[arch-general] Fifa: Flexible Installer Framework for Arch linux

Dieter Plaetinck

30 Oct 2008 30 Oct '08

10:05 p.m.

Hi all, at first I wanted to make an automated installer for Arch Linux (with scripts that specify all the specific aspects of the system). When starting to build this, I looked at the archboot scripts (/arch/setup and /arch/quickinst on the install cd) and noticed that I could re-use lots of code if it would have been split up more (eg I can't just source the useful functions in /arch/setup, I have to source the whole thing and hence, start the installer). So I started writing "Fifa: the Flexible Installer Framework for Arch linux" : http://github.com/Dieterbe/fifa It's designed to be a general, flexible framework for installations. It uses the concepts of 'phases' and 'workers'. There are 4 phases (preparation, basics, system, finish), which can each invoke workers (to get a package list, install packages, install boot loader etc etc). The workers and phases can be overridden by creating profiles. So the whole idea is you can create whatever installation procedure you like (prescripted, autodetection, interactive,...) and you can combine functionality from different profiles and you can reuse lots of code. Keep it mind it's still very, very early in development. It doesn't work yet, but if you look at the code you'll see the basic ideas (and the code is maybe simpler then the explanation). Right now I'm still working on better understanding the archboot scripts, refactoring that code to make it reusable and building an automated, prescripted installer for myself. ( Once the basics are working, it should actually be very simple to port the current archboot scripts to this system. )

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Stythys

30 Oct 30 Oct

10:11 p.m.

sounds awesome :D On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 3:05 PM, Dieter Plaetinck wrote:

...

Hi all, at first I wanted to make an automated installer for Arch Linux (with scripts that specify all the specific aspects of the system). When starting to build this, I looked at the archboot scripts (/arch/setup and /arch/quickinst on the install cd) and noticed that I could re-use lots of code if it would have been split up more (eg I can't just source the useful functions in /arch/setup, I have to source the whole thing and hence, start the installer).

So I started writing "Fifa: the Flexible Installer Framework for Arch linux" : http://github.com/Dieterbe/fifa

It's designed to be a general, flexible framework for installations. It uses the concepts of 'phases' and 'workers'. There are 4 phases (preparation, basics, system, finish), which can each invoke workers (to get a package list, install packages, install boot loader etc etc). The workers and phases can be overridden by creating profiles. So the whole idea is you can create whatever installation procedure you like (prescripted, autodetection, interactive,...) and you can combine functionality from different profiles and you can reuse lots of code.

Keep it mind it's still very, very early in development. It doesn't work yet, but if you look at the code you'll see the basic ideas (and the code is maybe simpler then the explanation).

Right now I'm still working on better understanding the archboot scripts, refactoring that code to make it reusable and building an automated, prescripted installer for myself. ( Once the basics are working, it should actually be very simple to port the current archboot scripts to this system. )

Aaron "Hussein" Griffin

10:35 p.m.

On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 5:05 PM, Dieter Plaetinck wrote:

...

Right now I'm still working on better understanding the archboot scripts, refactoring that code to make it reusable and building an automated, prescripted installer for myself. ( Once the basics are working, it should actually be very simple to port the current archboot scripts to this system. )

Just to let you know, the archboot scripts are no longer the preferred way of doing this. Additionally, installation should (hopefully) be unrelated to how the medium was booted. Archboot really just controls how an ISO boots. Please see the archiso and installer projects in git.

Aaron "Hussein" Griffin

10:36 p.m.

On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 5:35 PM, Aaron Hussein Griffin wrote:

...

On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 5:05 PM, Dieter Plaetinck wrote:

...
Right now I'm still working on better understanding the archboot scripts, refactoring that code to make it reusable and building an automated, prescripted installer for myself. ( Once the basics are working, it should actually be very simple to port the current archboot scripts to this system. )

Just to let you know, the archboot scripts are no longer the preferred way of doing this. Additionally, installation should (hopefully) be unrelated to how the medium was booted. Archboot really just controls how an ISO boots. Please see the archiso and installer projects in git.

Forgot this part: Other than that, this looks awesome! Great work

Dieter Plaetinck

31 Oct 31 Oct

8:20 a.m.

New subject: [arch-general] Fifa: Flexible Installer Framework for Arch linux

On Thu, 2008-10-30 at 17:36 -0500, Aaron "Hussein" Griffin wrote:

...

