[Mageia-discuss] Suggestions for the ISO

[andre999]

Margot a écrit :
> On Fri, 05 Nov 2010 16:24:11 -0400
> Marc Paré<marc at marcpare.com>  wrote:
>    
>> Le 2010-11-04 22:12, andre999 a écrit :
>>> Even bugfixes often have errors. Many times I've seen bugfixes
>>> of bugfixes, and sometimes bugfixes of bugfixes of bugfixes.
>>> (If you read the description.)
>>> If we go for incremental rpms (very much smaller), the only
>>> advantage I see is for those without Internet connexion.
>>> In that case, they wouldn't likely be vulnerable to security
>>> problems. So that leaves (other) bugfixes.
>>> This is something that I think, for the time being at least,
>>> can be best adressed on an individual or local community basis.
>>>
>>> - André
>>>        
>> Therefore, for a Mageia Community to supply an ISO to a member
>> who has dial-up services but is seeking help from the community
>> for an ISO download. Options would be:
>>
>> * provide user with ISO from Mageia without any updates
>>
>> * provide a user with ISO from Mageia with incremental updates
>>
>> * provide a user with ISO from Mageia with all updates
>>
>> Obviously, the two last options are not available from Mageia as
>> this is what this thread was all about. Unless there were built
>> ISO's at the Mageia download site. The main concerns really are
>> the amount of disk space on Mageia servers and mirrors. But these
>> last two ISO's could be built somehow if the server space could
>> be accommodated and also if there was dev interest in doing these
>> ISOs.
>>
>> Marc
>>      
> You missed my suggestion - provide 2 discs, one with the original
> (thoroughly tested) release ISO, and a second disc with the latest
> set of updates.
>
>    
Right.  The best solution.

To reiterate, the suggestion was that the second disc would contain 
packages of the update repositories, to be made by communities - or 
individuals - as needed, for users with no or limited internet access.
The advantage being that since updates are considerably smaller than 
official packages, it would take a lot less time/effort than making a 
much larger ISO updating an official ISO.

Note that the update repositories remove outdated updates.

Further thoughts :

It would also be useful to have a utility to assist making such an 
update disc, downloading the current contents of update repositories, etc.
Ideally the utility would (at least have the default option to) only 
include updates for packages on the official ISO, making it much smaller.

Local communities could even keep a local copy of update repositories, 
to facilitate quickly making update discs.

For the user, installation would be a 2 or 3 step process :
1) Install the official ISO

2) Install the update ISO, a much quicker process than (1).

3) If the user has limited Internet access, update on line, to ensure 
that one has the latest updates, a much quicker process than (2).
If the update ISO is recent enough, there will be no updates in this step.

Currently, installation should include steps (1) and (3).

So essentially, there is no (significant) disadvantage for the user to 
have a separate update ISO.
Also note that this approach does not change the storage space needed in 
mirrors, as these update discs, made from the contents of update 
repositories, would not themselves be in repository.  For good reason : 
the contents of the update repositories change on a daily basis.

- André