Re: ark linux - data drive formatted by default

Hmm.. hopefully we'll have some changes in before too long that will prevent 
people from doing a SYSTEM install when they intended to do an EXPRESS 
install.  It really isn't worth debating which option they REALLY chose.. 
bottom line is that choosing 'express' will never perform anything but an 
'Express' install.  I've asked that the devs working on the installer please 
add a nice big warning screen that forces you to type 'SYSTEM' to do a system 
install, since too many people have lost data by going that route.

As for the interview's statements of Ark's stability.. it's completely true.  
Ark *IS* already more stable than some production distributions.  Stability 
doesn't exactly come into play until it's installed, however.. and as you 
could attest, there has been CONSTANT discussions, warnings, rants, etc on 
this very mailing list about the dangers of System installs.

I'm not going to beat you with the 'alpha' bat.  It probably could have gone 
beta long ago.  The installer is really the only issue at the moment, and 
anyone doing 20 minutes worth of homework would find that out.  This of 
course, doesn't make US feel any less bad when someone inadvertantly nukes 
his other partitions, and it doesn't get them their data back any more 
quickly.

We'll own up to our mistakes, and fix them..  and warn people when we find new 
ones.. but if you're not going looking for the warnings, there's only so much 
we can do.

On Monday 12 April 2004 10:21 am, you wrote:
> On Monday 12 April 2004 05:53 am, Luke wrote:
> > This is an alpha release not a beta release, that means it is pre beta ie
> > still in heavy development, please read about what you are installing
> > before installing it. If you have alpha 11 it does explicitly wanr you
> > about wiping all the disk, so im pretty unsure of how you did it without
> > realizing you where doing it.
>
> I had a friend install Ark alpha 11.1 this weekend.  He said that he chose
> "express" (use unformatted space) and it did a "system" (blank the disk)
> install.  It was just a testing Linux box so he didn't lose anything, but
> he was sure he didn't choose the system install.
>
> I haven't gotten around to installing ark 11.1 yet so I can't verify if he
> is right or just mistaken.
>
> Also ... I know alpha means alpha.  BUT, I'm sure people are using Ark
> after the pre-alpha11.1 interview that was posted on several Linux news
> sites.  And it specifically says that Ark "is stable" yet labeled alpha
> because it is only changing core features.
>
> So a little patience with the new people expecting a "stable" system that
> have some problems is called for  (In my opinion, which is worthless, but
> my opinion no the less).
>
> - mark