Re: [GSoC 2011]: Sysinst alternative interface

[Martin Husemann <martin%duskware.de@localhost>]

On Mon, Apr 04, 2011 at 11:14:44AM +0200, Marc Balmer wrote:
> If you want to add a graphical user interface using X11 to sysinst, you
> are opening a can of worms, and I go as far as to say you will fail with
> this project.

Obviously I disagree ;-)

>  Think of embedded devices where you install
> NetBSD over the serial port.  Would X help here?

It could. You are thinking X == console only, but you could do a remoty
X sysinst even on a GuruPlug, or a 1u server at a remote colocation, where
you get console over ssh (but you'd need some ipsec or whatever tunnel
setup there first).

You could do the same, however, with very different means as well - like
run a httpd and use the browser on your notebook to controll sysinst on
the embedded device.

> - A small core in C, driven by Lua, thus making sysinst extensible and
> adaptable using Lua.
> - The ability to install and configure software from pkgsrc
> - More flexible i18n (e.g. using Lua)
> - The ability to move backwards in the install process
> - Unattended installs

Yes, this are all good enhancements. IMHO they are orthogonal to the
Xsysinst project though. We need to make sure, neither project makes the
other harder, of course.

What I don't know (the Xsysinst proposal predates Lua in base by far)
is: would it be a lot easier to do the GUI later in Lua alone? In that
case, enabling full Lua controll over sysinst should be implemented
first (and basically provides clever unattended installs as a side
effect).

Martin