From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic =?utf-8?Q?Court=C3=A8s?=) Subject: Re: Some thoughts on installers Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 13:52:29 +0200 Message-ID: <87fvt3fywy.fsf@gnu.org> References: <87eh8nyh6w.fsf@karetnikov.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:51080) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1VLtuU-0004MS-MM for guix-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 17 Sep 2013 07:57:45 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1VLtuO-0006r9-Ca for guix-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 17 Sep 2013 07:57:38 -0400 Received: from hera.aquilenet.fr ([141.255.128.1]:36097) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1VLtuO-0006r5-6Z for guix-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 17 Sep 2013 07:57:32 -0400 In-Reply-To: <87eh8nyh6w.fsf@karetnikov.org> (Nikita Karetnikov's message of "Tue, 17 Sep 2013 12:40:23 +0400") List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: guix-devel-bounces+gcggd-guix-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: guix-devel-bounces+gcggd-guix-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org To: Nikita Karetnikov Cc: guix-devel@gnu.org Nikita Karetnikov skribis: > I haven=E2=80=99t seen an installer that isn=E2=80=99t organized in a ste= p-by-step > fashion. A user is forced to press the =E2=80=9CNext=E2=80=9D button eve= ry 5 minutes or > so. It=E2=80=99s impossible to do anything else because that will increa= se the > installation time. So the user has to sit in front of the computer for > 40 minutes and wait for the button to become active. > > I assume that installers are written in such a way because it=E2=80=99s e= asier > for developers. Let=E2=80=99s not repeat this mistake when we write our = own. > Instead, I propose to get the needed information beforehand (on the > first screen). Then it=E2=80=99d be only necessary to press =E2=80=9CIns= tall.=E2=80=9D A user > could check the progress bar and be free to do something else. The idea is to start with NixOS-style declarative configuration. You provide a configuration file that defines the structure of the system to be installed (or you generate that file via a M-x customize kind of user interface, say), and then run the install process, which instantiates the whole thing non-interactively. Ludo=E2=80=99.