debconf for configuring a room full of machines
Scott Barker <scott@mostlylinux.ab.ca> wrote:
> > A better approach, perhaps, will be to use the remote database capabilities
> > of debconf to just pull settings off the old system when you install a
> > package on the new one. Of course, that's all vaporware at this point.
>
> I guess I'm just too eager to roll this out in my labs, and I want that
> vaporware void filled :)
Write some code? Most Unix tools are written because people want to use them.
An example would be the device drivers in the Linux kernel being written by
people who have the hardware and want to get it working. I am supprised that
a program like debconf has not already been written by somebody with a room
full of identical machines wanting identical configuration on them.
> How do you feel about moving the template file out of the debian/ control
> structure, and into the filesystem? If it was /etc/debconf/<package> instead
> of debian/templates, dpkg-repack could handle it (and I could start
> repackaging packages for use in my labs).
Again the source code for dpkg-repack is avaliable. If you want to make
modifications to it the licence will let you. The same for debconf in fact.
> I don't mean to be pushy, I'm just very excited at the prospect of removing
> RedHat and replacing it with Debian on all my workstations.
Well each package is going to have to be moved to debconf, I estimate it will
take a few months at the very least, knowing Debian, probably closer to a
year. Although I suppose we have the fact that it is not all packages that
need to be updated, just ones that ask questions, so that should speed things
up. What timescale where you thinking about?
--
I consume, therefore I am
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