Re: Ximian Desktop 2 | SUSE 9.0 Install

On Thu, 2004-05-20 at 08:10 -0400, Jimmy Benson wrote:
> Mark,
>      Again - Thanks for the response.  I am a little familiar with
> Linux, but am still getting started.  I will definitely start
> experimenting with "rug" and have heard it mentioned a couple times such
> as at Novell Brainshare this year.  I am really wanting to get this
> "Local Media" install option working as it is the easist to understand
> at this time (the install looks very much like a Windows program
> install).  I appreciate all the information and hope to begin working
> with the rug command line a bit down the road.

Despite the lack of GUI, I suspect rug will serve you better.  It's
significantly more flexible.  It doesn't need packageinfo.xml.gz, for
example. ;-)

> Any other ideas on why the local media install is not working?  Another
> post said to try the "redcarpet2" directory structure from your FTP
> site, but I have not been successfull with that so far either.  What
> does it really mean when the "Forward" button is greyed out??  Does it
> mean packages are missing that are required, or it doesn't recognize my
> input as a valid XD2 installation directory, etc. etc.?

The Forward button being disabled is typically an indication that the
directory structure or their contents are not what the installer is
expecting.  The installer is very picky that way.

Also, I'm afraid the installer doesn't handle lack of SUSE packages very
gracefully.  If you can make sure the desktops in question have all the
SUSE packages they'll need already installed, it should work fine.
Otherwise, it's going to hit the network and slow you down.

I strongly suspect that rug will be a better solution for you.

-Mark Gordon

> >>> Mark Gordon <[email protected]> 5/19/2004 5:12:53 PM >>>
> The *biggest* problem with local media installs is that many of our
> packages depend on other packages from the OS vendor (SUSE in your
> case), and if those packages aren't installed, our installer would
> prefer to download them from our servers.  Say, for the sake of
> example,
> that you're installing gtk2-devel, which depends on XFree86-devel.  Or
> suppose that our packages depend on a glibc update (more common on Red
> Hat than on SUSE).
> 
> Then there's the pain of getting all the xml files that the installer
> wants to have Just So.
> 
> One alternative that has arrived since the installer was created is
> rug.
> rug is a command-line Red Carpet, easily scriptable, with several
> powerful features not found in Red Carpet:
> 
> "rug mount": this allows you to take a directory with packages and
> treat
> it like a Red Carpet channel.
> 
> "rug in --entire-channel": this allows you to tell rug to install
> every
> package in a channel, pulling in packages from other channels as
> needed.
> 
> How this simplifies installs:
> - Have all the SUSE 9.0 packages you might need in order to satisfy
> dependencies in one directory.
> - "rug mount" that directory.
> - Have all the XD2 packages you want to install in another directory.
> This needn't be the full set of XD2 packages; you can have -devel
> packages in another directory, for example.  You'll probably want to
> add
> Evolution and Red Carpet packages as well, since they'd normally be
> included in an XD2 install.
> - "rug mount" the XD2 package directory.
> - "rug in --entire-channel" the channel corresponding to the XD2
> packages.
> - "rug unmount" the unneeded channels.
> - Adjust a few things that aren't in package management (details will
> be
> provided later).
> 
> This can be done truly locally, assuming you have a single CD with the
> XD2 packages and a known set of SUSE packages that will be needed to
> satisfy dependencies (which can possibly be guessed fairly well from
> one
> install, assuming your machines are fairly standardized).  If you have
> a
> file server available, you can put the XD2 packages on that and run
> around with the SUSE install media DVD (assuming your drives will take
> it).  Other variations are certainly possible.
> 
> The non-package-managed bits mostly have to do with having gdm running
> on runlevel 5.  This involves editing /etc/sysconfig/displaymanager
> (comments in the file should make it clear what's necessary).  IIRC,
> YaSt can clobber this if you don't do the changes through YaST (which
> has a built-in /etc/sysconfig editor).  It's possible that's been
> changed, but I'm not certain.
> 
> The rug end of things should be pretty trivially scriptable.
> 
> -Mark Gordon
> 
> On Wed, 2004-05-19 at 16:19 -0400, Jimmy Benson wrote:
> > Mark,
> >      Thanks for the response.  You hit it on the head - I am wanting
> to
> > rollout XD2 to 60 SUSE 9.0 desktops installed here in our
> corporation. 
> > However, without the local media option available it would take
> > *forever* to complete.  What I have done is download everything per
> the
> > instructions on Ximians site
> >
> (http://support.ximian.com/cgi-bin/ximian.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_sid=wzlx_Lbh&p_lva=&p_faqid=40&p_created=994795178&p_sp=cF9ncmlkc29ydD0mcF9yb3dfY250PTQzJnBfc2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9JnBfcHJvZF9sdmwxPTEwJnBfcGFnZT0x&p_li=),
> > but if you look at the site, you will see there is no section for
> SUSE
> > 9.0.  However, I have made sure I have all the packages listed under
> 8.2
> > installed and I have also downloaded the entire FTP tree structure
> as
> > outlined at the bottom of the article.  
> > 
> > When I launch the XD2 installer, it detects I have SUSE90-i586
> loaded
> > on the desktop, and I click "Next."  At this point I choose "Local
> > Media" and type in the local location of the XD2 setup structure I
> have
> > copied to my local hard drive ("/xd2"), but the "Forward" button
> just
> > remains greyed out.  I cannot move on and I get no indication at all
> why
> > I cannot proceed, which is where I am currently stuck.  As you said,
> the
> > local media option is tricky, but I am hoping I can get this working
> so
> > I can move forward with our pilot linux deployment here.  
> > 
> > Thanks!
> > 
> > >>> Mark Gordon <[email protected]> 5/19/2004 4:04:46 PM >>>
> > On Wed, 2004-05-19 at 15:32 -0400, Jimmy Benson wrote:
> > > I am trying to setup a local media install of XD2 on a SUSE 9.0
> > desktop.
> > >  However, after launching the XD2 installer, and choosing the
> "Local
> > > Media" button, I type in my local XD2 path ("/xd2"), but the
> > "Forward"
> > > button remains greyed out.  Is the local media install option now
> > > available for SUSE 9.0 desktop?  
> > > 
> > > I have downloaded all the necessary files and directories off the
> > FTP
> > > server per Ximian's guidelines.  However, there is no SUSE90-i586
> > > directory under the "redcarpet" directory on their FTP server, so
> I
> > am
> > > curious if this type of install will even work for SUSE 9.0
> desktop.
> > 
> > > Anyone have this working or have an idea why the "Forward" button
> is
> > not
> > > available during the XD2 install?
> > > 
> > > Thanks in advance!
> > 
> > Completely local installs are very tricky.  Describe the scenario,
> and
> > I'll offer my advice on the best way to proceed.  Are you completely
> > network-isolated? Is this mostly a matter of having high bandwidth
> and
> > a
> > CD burner (perhaps under Windows) in one place and wanting to
> install
> > in
> > another place? Is this for a major rollout where you have large
> > numbers
> > of desktops to install, and local media would simply be more
> > efficient?
> > 
> > -Mark Gordon
> _______________________________________________
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