On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 5:35 PM, Aaron Hussein Griffin wrote:

...
On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 5:05 PM, Dieter Plaetinck wrote:

...
Right now I'm still working on better understanding the archboot scripts, refactoring that code to make it reusable and building an automated, prescripted installer for myself. ( Once the basics are working, it should actually be very simple to port the current archboot scripts to this system. )

Just to let you know, the archboot scripts are no longer the preferred way of doing this. Additionally, installation should (hopefully) be unrelated to how the medium was booted. Archboot really just controls how an ISO boots. Please see the archiso and installer projects in git.

Forgot this part: Other than that, this looks awesome! Great work

Thanks, Ok, pretty silly.. I was looking at all the projects yesterday, I must have overlooked the 'installer' repo, because after some searching I eventually found the scripts in a subdirectory of the archboot project, so I called them that way ( http://projects.archlinux.org/?p=archboot.git;a=tree;f=installer ) Yesterday I've been working on splitting up the quickinst and setup scripts in functions, which are now in files sourced as 'libraries' by the fifa main program. Now I just need to put the pieces together, and probably hack some more to get it working. PS: Does anyone know what license the installer scripts are under? (http://projects.archlinux.org/?p=installer.git;a=tree ) Fifa is gplv3, is it okay if I put a note that says I took the sources from above repository and modified/refactored them a bit, giving credit to the original author ( Tobias Powalowski ) ?

Thomas Bächler

9:46 a.m.

New subject: [arch-general] Fifa: Flexible Installer Framework for Arch linux

Dieter Plaetinck schrieb:

...

Thanks, Ok, pretty silly.. I was looking at all the projects yesterday, I must have overlooked the 'installer' repo, because after some searching I eventually found the scripts in a subdirectory of the archboot project, so I called them that way ( http://projects.archlinux.org/?p=archboot.git;a=tree;f=installer )

The installer in archboot is different from the one in the installer repo afaik. On our official ISOs (the last were 2008.06 and 2008.08-froscon) we use archiso and the installer from installer.git. Also, the installer does a lot of crap IIRC, so feel free to improve anything you want. If this effort turns about to be good quality in the end, we might even adopt it and use it to create a better console-based installer and a better quickinst/automated installer. Keep us updated here, please.

Dieter Plaetinck

1 Nov 1 Nov

1:37 p.m.

New subject: [arch-general] Fifa: Flexible Installer Framework for Arch linux

On Fri, 2008-10-31 at 10:46 +0100, Thomas Bächler wrote:

...

Dieter Plaetinck schrieb:

...
Thanks, Ok, pretty silly.. I was looking at all the projects yesterday, I must have overlooked the 'installer' repo, because after some searching I eventually found the scripts in a subdirectory of the archboot project, so I called them that way ( http://projects.archlinux.org/?p=archboot.git;a=tree;f=installer )

The installer in archboot is different from the one in the installer repo afaik. On our official ISOs (the last were 2008.06 and 2008.08-froscon) we use archiso and the installer from installer.git.

Also, the installer does a lot of crap IIRC, so feel free to improve anything you want. If this effort turns about to be good quality in the end, we might even adopt it and use it to create a better console-based installer and a better quickinst/automated installer. Keep us updated here, please.

Okay, I've thrown away the 'lib-archboot' in fifa and started over with the files from installer.git. The quickinst functions are ported already (I didn't build a profile to use/test them yet though). Right now I'm going over the setup script and moving it's functionality in different fifa libraries and profiles. Imho, the setup script consists of 3 things coupled very tightly together: - backend "real work" functionality (install grub, packages,...) - flow control (eg you can't do step x if requirement y or z hasn't been met yet) - UI logic (show the progress of a process, ask the user a question,..) What I'm doing now is moving: - the UI logic into lib-ui.sh (eg you can ask questions and inform the user in a mode-agnostic way. set a variable to use dialog mode or plain cli) - the backend "real work" code into libraries like lib-pacman, lib-network etc. - the flow control functionality in a (draft of) an 'interactive' profile (what might someday become a replacement of the current setup script) It's a lot of work but I'm convinced the end result will be worth it. If anyone wants to help me out, feel free to contact me. I'm also on #archlinux (username Dieterbe) You can also have a look at the code http://github.com/Dieterbe/fifa Let me know what you think. Thanks, Dieter

Aaron "Hussein" Griffin

9:10 p.m.

