netboot

While it isn't an issue at the moment (since we currently only support 
x86/amd64), we are going to run into a problem when we start supporting 
architectures that are netboot-only (like most of MIPS and a lot of SPARC boxes 
out there).

The netboot images used are a kernel bundled with an initrd. This whole thing is 
pulled over BOOTP (or another similar protocol). These images have a size limit 
of ~5MB (atleast on sparc). Due to this size limitation, there is no way to get 
python and parted into these images.

I've talked with ciaranm about this issue. I proposed a NFSROOT for the netboot 
to negate the size issue, but there have been issues getting this to work 
reliably. He said that Debian has tried it on sparc unsuccessfully and Gentoo 
has gotten it to work on a few test boxes but not correctly on users' boxes. 
Being ciaranm, he wants us to rewrite the entire thing in bash and use fdisk 
instead of parted. Apparently, this is his idea of a joke :)

-- 
Andrew Gaffney
Gentoo Linux Developer
Installer Project