Re: bsdinstaller.org?

[Andrew Doran <ad%netbsd.org@localhost>]

On Sat, Feb 07, 2009 at 01:58:58PM -0500, Jared D. McNeill wrote:
> Christoph Egger wrote:
> >Jeremy C. Reed wrote:
> >>Anyone use The BSD Installer?
> >>
> >>http://www.bsdinstaller.org/
> >>
> >>Was (still?) used by at least three different projects.
> >>
> >>Has backend and various front-ends...
> >>
> >>But then again Google SoC project has work on splitting our current 
> >>installer to backend so could have different front-ends.
> >
> >What is its current status ? I haven't seen any activity on this
> >project. Can we resurvive it this year on GSoC ?
> 
> What do we gain from it?

This was also my first thought. I think that sysinst is actually pretty good
these days.

Its problem is its user interface. One thing that struck me after reading
comments on slashdot was that people thought the installer was very
unfriendly. If we can cut down the number of questions that it asks to a
minimum then I'm not sure a GUI has much else to offer other than eye candy
(and a higher maintenence cost for us).

        => "I found only one disk (wd0), therefore I will assume you want to
        install on it."

        => Validate MBR BIOS geometry (like I even know what to put there)

        => Choose password encryption scheme

        => Choose partiton sizes

        => Choose root's shell

        => etc etc etc

All of these and more seem like trivial questions that there is no point
asking unless the user chooses geek^Wexpert mode.

Andrew