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All: |
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|
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The new Gentoo installer project is underway. This email should serve as |
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a quick rundown of where we're at, what we've done, where we want to go, |
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and how we're going to get there. |
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|
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Infrastructure: |
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|
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The initial infrastructure for the installer project is just about |
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there. We now have a mailing list (if you hadn't noticed), and an |
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official channel on IRC (freenode) - #gentoo-installer. As of yet, |
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there's no project page, but I'm sure that will come in time. Maybe |
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we'll hijack a member of the documentation team to help with that. |
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|
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Who's Involved: |
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|
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Currently, we have a number of people, Gentoo devs and non-devs, |
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involved or interested in the project. Two of the three installer |
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projects have "signed on" to work together and hopefully the third will |
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as well. Our two desktop co-leads are also involved in defining features |
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and requirements, as well as other Gentoo devs from server, portage |
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tools, and other teams. A number of non-developers (and / or soon to be |
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developers) are also helping in various ways. |
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|
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What We're Doing: |
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|
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You probably know the idea - we're trying to bring together three |
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projects and create a complete installer that covers desktop systems as |
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well as automated server deployment. |
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|
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As it stands, we've hashed out a number of requirements and features as |
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well as some potentials for the installer. While an official list is not |
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complete, here's a very brief (and most certainly INCOMPLETE) list of |
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what we have: |
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- Pluggable front ends (text, ncurses, gtk, qt, whatever) |
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- Pluggable, override-able architecture support (x86, ppc, sparc, etc.) |
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- Automated deployment (ala RH's Kickstart or Sun's Jumpstart) |
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- No loss (or as absolutely little as possible) of flexibility from the |
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manual process. |
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- Atomic run of all commands so users can freely experiment with |
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options prior to installation. |
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- Intelligent defaults. |
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|
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We have a few documents that cover what is going on. I STRONGLY |
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recommend that you read them if you're interested in the project as a |
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spectator. If you want to contribute, please consider it required |
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reading as it will answer some initial questions that you will have. |
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|
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http://dev.gentoo.org/~esammer/gentoo_installer_project.txt |
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|
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What We Need: |
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|
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We need to do the following... |
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|
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- Solidify the team, both operational and development, and their roles. |
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- Get a team of willing testers. |
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- Get some people willing to do documentation, either from our doc team |
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or otherwise. |
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- Get a code repository going. Since non-devs may (as in "might," not |
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"can") participate in actual development, the repository may need to be |
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hosted on non-Gentoo servers. |
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- Decide to what level non-devs should participate (mainly, can they |
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commit code) |
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- Complete high(er) level design documents that all devs agree on. |
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- Code like the wind. |
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- Test like the dickens. |
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|
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Hopefully, this will help get the ball rolling, so to speak. Most of |
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this stuff is just rehashed from #gentoo-installer (which, once again, |
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we invite you to join), but it should help as a nagging reminder. |
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|
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No doubt this is a button-pusher of a topic. We ask that all comments be |
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constructive and respectful, even if you disagree, as at times we all |
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will. ;) |
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|
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(Oh yea, and please read that doc!) |
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|
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Regards. |
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-- |
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Eric Sammer |
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Gentoo Linux |
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http://www.gentoo.org |