Again, I wasn't trying to put down anybody, so I apologize if it was taken that way. I guess what I was trying to say, and you're actually confirming, is yes, while RedHat has updated the install for their needs they have not really "productized" it and have put far less effort into making it usable (read usable for custom installs) for their customers. In that sense, it seems "forgotten". And that is the real point I guess. RedHat is selling a product. If RedHat wants their product to "win" against the other OS'es then they need to make a product that is easy to install in large enterprises. The tools in question if documented and made more flexible would greatly aid in the proliferation of RedHat in the enterprise. As it is it's a struggle to build comprehensive custimized installs for large sites. Still, they are useful products and I appreciate the effort that has gone into them. I just think it needs to be more accessible. However, as I said before, since I'm not offering to do the work it's easy for me to say. - Matt Erik Troan wrote: > > On Tue, 13 Nov 2001 10:27:03 -0500 > "Matt Fahrner" <Matt.Fahrner@xxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > This is not to put down the developers in any way, but Kickstart, the > > anaconda install, and RPMs all seem like forgotten children of RedHat. > > I have to dispute this. These tools continue to evolve to meet the internal > needs of Red Hat, which is what they've always been for. Anaconda is actually > realtaively new and has had some major overhauls since its first release (7.2 > being the most recent). Kickstart also gets enhanced, but it has some legacy > issues (many of them thanks to poor planning on my part) that folks are still > stuck with. > > Please remember the Red Hat Linux, just like other open source projects, is > a collaborative process. The scripts for building CD's are written primarly > for internal use, and we give them to our users because they provide a good > starting point. We'd welcome enhancements or documentation to them, and would > be happy to include such changes. While they look quite crude, they are > actually much more sophisticated then the scripts we used in the "old days" > which were never distributed. Building custom boot disks is similiar. The > process is unwieldy, and we've never built tools for it because we never have > to do it internally. It would be very nice to have scripts that would let > mere mortals (like myself!) build custom boot disks, and I'll answer any > questions that would help someone get this done. > > > The problem is with the growing use in large enterprises, this is > > exactly the sort of area that is most critical. Half of the battle is > > the install, and large companies need to do lots of them on diverse > > platforms with consistent results. > > We actually get very few complaints regarding our install from large > enterprises. There are a few things they don't like which we continue to > address, and many of the enhancements in other parts of the operating system > are motivated by their concerns. > > None of this is to imply we're perfect; obviously, anaconda continues to need > changes, enhancements and documentation. We can't do anything, and we do > prioritize based on our perceptions of the needs of our user base. Extensive > customization of the install just isn't a high priority for most of our users. > > Erik > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > | "Amazingly, there are significant numbers of 30-something women now who | > | want to learn how to box - something that most sensible American men gave | > | up years ago." - New York Times Magazine | > > _______________________________________________ > Kickstart-list mailing list > Kickstart-list@xxxxxxxxxx > https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/kickstart-list -- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Matt Fahrner 2 South Park St. Manager of Networking Willis House Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Lebanon, N.H. 03766 TEL: (603) 448-4100 xt 5150 USA FAX: (603) 443-6190 Matt.Fahrner@xxxxxxxx ---------------------------------------------------------------------
