On Fri, 13 Aug 2004 10:49:40 -0500, Chris Bier wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > Brian Kelsay wrote: > |>>>"Brian Densmore" 08/12/04 01:22PM >>> > |>> > |>>-----Original Message----- > |>>From: Brian Kelsay > |>> > |>>An online LiveCD builder would be sweet. I think I heard > |>> some guys were working on something like this. I've seen a > |>> couple of websites that build a custom firewall floppy. If > |>> you had a full Debian mirror available and have the web app > |>>add the selected programs to a group that is in turn fed to > |>> cloop to compress and then fed to mkisofs, then have it save > |>> to a new directory that has your name from the online form, > |>> then email you when it was done with the path to the new iso. > |>>Any of you programmers want to take this on? > |>>Could Java do this? I think so. Or a php or python script. > |>> Making the user interface would probably be the hardest part. > | > | > |>I've got a few ideas on this. I was thinking, of building a page where > |>users select several types of things. Like: > |>+----- Desktop ----------------------+ > |>| [] I want a lightweight desktop | > |>| [] I want a fullblown desktop | > |>| [] I want no desktop | > |>+--------------------------------------+ > |>etc. > |> > |>Then I could have a couple of premade iso directories and also some > |>"package groups" of certain apps. Then when the user has selected > |>all of the families they want I could add to the basic iso with the custom > |>apps. I'm not sure you can actually add to an iso or not. But then > |>you could have a small group of premade iso's and rather quickly build > |>complete isos. Of course, you would also want to have an "expert let me > |>pick everything" option. Which of course you'd want to build a drop down > |>list based on standard categories (net,core,multimedia,X,etc.) > | > | > | In a script, you will most likely not want unpack and repack an iso > image (too much time and CPU). I like the idea of the base images > (that's what Morphix does). Now you would want the list of apps in > those premade iso files to be editable by the user choice portion of the > program and build the iso from scratch. This would help to build the > iso from the latest version of each app in the repository, unless you > wanted the packages to stay frozen for some reason. Each category would > add preselected packages to the list and then the user expert mode would > edit the final list. I wonder if dependencies would still be met in > this fashion. You will probably want to tie in to dpkg or apt with your > script. Look at how the current Debian Net installer works. It doesn't > build an ISO on the fly, but allows the lang. choice and package choice. > maybe you just need to add the ISO creation to the end of that rather > than have it install to HDD and remove their GUI front-end for a w! > | eb-based one. Or tie-in to theirs with the web front-end if > possible. The Progeny kickstart project might be another avenue. They > have been altering the Redhat mass installer to work w/ .debs and a > Debian system. Kickstart is basically scripting for repetitive, > duplicate installs. > > This could be an interesting project for the LUG. However, we might > consider just making a nice script interface that people can use (a la > jigdo, but easier to use) that will build the iso on their machine. > Building it and downloading it from the server would eat a lot of > resources and bandwidth. > > Chris > - -- > I digitally sign my emails. If you see an attachment with .asc, then > that means your email client doesn't support PGP digital signatures. > http://www.gnupg.org/(en)/documentation/faqs.html#q1.1 > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (GNU/Linux) > Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://enigmail.mozdev.org > > iD8DBQFBHOMSE5xXU3JS1mQRAoIhAKCN4FuCyk41KhUEvXN/AydjChWOBwCg2sA5 > 6rc6ATfMIF2hww5c+2V8vRM= > =8mly > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > I wouldn't mind trying to help on a project like that. I don't have much to contribute to a interface, but would be willing to learn. Thanks, -- dj_goku -www.djgoku.com- -www.tektronic.org-