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Re: Installing debian from floppies.



Lars Wirzenius writes ("Re: Installing debian from floppies."):
> Steve Preston: "Installing debian from floppies." (Oct 23, 14:44):
> > 1) Would it be useful to many people to be able to install packages
> > from DOS diskettes?  (I vote yes on this)
> 
> Me too (not because I need it, but because I know other people do).
> 
> > 2a) How hard would it be to make dpkg work with packages that have been
> > split across multiple diskettes?
> 
> I've no idea, but this is better than breaking the packages in smaller
> pieces.  If dpkg can work with split files, and there is a tool for
> splitting large packages, then it is possible to split things into
> any suitable size.  Predefined sizes will be wrong.  1.4 MB is bad for
> people with 1.2 MB floppies, and 1.2 MB pieces waste space for people
> with 1.4 MB floppies.

The default size for dpkg-split is 340K.  Since reassembling split
packages is easy with dpkg, and downloads are more reliable and easier
when the files aren't so huge, this seems reasonable.

You can fit 4 of those on a 1440K floppy, or 3 on a 1200K.

Ian.


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