Alan Cox wrote:
Yes. Eye toward the future and i agree. But now that most users (is this true? at least everyone i know) have to download their DVD/CD set from a bittorrent instead of purchasing it in a shrink wrapped box i think the "byte weight" of the distribution is more important then it has been in the past.There are two things that convince me that shrinking it below the 4CD
size we have now is not worthwhile
1. As several people pointed out DVD images are becoming the normal
thing now
2. Providing we keep the situation where you can download CD#1 andI agree with your analysis here in fact this has been my MO for the last 3 fedora releases. My suggestion however is this. Reduce the size of the first CD as much as possible. Instead of making the last CD 350 megs make the first one 350 megs. Put only those packages on the first cd that are required of a "minimal" CLI based install or functional spartan "basic desktop install" (gnome, x.org etc). IMO the first cd of the set should provide only what is required to get both an advanced user (CLI based minimal) and a beginner user (X/Gnome based basic) into the driving seat with network connectivity and functional system devices. The additional downloads that are acquired through yum install or apt-get will use far less bandwidth and make more functional sense. Obviously anyone without network connectivity can still use the entire set of cd's.
do a minimal install the extra CDs are not a drag on broadband
users. The tools would benefit from some better group understanding
but thats a separate issue
First CD contains:
* Basic system and device functionality (kernel, device management, cups, everything like that)
* Network connectivity (including yum/apt)
* X.org and Gnome desktop (possibly KDE if it isnt a huge size hit but if we are embracing gnome as our desktop of choice then i think it is acceptable to put KDE on second CD with xfce and others as popularity dictates)
* Basic accessory set that emphasizes our "first choice" for the functionality (e.g. gThumb and not eye of gnome, GAIM not aMSN, etc)
* Others I am leaving out that you can think of. The point is small while still useful to both power users and new users.
Remaining CD's are assembled like so:
1. Order the applications from most popular to least popular (based on installed base or download numbers from various RPM repos)
2. For each most popular package add the dependencies then proceed to the next most popular package until you fill up each cd. (exceptions can and should be made if it makes sense)
That way the most popular applications are available with a minimal amount of extra CD downloading. As the ease of dependency resolution increases and YUM and apt become more popular everything along these lines just makes sense for the casual users and powers users alike. Maybe this will allow the let's drop KDE argument to disappear. There is no reason (short of compatability work which i now nothing about) that you cant keep it on the other cd's. That way the most popular applications are available with a minimal amount of extra CD downloading. As the ease of dependency resolution increases and YUM and apt become more popular everything along these lines just makes sense for the casual users and powers users alike. Please let me know what you think.
-- Michael Favia Insites Incorporated <www.insitesinc.com>
