Re: Sources vs Packages files
Hello,
On Tue, Apr 17, 2001 at 10:41:12AM +1000, Glenn McGrath wrote:
> Marcus Brinkmann wrote:
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> >
> > Why is there no seperate source archive for the debian-installer packages?
> > Or, alternativley, simply a section in the main archive.
> >
> I am a memeber of the installer team, these are my person views, not
> official viewpoints from the team.
>
> In short becasue udebs dont have docs, they have been rejected from the
> main archive.
>[..]
> The installer has to operate with as little hardware resources (disk
> space, ram) as possible.
> Becasue of this constrained environment, i personally consider that the
> policy guidlines that dictate what consititutes a "correct" debian
> binary package do not justly reflect the installers needs.
>
> The big sticking point is docs, policy demands that all packages have to
> have docs even if they arent needed, the installer doesnt want docs
> being distributed with binaries, too much overhead, if we can save 3kB
> then that equates to another hardware driver in the kernel.
> Supporting lots of hardware is much more important than having docs
> distributed with the binary package, expecially given that the docs for
> the installer will have a home for themself somewhere else.
FWIW, I totally agree with this point of view. For the installation, there
are two kind of needs : fully automatic installation (mainly via network)
and customized _first_ installation (if not for wizards, at least for people
knowing a minimum). That is the installation is something that will
desappear behind the _real_ OS installed, and there is no need at this step
for documentation for the individual packages. Docs have to be put outside
of the installer (I mean doc not related to "howto" make the install ; and
even for this one, the minimum).
At the moment, for my own needs, I take the source of the core packages, and
remove by hand all unnecessary sugar.
Cheers,
--
Thierry LARONDE, Centre de Ressources Informatiques, Archamps - France
http://www.cri74.org
PingOO, serveur de com sur distribution GNU/Linux: http://www.pingoo.org
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