[Mageia-dev] Updating a new install is too long...

[Wolfgang Bornath]

2011/11/6 Maarten Vanraes <alien at rmail.be>:
> Op zondag 06 november 2011 10:19:59 schreef Wolfgang Bornath:
> [...]
>> We are talking about 2 different things here:
>>
>> 1. An "update release", meaning a installation DVD with current status.
>> The benefit for new installations is the current state of a stable
>> release. The downside: the installation only holds part of the
>> software. Many (or even most) users will install additional packages
>> from the repos after installation. This will not change, and people
>> who want to update their existing system will still need to get
>> updates for all installed packages which are not on the installation
>> DVD.
>
> I don't think this is feasible, too much QA required.
>
> What we could do instead, is having the installer install the updates
> directly, instead of afterwards, this would mean that the installation time
> drops. the big disadvantage of this is the amount downloaded packages, but
> that's where point 2 comes in, IF we allow this sort of thing in the
> installer.

The problem is that many wifi connections are not working at this time
(experienced this myself several times on different machines). So this
is only an option for cable connected machines.
It may be an option if you have such a DVD I was talking about in
point 2 - somewhere at the start of the install process you can add an
additional medium. If a newer package is on the update DVD (or USB key
or external harddisk) the installer should take this instead of the
package from the installer DVD) should work with an update DVD or USB
key. It will not reduce the download but the overall system setup time
(as you wrote).
Of course, if you have networking at that time, you could use a server
with an update repo (especially in a multi-machine environment)

>> 2. A DVD with updates
>> This DVD may present a benefit for people with small bandwidth or in
>> case of a multiple machine environment. Although, in such a case I'd
>> prefer a local repository with nightly sync. A DVD with all updates is
>> only a snapshot of one moment in the release's life, part of it may be
>> outdated next day or week. So, 2 weeks later we have the same
>> questions as today. I don't think that Mageia should offer this, not
>> talking about the fact that everybody can do this (at the time which
>> suits himself) without much knowledge.
>>
>> A DVD with updates is a nice idea for a local community where somebody
>> has enough bandwidth to host a local repo (or even mirror) and can
>> hand out update snapshots on request for people with small bandwidth..
>
> Ah, i see your point, you mean that this could be done on-demand. yes, that's
> good enough for me, no need to do this from mageia itself.

Of course we could provide guidelines / help / documentation for this
case to make it an easy job for your average Joe.

-- 
wobo