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Time for a DVD distribution?
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File Shepard
Feb 8, 2012, 1:07:01 AM2/8/12
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I've bought the official CDs a couple of times (4.3 & 4.7), and I've
also supported OpenBSD with automatic PayPal contributions for several
years back when I was working. I've been using OpenBSD over 10 years.
But I like to build from sources. I want distfiles. Right now on my
laptop I've got 539 ports installed, plus a few things from other
places. I have a collection of over 650 distfiles from 4.7 days, many
of which are still the right ones for 5.0.
Trying to put every distfile used by a release on DVDs probably wouldn't
work because it would be too big. I don't know what the answer is, but
I'd suggest looking at the Gutenburg Project (gutenburg.org) for
inspiration. It's possible there to select online lots of books that
you want added to a CD or DVD iso file, then when you submit your list a
cron job builds your custom iso file, puts it in a temporary directory
for a few days, and sends you an email that it's ready for downloading.
I think you can pay them some small fee to burn it to disk and mail it.
I'd much rather pay OpenBSD their $50 for a DVD that has what I want on
it than pay for 3 CDs that aren't really very useful. I'm not
interested in anything but i386, and no offense meant, but I don't care
much about the song either. It's valuable space.
Distfiles are universal, they apply to all platforms. Make it so you
can choose what platform specific stuff you need to get up and running,
then add the distfiles you want. The order should be so it can be saved
and worked on over several days by logging in, and/or a tab-delimited
list submitted like electronics parts places like Mouser have.
And while you're at it, dependancies are a nightmare. Make it so you
can select the ports you want to install, and some database gives you
all the dependancies you need to build them.
All of my 4.7 distfiles fit on about 1/2 a DVD, I wish it hadn't taken
me many months to download them all. And OpenBSD didn't make a dime on
the process.
Alan Corey, AB1JX
also supported OpenBSD with automatic PayPal contributions for several
years back when I was working. I've been using OpenBSD over 10 years.
But I like to build from sources. I want distfiles. Right now on my
laptop I've got 539 ports installed, plus a few things from other
places. I have a collection of over 650 distfiles from 4.7 days, many
of which are still the right ones for 5.0.
Trying to put every distfile used by a release on DVDs probably wouldn't
work because it would be too big. I don't know what the answer is, but
I'd suggest looking at the Gutenburg Project (gutenburg.org) for
inspiration. It's possible there to select online lots of books that
you want added to a CD or DVD iso file, then when you submit your list a
cron job builds your custom iso file, puts it in a temporary directory
for a few days, and sends you an email that it's ready for downloading.
I think you can pay them some small fee to burn it to disk and mail it.
I'd much rather pay OpenBSD their $50 for a DVD that has what I want on
it than pay for 3 CDs that aren't really very useful. I'm not
interested in anything but i386, and no offense meant, but I don't care
much about the song either. It's valuable space.
Distfiles are universal, they apply to all platforms. Make it so you
can choose what platform specific stuff you need to get up and running,
then add the distfiles you want. The order should be so it can be saved
and worked on over several days by logging in, and/or a tab-delimited
list submitted like electronics parts places like Mouser have.
And while you're at it, dependancies are a nightmare. Make it so you
can select the ports you want to install, and some database gives you
all the dependancies you need to build them.
All of my 4.7 distfiles fit on about 1/2 a DVD, I wish it hadn't taken
me many months to download them all. And OpenBSD didn't make a dime on
the process.
Alan Corey, AB1JX
File Shepard
Feb 9, 2012, 12:59:22 AM2/9/12
to
That should be the Gutenberg project, not Gutenburg at gutenberg.org.
Damned domain thieves preying on people who can't spell...
Alan
Damned domain thieves preying on people who can't spell...
Alan
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