On Sat, Nov 1, 2008 at 8:37 AM, Dieter Plaetinck wrote:

...

It's a lot of work but I'm convinced the end result will be worth it.

Me too. This sounds very promising, and has potential to actually replace our current installer. Thanks for all the good work

Dieter Plaetinck

3 Nov 3 Nov

2:14 p.m.

New subject: [arch-general] Fifa: Flexible Installer Framework for Arch linux

On Sat, 2008-11-01 at 16:10 -0500, Aaron "Hussein" Griffin wrote:

...

On Sat, Nov 1, 2008 at 8:37 AM, Dieter Plaetinck wrote:

...
It's a lot of work but I'm convinced the end result will be worth it.

Me too. This sounds very promising, and has potential to actually replace our current installer.

Thanks for all the good work

Thanks, "official" interest/confirmation/input is really welcome :-) fifa has changed a lot over the weekend. Basically the fundamental items are now 'modules' which can have procedures (they regulate the "flow" of an installation) and/or libraries (ui code, pacman, network,disk,.. stuff). (So, the profiles from before used to have logic that could be useful for other 'profiles'. Now that's put in libraries of the module. Every procedure can depend on a module - with all its libraries - or any other procedure). There is also a more clear separation between core and user-contributed modules. For more info I refer to http://github.com/Dieterbe/fifa/tree/master/README I'm working on porting the /arch/setup installer now. It has become the 'interactive' procedure in the core module. I've managed to decouple most of the 'flow control' from the UI/'backend code' into the procedure and lib-ui-interactive respectively. * interactive procedure -> the menu, and the "phase" regulation with vars like $S_NET etc. This procedure is the 'central point of control' over how the installation looks like and what can and cannot happen during the installation. * lib-ui-interactive contains the dialog-based 'wizards' to configure disks, packages,.. it's still a mix of UI-code and backend code. (but the working with the phase variables - $S_NET etc - is abstracted away. This code works in function of the procedure) See: http://github.com/Dieterbe/fifa/tree/master/src/core/procedures/interactive http://github.com/Dieterbe/fifa/tree/master/src/core/libs/lib-ui-interactive... Once the port of the setup script works well and we need logic from it for other procedures I/we can evaluate if it's really worth it (and how far I should go in) trying to decouple the UI code from the backend logic in the lib-ui-interactive rather then copy-pasting and adapting where needed. ( Probably it can be useful to separate "some" big chunks but aiming for 100% separation could be much more of a pain than what it's worth) If you want to try it, it's actually very easy. Just boot the latest install cd iso in virtualbox or your VM of choice and do the steps explained in http://github.com/Dieterbe/fifa/tree/master/HOWTO You can already run /arch/fifa.sh interactive to see the port of the setup script. It's far from finished but the basics work :-) Dieter

Thomas Bächler

3:17 p.m.

New subject: [arch-general] Fifa: Flexible Installer Framework for Arch linux

Dieter Plaetinck schrieb:

...

The quickinst functions are ported already (I didn't build a profile to use/test them yet though). Right now I'm going over the setup script and moving it's functionality in different fifa libraries and profiles. Imho, the setup script consists of 3 things coupled very tightly together: - backend "real work" functionality (install grub, packages,...) - flow control (eg you can't do step x if requirement y or z hasn't been met yet) - UI logic (show the progress of a process, ask the user a question,..)

Yeah, that was always a little crappy.

...

What I'm doing now is moving: - the UI logic into lib-ui.sh (eg you can ask questions and inform the user in a mode-agnostic way. set a variable to use dialog mode or plain cli) - the backend "real work" code into libraries like lib-pacman, lib-network etc. - the flow control functionality in a (draft of) an 'interactive' profile (what might someday become a replacement of the current setup script)

This sounds awesome to me. Just a thought: If you want to, you could also move the whole code into a more sophisticated language (Python, C, C++) if bash is too restricted for you.

...

It's a lot of work but I'm convinced the end result will be worth it. If anyone wants to help me out, feel free to contact me. I'm also on #archlinux (username Dieterbe)

I have zero time recently, but when I find some I'll look at the code.

Dieter Plaetinck

9:37 p.m.

New subject: [arch-general] Fifa: Flexible Installer Framework for Arch linux

On Mon, 2008-11-03 at 16:17 +0100, Thomas Bächler wrote:

...

