Arch Install Package?

karol · 2010-09-27 21:00:55

OK, now I get the part about the l33t haXor.

http://wubi-installer.org/
http://lubi.sourceforge.net/lubi.html

I honestly can't remember when was the last time I did burn a CD-R as opposed to a CD-RW ;P

Last edited by karol (2010-09-27 21:03:11)

cesura · 2010-09-27 21:22:08

karol wrote:

..insert other forms of Linux installation here...

Meh, it's just another way (that wouldn't require third-party software) to install Arch.

karol wrote:

I honestly can't remember when was the last time I did burn a CD-R as opposed to a CD-RW ;P

When you're buying things on a $40/month + project donations salary, I believe your opinion on CD-R would change.

Or in cases where you can't be arsed to buy optical media at all...

Last edited by cesura (2010-09-27 21:23:16)

chris-kun · 2010-09-27 21:49:26

yeah seriously who needs optical media nowadays. just get a small flash drive.

karol · 2010-09-27 21:58:10

I was just suggesting projects that you might find interesting. I think you're trying to do sth like Lubi but with bsdtar / pacman.
The idea to base everything on Arch, because Arch is l33t is bullsh*t squared. Ubuntu can be fast and the apps aren't really that different:
firefox ✔
thunderbird ✔
...

As for the optical media, I have CD-RWs I bought nine years ago, I still use them a couple times a month. I gave away about a dozen older ones last year, because a friend needed them. There was some kind of weird shortage and it was impossible to buy them that weekend. He still uses them for backups.

If you think such an application is needed, go ahead.

chris-kun · 2010-09-27 22:10:27

optical media... for backups?

that's a horrid idea =P

cesura · 2010-09-28 01:24:22

karol wrote:

If you think such an application is needed, go ahead.

Alright then. Hmm, ncurses or text...meh, I'm lazy. Text based (unless someone objects to that, forcing me to learn ncurses).

karol wrote:

The idea to base everything on Arch, because Arch is l33t is bullsh*t squared. Ubuntu can be fast and the apps aren't really that different

Two things:
1) 90% of the distros I see on DistroWatch are Ubuntu-based :-/
2) Of course Ubuntu can be fast. It's just different. To make a fast Arch system, you would build from the ground up, while to make a fast Ubuntu system, you would need to start from the roof and work your way down.

Last edited by cesura (2010-09-28 01:29:04)

karol · 2010-09-28 01:29:08

itsbrad212 wrote:

karol wrote:
If you think such an application is needed, go ahead.
Alright then. Hmm, ncurses or text...meh, I'm lazy. Text based (unless someone objects to that, forcing me to learn ncurses).

Ever heard of 'stepwise refinement'? Version 0.1 should work more or less, version 0.2 should work, version 0.3 should work really well. Don't go too fast too soon.
Text-based is fine, you will add ncurses, zenity and kdialog 'versions' later.

cesura · 2010-09-28 02:38:33

karol wrote:

itsbrad212 wrote:
karol wrote:
If you think such an application is needed, go ahead.
Alright then. Hmm, ncurses or text...meh, I'm lazy. Text based (unless someone objects to that, forcing me to learn ncurses).
Ever heard of 'stepwise refinement'? Version 0.1 should work more or less, version 0.2 should work, version 0.3 should work really well. Don't go too fast too soon.
Text-based is fine, you will add ncurses, zenity and kdialog 'versions' later.

Well, of course. I was just planning into the future.

Quite like the operating system project I am a part of. It has taken us 5 months to get a working segmented memory model up and running. However, if we had filled the IDT with non-segmented memory model-related interrupts in the beginning, well we would have a problem, now wouldn't we? (and maybe a triple fault or something when I screw it up )

Wow, in retrospect, that was a horrible analogy. You get the idea...

karol · 2010-09-28 02:57:36

itsbrad212 wrote:

Well, of course. I was just planning into the future.
Quite like the operating system project I am a part of. It has taken us 5 months to get a working segmented memory model up and running. However, if we had filled the IDT with non-segmented memory model-related interrupts in the beginning, well we would have a problem, now wouldn't we? (and maybe a triple fault or something when I screw it up )
Wow, in retrospect, that was a horrible analogy. You get the idea...

Look, smartass, I've got socks that are older than you ... ;-)

You need to figure out sensible defaults <gasp> and how much hand-holding will be needed for <oh no!> partitioning. Or do you plan an all-your-base-are-belong-to-us approach and just format everything, show them who's the boss?

Download, unpack, modify grub menu, reboot, pick Brad-in-a-box from the menu, profit. I mean: install.

ngoonee · 2010-09-28 03:09:41

I was under the impression partitioning wasn't want itsbrad212 was looking at. Unless I'm SERIOUSLY misunderstanding what an 'install package' is, and he's really interested in a full-fledged installer.

cesura · 2010-09-28 03:14:31

karol wrote:

Look, smartass, I've got socks that are older than you ... ;-)

That's some pretty miniscule foot growth over the course of 13 years...
Wow, I'd be lucky if my socks lasted me more than 8 months...

karol wrote:

You need to figure out sensible defaults <gasp> and how much hand-holding will be needed for <oh no!> partitioning. Or do you plan an all-your-base-are-belong-to-us approach and just format everything, show them who's the boss?
Download, unpack, modify grub menu, reboot, pick Brad-in-a-box from the menu, profit. I mean: install.

