Archie hd-installer

z4ziggy · 2006-09-28 23:50:05

Hello friends,

As some of you know, Archie 0.6 has been delayed for a long time due to numerous reasons (in another words, lack of time...). Thanks to dtw major progress has been done and finally we reached rc5 which appears to be stable enough for release. however, there is one thing missing from Archie - a gfx installer... iphitus had taken on him this task but due to numerous reasons (*cough* lack of time *cough*) his project had reached a major pause. If anyone is willing to take this task - finishing up his project, migrating some other live-cd installer (ubuntus' ubiquity, red-hats', etc) please contact me here or by email.

Thanks in advance, and hope to see you all on Archie's 0.6 release party

Mr Green · 2006-09-29 10:48:40

Had a quick look at ubuntus installer [ubiquity] maybe a python guru could look at it tell us what we need (module class import stuff!)

import sys
import os
import errno
import shutil
import subprocess
import ubiquity
from ubiquity import misc

errrr

gtkui and kde-ui

?

I know a little python (very little!) willing to test it on my laptop not a problem..

gradgrind · 2006-09-30 20:00:46

I had a (very) quick look at these other installers, and was somewhat put off by the rather large quantity of essentially undocumented code. It looks like quite a big job to adapt this stuff, unless someone knows someone who has already done something like it ...

What features are you looking for? Maybe a simpler approach would be acceptable?

z4ziggy · 2006-09-30 20:20:38

well, the installer should be fairly simple, unless we want to allow the user to have some customization in the beginning of the installation (timezone, startup mode, etc). we can start with the most simple stuff -

1. ask the user to select mount points (/, /boot (optional), /home (optional), swap (optional), etc) and allow formatting of the mount point.
2. install Archie to hd by simply copying entire cd contents (while preserving permissions) to target - would be nice to have a progress bar...
3. create user OR rename user "archie" (which is built in into the iso) and select password for both the user and "root".
4. execute mkinitcpio to build approp initramfs.gz for the user
5. optional - allow the user to install boot-manager if none already installed OR if one is already installed add approp settings for Arch.

if you're intrested i can send u over iphitus' sources, though according to his words, its fairly buggy in its current state.

thanks for help

(btw, i hope to have a 1st draft of Archie roadmap by tomorrow - i'll send u once its done)

arooaroo · 2006-10-01 12:14:58

gradgrind wrote:

I had a (very) quick look at these other installers, and was somewhat put off by the rather large quantity of essentially undocumented code. It looks like quite a big job to adapt this stuff, unless someone knows someone who has already done something like it ...
What features are you looking for? Maybe a simpler approach would be acceptable?

I agree. Re-inventing the wheel isn't great, but if you look at something like Ubiquity it's a real beast of a package to get into. It's designed specially for debian-based systems and does tie in with debianconf and apt.

You should make it clear what you mean by 'gfx'. ncurses, gtk, etc?

dtw · 2006-10-01 12:49:38

Prolly, gtk+, mate - it's almost ubiquitous.

Mr Green · 2006-10-01 16:01:53

but no glade!

No write from scratch I guess ....

phrakture · 2006-10-02 16:33:26

You know I am in the process of working on this. I plan on making an installer that is fully functional with numerous UIs, assuming the UI is added (i.e. qt, gtk, curses, cli, etc etc). I'm slow when it comes to this, so it's 90% planned, and 4% code completed. I figure with like 3 days of straight coding should get this to the 90% stage, but I've been real busy.

Like the other crap that I'm working on behind the scenes, I'll keep you all abreast when I make progress.

Romashka · 2006-10-02 16:49:51

phrakture wrote:

You know I am in the process of working on this.

In which programming language it will be written? (I forgot)

phrakture · 2006-10-02 16:54:24

I'll write up something about the design later. I'm going to use python, but if I do it right, the front ends can be anything.

Dusty · 2006-10-02 17:26:26

phrakture wrote:

I'll write up something about the design later. I'm going to use python, but if I do it right, the front ends can be anything.

Do you want a hand with that, phrak? I *think* I'm going to have more free time coming up, but I've thought that before. I intend to start working on Pallavi a bit more steadily now, but I wouldn't mind helping out with this too. If two of us are really busy, we can not make progress twice as fast.

Dusty

phrakture · 2006-10-02 18:01:38

Dusty wrote:

phrakture wrote:
I'll write up something about the design later. I'm going to use python, but if I do it right, the front ends can be anything.
Do you want a hand with that, phrak? I *think* I'm going to have more free time coming up, but I've thought that before. I intend to start working on Pallavi a bit more steadily now, but I wouldn't mind helping out with this too. If two of us are really busy, we can not make progress twice as fast.
Dusty

sure. when I actually get a base laid out, I will provide some access to the svn repo to interested parties. Dusty, you're never on jabber... add phrakture@phraktured.net - and use my /work resource.

z4ziggy · 2006-10-03 00:40:59

great to have you joining dusty.

to all who is intrested in assisting (or just intrested) in the live project, you can join our mailing list - simply email to archie-subscribe@dotsrc.org (more instructions here : http://archie.sunsite.dk/wiki/doku.php? … iling_list )

we are currently in the process of discussing the main points of a standard Arch live-kit - anyone who wishes to contribute his opinion or work or simply just intrested of the development is welcome.

Dusty · 2006-10-03 13:45:59

OT

phrakture wrote:

Dusty, you're never on jabber... add phrakture@phraktured.net - and use my /work resource.

Error 404: Remote Server Not Found.

I mostly use my google talk instead of Jabber, but they can intercommunicate.

Dusty

dtw · 2006-11-03 14:46:08

Er...anyone know what happened to Ziggy? Arch was ready for 0.6 release, he took over again and now...anyone seen him?

Arch Linux

#1 2006-09-28 23:50:05

Archie hd-installer

#2 2006-09-29 10:48:40

Re: Archie hd-installer

#3 2006-09-30 20:00:46

Re: Archie hd-installer

#4 2006-09-30 20:20:38

Re: Archie hd-installer

#5 2006-10-01 12:14:58

Re: Archie hd-installer

#6 2006-10-01 12:49:38

Re: Archie hd-installer

#7 2006-10-01 16:01:53

Re: Archie hd-installer

#8 2006-10-02 16:33:26

Re: Archie hd-installer

#9 2006-10-02 16:49:51

Re: Archie hd-installer

#10 2006-10-02 16:54:24

Re: Archie hd-installer

#11 2006-10-02 17:26:26

Re: Archie hd-installer

#12 2006-10-02 18:01:38

Re: Archie hd-installer

#13 2006-10-03 00:40:59

Re: Archie hd-installer

#14 2006-10-03 13:45:59

Re: Archie hd-installer

#15 2006-11-03 14:46:08

Re: Archie hd-installer

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