...
What I'm doing now is moving: - the UI logic into lib-ui.sh (eg you can ask questions and inform the user in a mode-agnostic way. set a variable to use dialog mode or plain cli) - the backend "real work" code into libraries like lib-pacman, lib-network etc. - the flow control functionality in a (draft of) an 'interactive' profile (what might someday become a replacement of the current setup script)

This sounds awesome to me.

Just to clarify: I'm not aiming for 100% separation of backend and ui logic anymore, because that would make it much more complicated then it's worth. The 'flow control' part however is now (supposed to be) entirely separated into the 'interactive procedure' though. (see my previous mail for detailed explanation). (But yes, it's still awesome ;-)

...

Just a thought: If you want to, you could also move the whole code into a more sophisticated language (Python, C, C++) if bash is too restricted for you.

Ironically, I used to be a decent programmer and sucky at sh/bash, but being a system engineer for more then a year improved my shell scripting skills a lot, the other languages have suffered from lack of attention :-) I do think that bash is a good language for something like this though. There's a lot of interaction with other base tools and it's very accessible to end-users. As long as bash' limits are not holding back development, I think it's best to stick with it. (+ I really wouldn't want to port the current installer to another language. Refactoring it in the same language is already hard enough :P ) PS: I actually managed to install a system now with the ported interactive procedure, it breaks while finding the root device but at least we got this far :-)

Aaron "Hussein" Griffin

10:09 p.m.

On Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 3:37 PM, Dieter Plaetinck wrote:

...

On Mon, 2008-11-03 at 16:17 +0100, Thomas Bächler wrote:

...
...
What I'm doing now is moving: - the UI logic into lib-ui.sh (eg you can ask questions and inform the user in a mode-agnostic way. set a variable to use dialog mode or plain cli) - the backend "real work" code into libraries like lib-pacman, lib-network etc. - the flow control functionality in a (draft of) an 'interactive' profile (what might someday become a replacement of the current setup script)

This sounds awesome to me.

Just to clarify: I'm not aiming for 100% separation of backend and ui logic anymore, because that would make it much more complicated then it's worth. The 'flow control' part however is now (supposed to be) entirely separated into the 'interactive procedure' though. (see my previous mail for detailed explanation). (But yes, it's still awesome ;-)

...
Just a thought: If you want to, you could also move the whole code into a more sophisticated language (Python, C, C++) if bash is too restricted for you.

Ironically, I used to be a decent programmer and sucky at sh/bash, but being a system engineer for more then a year improved my shell scripting skills a lot, the other languages have suffered from lack of attention :-) I do think that bash is a good language for something like this though. There's a lot of interaction with other base tools and it's very accessible to end-users. As long as bash' limits are not holding back development, I think it's best to stick with it. (+ I really wouldn't want to port the current installer to another language. Refactoring it in the same language is already hard enough :P )

PS: I actually managed to install a system now with the ported interactive procedure, it breaks while finding the root device but at least we got this far :-)

Screenshots, or it didn't happen!

Dieter Plaetinck

10:32 p.m.

New subject: [arch-general] Fifa: Flexible Installer Framework for Arch linux

On Mon, 2008-11-03 at 16:09 -0600, Aaron "Hussein" Griffin wrote:

...

Screenshots, or it didn't happen!

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=13z010z&s=4 :-) If you want to see it with your own eyes, just give it a go yourself. It should work.. sort of :) http://github.com/Dieterbe/fifa/tree/master/HOWTO Dieter.

Aaron "Hussein" Griffin

10:55 p.m.

On Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 4:32 PM, Dieter Plaetinck wrote:

...

On Mon, 2008-11-03 at 16:09 -0600, Aaron "Hussein" Griffin wrote:

...
Screenshots, or it didn't happen!

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=13z010z&s=4 :-)

Rename hda3 -> sda3

Dieter Plaetinck

10 Nov 10 Nov

10:59 p.m.

