Sarge release, but with a more recent
> d-i
> that includes support for Rescue CD operation.
>
> Such a CD would definitely be a tremendous hit as a handout at trade
> shows and installfests, and for administrators as a
> one-size-fits-nearly-all Debian installation and rescue media.
>
> According to Joerg Jaspert, the LinuxTag 2005 DVD was made using the
> standard debian-cd tool, but with a custom CD building template to
> succeed in fitting those 3 architectures into the same ISO image.
>
> My questions are:
>
> 1) What other architectures could be made to co-exist on the same media?
>
> 2) Would anyone be interested in helping to produce such a multiarch
> CD based on the Sarge Netinstall images? The idea is to make a
> debian-cd template, then submit it as a patch to the debian-cd package.
>
> Comments and volunteers to put together such a project are welcome.
>
> Best Regards,
The LT 2005 DVD was made by building 3 images of ~2Gb size (one per
arch) and then merging them back into one image in a second
round. That is very ugly for one thing and the size needs to be
experimented with a lot to make it fit.
There are plans and ideas for debian-cd being thought through to make
debian-cd itself more flexible and capable of doing multiarch but that
will be a longer process and help is certainly welcome.
One thing everyone can help out now already, without waiting for the
full debian-cd redesign to start, is testing what architectures can
coexist on the same image. I386 and amd64 both use the same isolinux
so they can always go together. We know isolinux and yaboot can
coexist. Beyond that not much is documented I think.
So if you have two (or more) architectures around read the
tools/boot/ scripts for those archs and try merging two D-I CDs
(mini.iso is enough) together manually. If you know the internas of
the boot process well enough to already know what archs can share a CD
thats even better.
MfG
Goswin
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