[arch-dev-public] will DVD size be the limit for our official repos?

[eliott]

> I just want at least one opinion to be heard on this.. I routinely
> install machines that have no (and can have no) internet access. I
> mirror onto those machines the full set of Arch repositories (lately
> including [community] too). The reason is because we don't yet know what
> we will have to do when we set up these machines, and we need the whole
> toolkit at our disposal.
>
> So there is at least one office full of people operating this way on
> some machines, not because they want to but because they have to.

Hey. Here is an idea.
Keep the installer the same, and create a 'packages' dvd or something
like that. With just packages on it.
People can mount it AFTER the install and specify it as a repository.
No need to complicate the installer build cd, nor any reason to start
shipping these huge install dvds when people *dont* need them.

As to difficulty making such a dvd.. it is freakin trivial.
Create a directory.
Have a file with packages listed in it.
Use a shell script to have pacman download the packages into that
directory (download-only option).
Create the dvd based on that directory.

No need to make it bootable or whatever. bam.