Thought I would give you guys a little update... Several things have been changed/refactored/re-thought out again eg - phases are now just arrays listing the workers, not functions, it's easier to override and it's cleaner. - exit codes of all phases/workers are tracked automagically which can be useful for reporting at the end, simplifying flow control etc. - functions for logging and debugging added (long overdue ;-) - ... My TODO file has had a makeover and now contains the roadmap of where I want to go with this. (See http://github.com/Dieterbe/fifa/tree/master/TODO ) Basically: - pre-alpha: (now): a few showstoppers remaining, but we're pretty close to having a workable version of both an ftp-based and cdrom-based installation. - alpha: when ftp-based and cdrom-based installations "work" I would like to get more input from other developers/community so I/we can fix more bugs, refactor, iron everything out,... basically make everything better. For this I would like to setup a bugtracker (or get a category on some already existing bugtracker would be nice too *cough* ;-) ). It's in this phase that still a lot of refactoring and cleaning can be done. - beta: get fifa on the (beta) installcd as an experimental, alternative installer. -> more input from more people -> improve even more - "release" -> someday, fifa might become so good it could become the primary installer... Obviously you guys are more familiar with the whole process of developing for Arch. This is just my limited view on it so I would be glad to hear your input. Code, readme,howto,... @ http://github.com/Dieterbe/fifa Dieter

Dieter Plaetinck

13 Nov 13 Nov

10:24 p.m.

Dieter Plaetinck wrote:

...

Thought I would give you guys a little update...

Several things have been changed/refactored/re-thought out again eg - phases are now just arrays listing the workers, not functions, it's easier to override and it's cleaner. - exit codes of all phases/workers are tracked automagically which can be useful for reporting at the end, simplifying flow control etc. - functions for logging and debugging added (long overdue ;-) - ...

My TODO file has had a makeover and now contains the roadmap of where I want to go with this. (See http://github.com/Dieterbe/fifa/tree/master/TODO ) Basically: - pre-alpha: (now): a few showstoppers remaining, but we're pretty close to having a workable version of both an ftp-based and cdrom-based installation. - alpha: when ftp-based and cdrom-based installations "work" I would like to get more input from other developers/community so I/we can fix more bugs, refactor, iron everything out,... basically make everything better. For this I would like to setup a bugtracker (or get a category on some already existing bugtracker would be nice too *cough* ;-) ). It's in this phase that still a lot of refactoring and cleaning can be done. - beta: get fifa on the (beta) installcd as an experimental, alternative installer. -> more input from more people -> improve even more - "release" -> someday, fifa might become so good it could become the primary installer...

Obviously you guys are more familiar with the whole process of developing for Arch. This is just my limited view on it so I would be glad to hear your input.

Code, readme,howto,... @ http://github.com/Dieterbe/fifa

Dieter

Okay, the /arch/setup is now ported to the new framework and most of the big refactoring is done. I got rid of the showstoppers too. I've been trying different combinations in virtualbox (cdrom / ftp install, automatic partitioning / manual partitioning/mounting, 'crazy' fs'es like xfs, jfs etc...) and it all seems to work. (eg the installer produces an arch installation that boots and works in all tested procedures) There are obviously bugs remaining (There is especially one bigger bug that causes /home not be on a separate filesystem during the auto-partitioning, I'm still trying to fix that one) but then again, during the porting there are also a few bugs in the original code that got fixed/improved, and some things made more useful. According to my previously explained master plan, this means we're now in the alpha phase and it would be cool if I could get input from developers and some power users both on the code/design level as on the functional level. Can you guys maybe give your opinion on my plan and give me some support? I can still work on this but I need input. If you want to try it, fire up virtualbox, load the official installer cd and follow this simple howto: http://github.com/Dieterbe/fifa/tree/master/HOWTO You can start the port of /arch/setup by typing: "/arch/fifa.sh interactive" In /home/arch/fifa/runtime there are some interesting files, most notably fifa.log which contains all log messages and debug messages if you've exported DEBUG=1 before starting fifa. Thanks, Dieter

Aaron Griffin

11:15 p.m.

On Thu, Nov 13, 2008 at 4:24 PM, Dieter Plaetinck wrote:

...

Dieter Plaetinck wrote:

...
Thought I would give you guys a little update...

Several things have been changed/refactored/re-thought out again eg - phases are now just arrays listing the workers, not functions, it's easier to override and it's cleaner. - exit codes of all phases/workers are tracked automagically which can be useful for reporting at the end, simplifying flow control etc. - functions for logging and debugging added (long overdue ;-) - ...

My TODO file has had a makeover and now contains the roadmap of where I want to go with this. (See http://github.com/Dieterbe/fifa/tree/master/TODO ) Basically: - pre-alpha: (now): a few showstoppers remaining, but we're pretty close to having a workable version of both an ftp-based and cdrom-based installation. - alpha: when ftp-based and cdrom-based installations "work" I would like to get more input from other developers/community so I/we can fix more bugs, refactor, iron everything out,... basically make everything better. For this I would like to setup a bugtracker (or get a category on some already existing bugtracker would be nice too *cough* ;-) ). It's in this phase that still a lot of refactoring and cleaning can be done. - beta: get fifa on the (beta) installcd as an experimental, alternative installer. -> more input from more people -> improve even more - "release" -> someday, fifa might become so good it could become the primary installer...

