Re: Questions regarding the base system
On Thu, 10 Oct 1996, Bruce Perens wrote:
bruce>> Why would the base system create a user?
bruce>bruce>The installation program creates a user just after the system boots for
bruce>bruce>the first time. Note that this is not done from the installation menu
bruce>bruce>program, it's done by a script that runs when the system is booted
bruce>bruce>after it has been installed.
bruce>> I know but what is the purpose even before the installation is complete?
bruce>
bruce>We need a place to direct the "postmaster" mail, since it is very rude
bruce>to have nobody listening to the postmaster address in case of mail
bruce>spewing problems. We don't want to just dump the mail in root's mailbox
bruce>because we discourage people from reading mail as root. So as soon as
bruce>the system comes up, we ask the name of the administrative user, and
bruce>create that users login. We then point the postmaster mail at it.
This something to do if mail is installed. At that point no mail is
available. I am running systems that have no mail abilities (think about a
Linux machine for bridging for example or other gizmos that can be set
up).
I think creating a user in the is not useful at all. Some package should
later install a user upon configuration.
If possible I would like the base system to be that small that it can be
included on the root system. I can make the root system about 2 Megabytes
big I guess if loading is performed by loadlin.
Could we perhaps set up a bootstrapping base? There should be a minimal
base installed whose only purpose it is to access some archive on a CD /
Harddisk or network and then it should install step by step more
functionality. That would require a certain sequence of installation to
get up to the point when the small base can function as a regualar base.
Perhaps the minimal filesystem from the root could be transferred to the
harddisk partition and then it could gradually replace components?
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