Sandeep_K_Shandilya@xxxxxxxx wrote:
Hello
-----Original Message-----
From: anaconda-devel-list-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx on behalf of Bill Nottingham
Sent: Mon 3/17/2008 8:13 PM
To: Discussion of Development and Customization of the Red Hat Linux Installer
Subject: Re: [ PATCH ] RFC: Search and load drivers automatically fromusb-storage media
Sandeep_K_Shandilya@xxxxxxxx (Sandeep_K_Shandilya@xxxxxxxx) said:
2) Automatic mounting of partitions with no way to opt-out can lead to
problems
over time
<sandeep> Do you have any specific areas in the anaconda loader that you
are referrring to?
we will anyway unmount the partition after copying the driver updates to
ramfs.
Imagine trying to search 500 SAN partitions for driver updates.
<sandeep> We only search usb-storage devices.
4) What's better about doing this automatically as opposed to actually
having
the user specify that "yes, I have a driver disk"
<Sandeep> Think about it this way, Suppose the drivers with new hardware
support are placed in a utility partition (OEM will prepare this on the
system) on an embedded USB storage device, or thinking a little bit more
into the future the driver may reside on the internet
Dell is already pursuing this and Dell servers to be released in future
may have embedded usb-storage with drivers, diagnostics etc...
Right, but what good does embedded usb-storage with drivers do you for
the next OS release a few months later?
<sandeep>
1. The same is with hardware and firmware which keep upgrading every few months.
2. OEMs like Dell have baselined to, say, version RHEL 5.0 Every time the hardware/firmware changes
which calls for a new driver then we will qualify the new driver and release it on our support
page. It will be a very exhaustive effort to qualify all new drivers for every update that Redhat releases.
3. The Embedded usb-storage could also contain other applications Eg diagnostics and the user to boot into it
to test the hardware on the server.
4. These drivers will be used at install time to recognise new hardware and in the post install phase of anaconda
a dkms rpm (http://linux.dell.com/projects.shtml#dkms) of the driver will be installed. The changes to backend.py
in the patch.
_I_ maintain the computers for a small school; typically our computers
are bought at auction, and they're a pretty mixed lot. It seems Dell was
doing well a few years ago, so most of the computers we've bought in the
past year have been Dell gx240s, gx260s and gx270s.
One thing I really hat is chasing all over the Internet for drivers for
the Dells, the Acers, and the HP-Compaqs we have. Oh, and some whitebox
systems built on Intel motherboards. Since Dell's listening, I
especially don't like it that the drivers are distributed as
self-unpacking exes and that their file names do not (so far as I can
tell) reflect the contents. My idea of an ideal install is I boot the
computer off the LAN, make a few choices and leave it to run.
Linux is better than that, and I will not willingly chase all over the
Internet for Linux drivers. If it doesn't work with standard RHEL5 or
SLE{S,D}10 or Debian or whatever I'm trying to run, then it does not
work at all.
Bill
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Cheers
John
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