Ubuntu 8.10 - Ball dropped

[Collins Richey]

On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 8:11 AM, Lonni J Friedman <netllama at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 5:04 AM, David A. Bandel <david.bandel at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 9:25 PM, Collins Richey <crichey at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> [snip]
>>
>>>
>>> I do agree with you on one point, Lonni: it's a shame that Debian does
>>> not have a simple and effective kickstart utility. Since I don't need
>>> to kickstart my home system, it's not a major problem for me.
>>>
>>
>> Well, all my Debian installs are pxe/network installs -- just did
>> another one Monday (whopping 15 minutes, more than half waiting for
>> packages to download).   There are ways to automate some things, but I
>> just don't see automating _everything_ unless you're either
>> reinstalling the same systems over and over (like Lonnie, but I've
>> never quite understood why) or have a pile of identical machines
>
> Why is because its for automated testing where we have fewer systems
> than Linux distributions, and the number & type of Linux distributions
> changes often.
>
>> (never been my case).   I can install a dozen non-identical systems in
>> little more time than one (so when possible I install multiple systems
>> at once), but can't imagine how I'd automate all of it.  Would take
>> just as much or more time than just doing the install as it stands.
>> And since every machine I install gets its own customized set of
>> software ... (but that comes after the system is installed and
>> running).
>
> Exactly how are you doing all of this without kickstart?  Surely
> you're not manually installing everything over the network every time?
>

I would love to hear more about (relatively) automated installation
techniques for Debian. Perhaps in another thread.



-- 
Collins Richey
     If you fill your heart with regrets of yesterday and the worries
     of tomorrow, you have no today to be thankful for.