Not an installer. Literally unpack the package (whether it be in the form of a pacman package or a simple tarball) into your mount directory and do some mkinitcpio-ing and some grub-ing.

karol · 2010-09-28 03:16:23

The example https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 54#p832054 makes sense to me.
You need to mount and bootstrap the whole thing somehow.

cesura · 2010-09-28 03:21:05

karol wrote:

The example https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 54#p832054 makes sense to me.
You need to mount and bootstrap the whole thing somehow.

I wasn't planning to make it an Arch "installer" (I could however). It was meant to like the stage* tarballs Gentoo has + some of that yucky post-installation stuff.

EDIT: Just in case you were implying it was a "do-everything-for-you" installer.

Last edited by cesura (2010-09-28 03:21:44)

jasonwryan · 2010-09-28 03:37:19

Rather than endlessly discussing/arguing about what this might look like, just go ahead and start building it. Otherwise this thread is TGN

FWIW, anything that makes it easier for people who typically don't make the (relatively trivial) effort to read the Beginners' Guide or the wiki is, IMO, a bad idea. Arch is simple as it is.

fsckd · 2010-09-28 11:42:41

itsbrad212 wrote:

karol wrote:
The example https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 54#p832054 makes sense to me.
You need to mount and bootstrap the whole thing somehow.
I wasn't planning to make it an Arch "installer" (I could however). It was meant to like the stage* tarballs Gentoo has + some of that yucky post-installation stuff.
EDIT: Just in case you were implying it was a "do-everything-for-you" installer.

Pacman uses something called groups which make it easy to install common packages en masse. Three groups most likely to be installed are base, base-devel and xorg. And yes, one can use pacman from other distros.

karol · 2010-09-28 20:05:20

I didn't know they also have stage4 on gentoo: http://blinkeye.ch/dokuwiki/doku.php/pr … e4#restore

I know, I know - you want to do this w/o the CD.

Ari'osika · 2010-09-29 05:30:42

ngoonee wrote:

If your concern is reinstalling an existing system, do what Allan suggested in the previous page. In fact it would probably be a good idea to keep a regular backup of your installed packages (goes to modify his backup script) for the next reinstall.

karol wrote:

If you keep reinstalling on the same machine (same hardware), you can clone your system, take a snapshot of it all (if you have somewhere to back it up).

As much as I'd like to, I've come to realize that my Arch's pacman has acquired a taste for eating my package database(s), even on fresh installs. The problem has gotten so pervasive, backups are useless as I'll simply be copying the same problem over and over again

itsbrad212 wrote:

Ari'osika wrote:
@itsbrad212Have you done any work towards that or was that just a suggestion?
Not at the moment. This was soley for discussion purposes.
I just feel that a rolling release distro should post "snapshots" every release in some form of a package. Although Gentoo's stage3 is mainly to save compilation time, I feel that it helps save time/CDs when a new user doesn't want to download an ISO.
Example:
1337LinuxUser discovers Arch and wants to try it out. Because he is a Gentoo user and has a Gentoo CD lying around, he grabs it, boots off of it, and grabs the latest Arch package (whether it be a regular tarball or a pacman package). He extracts/installs it onto a seperate partition. Bam. He now has Arch (after some configuration of course ).

Ah okay, just wunderin.

Arch Linux

#51 2010-09-27 21:00:55

Re: Arch Install Package?

#52 2010-09-27 21:22:08

Re: Arch Install Package?

#53 2010-09-27 21:49:26

Re: Arch Install Package?

#54 2010-09-27 21:58:10

Re: Arch Install Package?

#55 2010-09-27 22:10:27

Re: Arch Install Package?

#56 2010-09-28 01:24:22

Re: Arch Install Package?

#57 2010-09-28 01:29:08

Re: Arch Install Package?

#58 2010-09-28 02:38:33

Re: Arch Install Package?

#59 2010-09-28 02:57:36

Re: Arch Install Package?

#60 2010-09-28 03:09:41

Re: Arch Install Package?

#61 2010-09-28 03:14:31

Re: Arch Install Package?

#62 2010-09-28 03:16:23

Re: Arch Install Package?

#63 2010-09-28 03:21:05

Re: Arch Install Package?

#64 2010-09-28 03:37:19

Re: Arch Install Package?

#65 2010-09-28 11:42:41

Re: Arch Install Package?

#66 2010-09-28 20:05:20

Re: Arch Install Package?

#67 2010-09-29 05:30:42

Re: Arch Install Package?

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