Installation Related Issues

[Rahul]

Manish Kathuria wrote:
> The full installation of FC requires 5 CDs and even if one file cannot 
> be read in the last CD during the installation, the entire installation 
> process fails wasting a lot of time and effort. Isn't it possible to 
> skip that particular file (rpm) and continue with installation so that 
> the entire process does not have to repeated again and one can only 
> reinstall that particular RPM. I understand that there could be issues 
> related to dependencies but they can be resolved also.

The issues related to dependencies cannot be resolved easily. For 
example if the corrupt file is something like glibc there is no point in 
skipping it and the relative important of the file to be skipped is 
dependent on what the user is using the system for and not just the 
dependency set.

If the media is corrupted the best solution is to replace it.

> 
> If I remember correctly, there was a talk of reducing the core 
> installation to not more than 2 CDs with the option of installing the 
> rest of packages once the basic system was up and running. Just wanted 
> to find out if its still being considered.

There is a general goal towards keeping the relative size of Fedora Core 
in a "reasonable" stage but for people who dont have broadband 
connections the availability of these in media is quite useful and there 
are several options to consider for people who dont want to download 
multiple CD's.

* The network installation boot.iso is just 6 MB and you can choose to 
install from nfs/http/ftp/vnc/USB, firewire storage etc.

* Minimal installation of Fedora Core requires just the first CD (FC5 
installer had a harmless but annoying bug where it requests the second 
CD even though it doesnt install packages from there).

* Only the first two CD's are required for a default installation.

* You can download one single DVD instead.

* You can dump packages and do a kickstart installation and so on.

There are methods described in http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Distribution/

Rahul