[RULE] do we need a spreadsheet of the software?

[Martin Stricker]

Colin Mattoon wrote:

> I would encourage the developers to restrict network installations to
> NFS and to advise all potentional users to download only once -- to a
> machine that can act as an NFS server.  The first installation of
> RULE (to setup an NFS server) should be something done from the hard
> drive. Subsequent server and workstation installations can be
> performed within the LAN through NFS.
>
> Fewer options should help keep the installer small, and reduce the
> work required to debug the installer. A single download per LAN will
> reduce competition for the RULE Project's ftp server resources and
> bandwidth -- not to mention reducing traffic on the end user's
> connection.

But what with persons who have just a single computer? For some of these
an internet install *does* make sense, so I would like to have this
option available. And most of the packages will be fetched from Red Hat
mirrors anyway...

> Even when installing over a LAN, and when installing a variety of
> distributions, my personal experience has been that NFS installs,
> when the option is provided, are less likely to fail than HTTP or FTP
> installers.

Correct. NFS is built to transparently handle interrupted downloads,
HTTP, FTP and rsync are not. All *can* resume, but only NFS does so
automatically. Sadly NFS brings a huge security risk and a lot of
overhead...

> So, for standalone machines, try to keep the ISO small enough to fit
> into, perform an hard drive install from,  the sort of small local
> hard drive found in most 486 class machines. For networks, download
> once to a machine slated to become the NFS server for the LAN,
> install from it's hard drive, configure NFS, mount the ISO as a loop
> device, and proceed to install to as many other machines as you like.

For some standalone boxes the space might not be sufficient for a
harddisk install, and they might not want everything on the ISO, so a
network install from the internet might be the best solution for those.

Best regards,
Martin Stricker
-- 
Homepage: http://www.martin-stricker.de/
Linux Migration Project: http://www.linux-migration.org/
Red Hat Linux 7.3 for low memory: http://www.rule-project.org/
Registered Linux user #210635: http://counter.li.org/


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