Obviously you guys are more familiar with the whole process of developing for Arch. This is just my limited view on it so I would be glad to hear your input.

Code, readme,howto,... @ http://github.com/Dieterbe/fifa

Dieter

Okay, the /arch/setup is now ported to the new framework and most of the big refactoring is done. I got rid of the showstoppers too. I've been trying different combinations in virtualbox (cdrom / ftp install, automatic partitioning / manual partitioning/mounting, 'crazy' fs'es like xfs, jfs etc...) and it all seems to work. (eg the installer produces an arch installation that boots and works in all tested procedures) There are obviously bugs remaining (There is especially one bigger bug that causes /home not be on a separate filesystem during the auto-partitioning, I'm still trying to fix that one) but then again, during the porting there are also a few bugs in the original code that got fixed/improved, and some things made more useful.

According to my previously explained master plan, this means we're now in the alpha phase and it would be cool if I could get input from developers and some power users both on the code/design level as on the functional level.

Can you guys maybe give your opinion on my plan and give me some support? I can still work on this but I need input.

My honest opinion is that this is awesome. You're the reason I love open source 8) That said, we haven't release a 2.6.27 ISO just yet, and I need to go in panic mode and get it out this weekend. But for the next release, or even a smaller release before then, I'd *love* to incorporate this. It looks very clean and easy to follow. The only minor quibble I had was that in order to track things down, I felt like I was opening too many files. Ok this calls, blah, which is in this file, and blah does nothing but call bar, which is in this file, ...., ah there we go! But it's not a bad thing, really. In order to help us along... could you possibly stick a binary package somewhere (see https://dev.archlinux.org/packages/extra/i686/archlinux-installer/)? This will help me if I want to build an ISO using your installer. 8) Just letting you know: I'm not silent because I don't care. I'm silent because I'm watching and drooling 8)

Dieter Plaetinck

14 Nov 14 Nov

9:04 a.m.

Aaron Griffin wrote:

...

My honest opinion is that this is awesome. You're the reason I love open source 8)

I feel flattered :)

...

That said, we haven't release a 2.6.27 ISO just yet, and I need to go in panic mode and get it out this weekend. But for the next release, or even a smaller release before then, I'd *love* to incorporate this.

Can you explain how we can make that work? I assume you would incorporate it as an additional, experimental installer first? And if you do that, making a new category "Installer: experimental" / "Installer: fifa" /.. on flyspray would probably be a good idea.. (Actually I'm thinking of renaming this thing. There is already a football association called like this and a good framework should be flexible anyway. AIF ? Arch Installation Framework? Any ideas on this also welcome)

...

It looks very clean and easy to follow. The only minor quibble I had was that in order to track things down, I felt like I was opening too many files. Ok this calls, blah, which is in this file, and blah does nothing but call bar, which is in this file, ...., ah there we go! But it's not a bad thing, really.

True, that's what you get with modularity, things inheriting form each other, decoupling of UI etc :-) I'm trying to keep it as simple as possible though (keeping the other design goals of reusability etc in mind)

...

In order to help us along... could you possibly stick a binary package somewhere (see https://dev.archlinux.org/packages/extra/i686/archlinux-installer/)? This will help me if I want to build an ISO using your installer. 8)

I don't have access there. Is this the same package as http://www.archlinux.org/packages/extra/i686/archlinux-installer/ ?

...

Just letting you know: I'm not silent because I don't care. I'm silent because I'm watching and drooling 8)

Dieter Plaetinck

15 Nov 15 Nov

3:52 p.m.

Dieter Plaetinck wrote:

...

...
In order to help us along... could you possibly stick a binary package somewhere (see https://dev.archlinux.org/packages/extra/i686/archlinux-installer/)? This will help me if I want to build an ISO using your installer. 8)

I don't have access there. Is this the same package as http://www.archlinux.org/packages/extra/i686/archlinux-installer/ ?

