Regarding the evolving fedora method of choosing what parts/pieces to install... >From functional, operational, deployment, time and security perspectives it makes sense to provide a mechanism to efficiently and transparently select the right packages for installation. The current method in FC6 and RHEL AS5 beta are inefficient time-wise, as multiple 'selects' of buttons and windows are required to wade through the multitude of package options. Familiarity is presumed on the SysAdmin's part, where in many cases it doesn't exist. Further, there currently are far too many packages that are installed by default that the user has zero opportunity to determine if they want, much less need, and finally, having packages define requirements that are frivolous (such as a package set which REQUIRES a cdwriter package to function; there are other examples). So building a system with 'everything' takes forever to walk through and methodically select every package, just to get all the parts and pieces installed, so they can be examined and researched and decisions made as to what works best for me this time around, for this project. If you are unwilling to give the 'everything' build option back, then provide an out-of-band method to easily and efficiently examine all packages, understand their real intent, function and ability. Building a system for a minimal installation to provide basic unix functionality without 'fluff' is a shot in the dark that will take many many installs to 'get right' based on the current approach. We are in an age where the production enterprise environment MUST be tailored for a minimal exposure to the miscreants, so as to diminish opportunities to exploit vulnerabilities, while at the same time efficiently providing for a robust near-all-encompassing behind-the-scenes development environment, etc.... Bottom line: building a system from the RedHat fedora distro SHOULD be painless and straightforward. I would hope RedHat is methodically evaluating the most efficient, optimal methods to simplify an installation, and especially to provide for variety and diversity in holistic package selection and management in a way that minimizes the waste of time, keystrokes and mouse clicks. Efficiency is from my perspective, and hopefully from yours, too. R, -Joe Wulf, CISSP Senior IA Engineer ProSync Technology Group, LLC
