GTK Installer

[mttza1]

Is it possible to add a "LiveCD" graphical front-edn (GTK+ based, with Python and/or C code), similar to ubuntu's Ubiquity?

if not, can ubuquity be ported to work with the remastersys-installer with simple code modifications?

also how easy would it be to edit remastersys-installer's code to add more customization (or less in some areas)?

I feel that a friendly GTK front end similar to ubuntus is necessary for user comfort.

thanks

[fragadelic]

You can't use ubiquity.  Ubiquity is ONLY for ubuntu.

If you want something better, please go ahead and make something better.

The remastersys installer has less steps than the ubuntu one making it simpler.

[mttza1]

I am new to programming, however I am making an effort to learn Python and GTK with Glade. I do not mean to insult the remastersys installer, as I know how much effort must have gone into it. I must say I haven't actually used it yet, however I read it was text-based. I have recently been attempting to work out how the debian-installer works (I assume that the remastersys works on a similar principle, which I assume is copy the compressed filesystem off of the CD, then remove some bits, and install some bits, after configuring APT to use the copyed filesystem rather than the live one, and to use the CD's local APT repository, maybe it uses chroot?). and python seems fairly simple. I would be happy to ATTEMPT to make a GTK front end, but I'd need something to aim for, and a bit (ok a lot) more experiance in python, AND the remastersys-installer.

mttza1

[mttza1]

also I know ubiquity is designed for ubuntu, what I was wondering was weather it could be EDITED, to call remastersys' functions, rarther than debian-installer's.

[fragadelic]

As similar as debian and ubuntu seem, there are some fairly large differences under the hood.

I am in the process of making some changes to the debian installer as it is.  What would you like to see different?  Maybe I can see if I can make those changes.

I finally put some code together to get rid of the timezone stuff and make that a normal gui and that will be in the next version of remastersys for debian.

The reason the installer is the way it is, is due to the fact that it works both in gui mode and text mode.  This is something the ubuntu installer can't do.  What this means is that you can create a cli only version of debian for a server or whatever and can still use the remastersys installer with ncurses dialogs.  I do not want to get away from this and trying to rewrite it in python to have both gui and cli mode would be a large undertaking.

I'm starting to use python and pygtk myself and making the windows manually with direct code within the python script rather than call a glade interface.  The glade interface makes it much easier but then you can't reuse the window and have to keep killing the window and making new ones for each step.

The problem with any method of making the gui nicer is that you will lose the text mode altogether and that is important.

[fragadelic]

I just read that you thought it was text based - that is wrong.  It was never only text based.  It has the ability to be run in both gui and cli easily.

You really should take a look at it before you decide ubiquity is better.  There are less steps in the remastersys installer.

[mttza1]

i must emphasise, I have not actually got round to using remastersys yet. I plan to do so under a Virtual Box enviroment. I readhere:  http://
that

As soon as I finished working on the remastersys-installer which is a very basic text-based installer, I started working on the debian port.  There are many shared ideas and tools between debian and ubuntu so it wasn't all that hard but since no installer was present I waited until I finished it in order for remastersys to be a full service tool for Debian.  This is the only reason it took so long.

sorry if this information is out of date, but not having actually used the installer, I assumed this was accurate.

I know from recent readings on the ubuntu wiki, that they use a tweaked version of debian's installer, that they call d-i. this is a text-based installer, like you see in there server editions and alternate install disks. ubiquity is a python GTK front end for this 'd-i' which basically makes it look nice and feel friendly. when you have the Install link from isolinux.cfg it says something about only running ubiquity, under the standard vmlinuz and init. (I'm not sure what the init does, or ware the filesystem is located, I think this information whold be useful...), and when its launched from the desktop, the option --desktop tells ubiquity that it's not on it's own.

so when Ubuntu want to edit their installer, they edit d-i, but when they want to edit the GTK front-end, they edit ubiquity.

How does the remastersys-installer run a GUI and text front end? Is it two programs, or some adventurous system ive never heard of? I will try to have a look at what youve got now, i must look a right idiot posting sudgestions without ever using your application!

mttza1

[mttza1]

oh, you implied that the debian remastersys-installer is deferent to the ubuntu version, what differences are there. (I would have posted to a universal section had there been one...)

[fragadelic]

Debian's live system scripts are called "live" and Ubuntu's are called "casper"

Each camp diverts certain packages and handles things a bit differently.

The remastersys installer for debian is a single script that does both the gui and cli frontends and it is also the complete backend installer.  Its an all in one deal.

I have no installer for ubuntu since they have ubiquity but I have had many requests as they do not have a cli installer for their live systems.

[mttza1]

on the note of

do not have a cli installer for their live systems

I'm sure that if i read ubuntu's wiki correctly ubuquity is just a front end. This meens that, if cli means text-based, they can just start d-i from isolinux.cfg, can they not? if you looked at the isolinux code off of an alturnate install iso, could you not just copy and past? I seem to remember that the text based installer in ubuntu is called without the kernal or initramfs, but this seems ilogical...

[mttza1]

I am currently reading your capink.html file, and finding it very informative. It's very hard to find decent howto and info on google, and I just stumbled across this page on the remastersystool.html page!

[mttza1]

OMG - gurb in a live CD? where did this idea come from! actually It could be very useful to make live CD's look more like Hard Disk installations... I wunder if grub2 can be used - especially when their fancy menu (themes) become stable...)

[mttza1]

looking at capink.html, you are saying use ubuntu's installer. does this mean that it is possible to use debian's in debian, having been remastered? also is the remastersys written in C, or a 'interperated' (parsed when run, in stead of a full compile) language like python?

[fragadelic]

The capink page is not mine but does a lot of what remastersys does.  I offered to host it for capink from the ubuntu forums.

[mttza1]

You said that those using ubuntu couldn't have a text-based front-end for their installer, well in the Alternate Install CD's text.cfg (included in isolinux.xfg via menu.cfg), the boot menu you see on ubuntu, the following line loads up ubuntu' "debian-installer"'s text front end:

default install
label install
  menu label ^Install Xubuntu
  kernel /install/vmlinuz
  append file=/cdrom/preseed/xubuntu.seed initrd=/install/initrd.gz quiet --

So in this Alternate Install Disk, theyve replaced /casper with /install (i seem to remember the live CD had an /install/ aswell?), and the initrd probably loads the "debian-installer" (ubuntu's version), with custom scripts. with abit of research I think this could be implemented in order to provide this cli you talk about ubuntu not having!

I look at the disk abit more, ive got it open in virtual box now...