I created a package and put it on AUR. I've tagged the project state as 'alpha-0.5', which is currently the most usable state, the package points to this tag. ( Note that I also renamed the program to AIF: the Arch Linux Installation Framework :-) ) http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=21526 I Can't really provide binary packages as I have only i686 machines and no place to host the binary packages anyway. This is my first arch package, let me know if I can improve things. package is tested in virtualbox and works on the installcd. Dieter

Dan McGee

31 Oct 31 Oct

1:08 p.m.

On Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 3:20 AM, Dieter Plaetinck wrote:

...

On Thu, 2008-10-30 at 17:36 -0500, Aaron "Hussein" Griffin wrote:

...
On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 5:35 PM, Aaron Hussein Griffin wrote:

...
On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 5:05 PM, Dieter Plaetinck wrote:

...
Right now I'm still working on better understanding the archboot scripts, refactoring that code to make it reusable and building an automated, prescripted installer for myself. ( Once the basics are working, it should actually be very simple to port the current archboot scripts to this system. )

Just to let you know, the archboot scripts are no longer the preferred way of doing this. Additionally, installation should (hopefully) be unrelated to how the medium was booted. Archboot really just controls how an ISO boots. Please see the archiso and installer projects in git.

Forgot this part: Other than that, this looks awesome! Great work

Thanks, Ok, pretty silly.. I was looking at all the projects yesterday, I must have overlooked the 'installer' repo, because after some searching I eventually found the scripts in a subdirectory of the archboot project, so I called them that way ( http://projects.archlinux.org/?p=archboot.git;a=tree;f=installer )

Yesterday I've been working on splitting up the quickinst and setup scripts in functions, which are now in files sourced as 'libraries' by the fifa main program. Now I just need to put the pieces together, and probably hack some more to get it working.

PS: Does anyone know what license the installer scripts are under? (http://projects.archlinux.org/?p=installer.git;a=tree ) Fifa is gplv3, is it okay if I put a note that says I took the sources from above repository and modified/refactored them a bit, giving credit to the original author ( Tobias Powalowski ) ?

Without giving a definite answer, I would say our installer is under GPLv2 (or later) like most of the rest of our stuff. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. In addition, the original author is actually Judd, with Tobias doing a lot of work and now Simo, Aaron, and I chipping in as well. -Dan

Aaron "Hussein" Griffin

5:43 p.m.

On Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 8:08 AM, Dan McGee wrote:

...

On Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 3:20 AM, Dieter Plaetinck wrote:

...
On Thu, 2008-10-30 at 17:36 -0500, Aaron "Hussein" Griffin wrote:

...
On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 5:35 PM, Aaron Hussein Griffin wrote:

...
On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 5:05 PM, Dieter Plaetinck wrote:

...
Right now I'm still working on better understanding the archboot scripts, refactoring that code to make it reusable and building an automated, prescripted installer for myself. ( Once the basics are working, it should actually be very simple to port the current archboot scripts to this system. )

Just to let you know, the archboot scripts are no longer the preferred way of doing this. Additionally, installation should (hopefully) be unrelated to how the medium was booted. Archboot really just controls how an ISO boots. Please see the archiso and installer projects in git.

Forgot this part: Other than that, this looks awesome! Great work

Thanks, Ok, pretty silly.. I was looking at all the projects yesterday, I must have overlooked the 'installer' repo, because after some searching I eventually found the scripts in a subdirectory of the archboot project, so I called them that way ( http://projects.archlinux.org/?p=archboot.git;a=tree;f=installer )

Yesterday I've been working on splitting up the quickinst and setup scripts in functions, which are now in files sourced as 'libraries' by the fifa main program. Now I just need to put the pieces together, and probably hack some more to get it working.

PS: Does anyone know what license the installer scripts are under? (http://projects.archlinux.org/?p=installer.git;a=tree ) Fifa is gplv3, is it okay if I put a note that says I took the sources from above repository and modified/refactored them a bit, giving credit to the original author ( Tobias Powalowski ) ?

Without giving a definite answer, I would say our installer is under GPLv2 (or later) like most of the rest of our stuff. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

In addition, the original author is actually Judd, with Tobias doing a lot of work and now Simo, Aaron, and I chipping in as well.

Yeah. Let's throw a COPYING file in there, as I believe this was originally gpl2

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Aaron "Hussein" Griffin
Aaron Griffin
Dan McGee
Dieter Plaetinck
Stythys
Thomas Bächler

[arch-general] Fifa: Flexible Installer Framework for Arch linux

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