Re: PROPOSAL: automatic installation and configuration

[Amos Shapira <amos@gezernet.co.il>]

From: David Bristel <targon@targonia.com>
> Or, an easier idea is to do an install with a --noconfig(does no-act do this?) 
> or something that would delay the configuration of packages.  THEN, we can set
> up whatever other tools that would allow us to configure these packages, either
> through a GUI, ncurses, or interactive text message.  The new tools would then
> set the "configured" flag we already have in each package.  The dpkg --configure
> is obviously there to allow for packages that have not been configured.  I
> havn't looked TOO closely at the package structure in a while, but it seems this
> would make it MUCH easier to install for newbies.  What do you think?

I have to refresh my memory about this parts of the spec, but I
suspect that this might not be enough since:

1. As far as I followed the discussion so far, the point was to be
   *also* able to save/restore configurations from another machine
   and use that when the package is installed instead of requiring
   the user to repeat the input (or make two or more packages share
   the same piece of information like the default paper size or
   prefered SMTP server), which follows to....

2. Some of the packages are dependent on other packages being
   configured already in order to get on with their own installation,
   so postponing the configuration phase might leave them, well,
   "broken".

Cheers,

--Amos

--Amos Shapira                  | "Of course Australia was marked for
                                |  glory, for its people had been chosen
amos@gezernet.co.il             |  by the finest judges in England."
                                |                         -- Anonymous