Re: loader/stage2 interaction

[Alexander Todorov <atodorov redhat com>]

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Chris Lumens wrote:
| I think everyone's familiar with the mess that is prompting for the
| method in loader and fetching the stage2 image.  It's too late to do
| anything for F9 besides patch the bugs, but it's time to start thinking
| about what to do for F10.  So, let's start thinking about it.
|
| The way I see it, the loader currently does the following things
| regarding setting up the method:
|
| - Support the following installation sources:  http/ftp, dvd/cd, nfs,
|   nfsiso, hdiso.  It'd also be nice to support regular hd installs.
| - If stage2= is given, use that as the stage2 image.
| - If there's a CD in the drive and there's a stage2 image on it, use
|   that.  stage2= overrides this.
| - Support configuration from UI, cmdline, and kickstart.
| - Configure and bring up the network if required for a method.
| - DVD/CD should prompt for media check.
| - Each method implies certain locations for updates.img, product.img,
|   etc. that are checked for automatically.
|
| Those are the current features, best I can see.  Are there any of these
| features we want to do away with?  Does anything no longer make sense?
|
| Now for the more controversial stuff.  Here's what I would like to see
| happen in this area for F10.  All these things are open for discussion,
| so jump right in.
|
| - There shouldn't be any differences between booting off the network and
|   booting off media.
| - loader should be moving to just doing what is required to fetch and
|   mount the stage2 image.  This can perhaps include inferring an
|   installation repo based on the location of the stage2 image, but the
|
|   Problem:  If the user booted off a CD and we don't have any method
|   configuration screen, the implied updates.img and product.img checks
|   will never work.

Another problem I can see right now:
boot off CD/boot.iso and perform a network install. Useful in cases where:
no PXE available, ISOs not mirrored - only packages

The stage2= needs a repo= cousin (or ks.cfg) so we can use any compatible stage2
with any compatible repos.

Thanks,
Alexander.
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