boot floppies [was: an important task]
>>>>> Thomas Bushnell, BSG writes:
TBB> It is pretty important that we make it possible for people to
TBB> install Debian GNU/Hurd without having to first install
TBB> GNU/Linux.
Agreed.
What this entails is ``porting'' the Debian boot-floppies package to
use gnumach and the Hurd. The basic plan is to integrate GRUB into
the installation process, and eliminate the steps that are irrelevant
to the Hurd (choosing charset, choosing device modules, installing
lilo, etc).
TBB> Is someone working on this?
This will become a priority for me as soon as Marcus releases the next
base-set. At that time, I'll be looking closely at boot-floppies to
see what needs to be done.
I'm waiting for the next base-set because it'll be a stable
development platform (my Hurd is dead), and I'd prefer to do the work
natively (I'm sick of cross-compilers).
TBB> Is there a volunteer willing to take it on?
If somebody wants to do it, they will need a solid understanding of
GRUB, and have to be prepared to hack on it to make the installation
process work nicely. OKUJI has many plans for how to do this
properly, and I have a few ideas as well.
If you (dear reader) are serious about helping us with GRUB, then
download the latest CVS tree
(http://www.gnu.org/software/devel.html#CVS), and send mail to
bug-grub-request@gnu.org (subject ``subscribe'').
You should also look in the `release' subdirectory of the Hurd CVS
tree, to see the start at boot floppies that Miles Bader started
working on.
Finally, UCHIYAMA patched GRUB, /boot/serverboot, and /hurd/exec to
make them understand bzip2 compression. I'd like to make a similar
patch to the boot-floppies package, which will benefit all Debian
users in reducing the number of floppies required to install a base
system.
Please send me mail if you want to help in any of these tasks,
--
Gordon Matzigkeit <gord@fig.org> //\ I'm a FIG (http://www.fig.org/)
Committed to freedom and diversity \// I use GNU (http://www.gnu.org/)
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