[SoaS] SoaS v2 feedback

[Douglas McClendon]

Peter Robinson wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 12:07 AM, Douglas McClendon
> <dmc.sugar at filteredperception.org> wrote:
>> Sebastian Dziallas wrote:
>>> Martin Dengler wrote:
>>>> On Sun, Nov 08, 2009 at 11:56:31PM +0000, Peter Robinson wrote:
>>>>> Hi All,
>>>>>
>>>>> I finally got the time tonight to sit down and put the latest SoaS2
>>>>> test release on my XO-1 to take it for a spin. Very nice. Unlike SoaS1
>>>>> it boots again on my XO-1 :-) YAY!
>>>>>
>>>>> Now some quick feedback to help improve it.
>>>>>
>>>>> On the XO release at least if you remove the livecd-tools (which will
>>>>> in turn remove syslinux) the perl dependency will be removed saving
>>>>> about 35 meg. I believe the point of the livecd-tools is to allow the
>>>>> duplication of usb keys which wouldn't work on the XO variant anyway.
>>>>> I'm working to get the syslinux dependence on perl split out into a
>>>>> sub package upstream.
>>>> Committed - thanks.  Sebastian - if this breaks zyx-installer, sorry,
>>>> please revert.
>>> I just got home, so I'm a bit late in looking at this. Peter, thanks for
>>> the awesome input and Martin, thanks for already committing everything! :)
>>>
>>> And no, zyx-liveinstaller should be fine!
>> Yes, zyx-liveinstaller uses grub when it installs a bootloader.  But
>> syslinux is required for livecd-iso-to-disk, so if you want to make
>> LiveUSB(soas proper) from a booted soas LiveCD, syslinux is needed.  It
>> sounds like you had gotten that working (I think I noticed Martin or
>> someone else join the old fedora bug/rfe about using livecd-iso-to-disk
>> with /dev/live from a running livecd instead of a .iso argument.  And I
>> think there was recent discussion here about a patched version working
>> if the upstream doesn't yet).  As for getting liveusb-creator to work
>> from a livecd/usb without needing a .iso, I do expect that to happen,
>> but probably not from me in the imminent future.
> 
> I recommended removing it from the XO specific build not the general
> livecd. The livecd tools (no idea zbout zyx) is that it duplicates the
> filesystem which being jff2 isn't really appropriate for anything
> other than the XO so I don't see it as there's no advantage to use it
> in that particular instance.

The perl dependency is arguably a bug.  A minor advantage would be 
simplifying the process of creating soas from the xo, i.e. you'd only 
have to have the .iso and livecd-iso-to-disk and not install syslinux. 
Another minor advantage might be maintenance, i.e. if the space is so 
small that it doesn't outweigh the added complexity of differentiated 
configs.

To clarify, the reason livecd tools uses it is to put in place the 
isolinux bootloader on the generated iso, as well as the fact that 
livecd-tools ships livecd-iso-to-disk, and that uses it.

-dmc