Contents of /trunk/doc/TODO

Important things to do before preview release
=============================================
Following up on Anthony Town's mail "Chaos and Damnation!"
http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2003/debian-boot-200304/msg00067.html
Here's a list of urgent things we need to do before issuing a preview
release.

 * Unbreak netinst CDs
   - Implement support in anna for installing different udebs for different
     installation scenarios. [Martin Sjögren]
   - File bugs on ftp.debian.org to clean up udeb priorities.
   - Decent order of menu items. It sucks to have the netcfg stuff appear
     above anna in the menu.

 * Finish partitioning/mkfs/mkswap/mount migration
   - Create libpartconf for partconf and friends. [Martin Sjögren]
   - Implementing fstab hinting in partconf.

 * cdebconf
   - Too long selection lists are cut short in the text frontend, and never
     show up in the newt frontend. This has to be fixed. Probably a buffer
     overflow somewhere. (#188043)
   - Fix the progress bars to play nicer with debootstrap. (#188243)
   - Fix the space mangling. (#185014)

 * Localization
   - We need a proper fix for the newt frontend borders. TERM=xterm is too
     much of a hack! Yes this is a UTF-8 problem. (#187704)
   - We need a way to discover all/most of the glyphs needed by d-i.
   - We need find a way to load the missing glyphs into the linux
     kernel console. (#188147)

 * HW detection
   - We need to start using module names from kernel 2.4 instead of 2.2.
     The fix is probably to migrate all scripts and programs to discover2.

 * Editor
   - We need a working editor to be able to debug the installer.
   - Nano needs a slang udeb to work (bugs #177405, #186292).
     [Martin Sjögren, done]

 * Give base-installer a progress bar. Needs fixed progress bars.

 * Split off hostname configuration from netcfg.

 * Error handling.  We need to make sure the user is told so when
   something goes wrong.


The old TODO list, out of date (FIXME!)
=======================================

Where we are:

        We have a small chrooted system that is being autobuilt daily.
        A few installations have been accomplished using floppy+net and
        CD on i386.

General things to keep an eye on:

        - All udeb packages should be able to build debug versions if
          DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS="debug".
        - Udebs should not include .md5sum files.
        - Make sure all udebs declare dependencies on everything they
          depend on (this includes depending on ash, busybox, etc). The
          dependency web is pretty spotty right now.
        - Remember to run debconf-updatepo in package's debian/ dir after
          changing original text in English templates so the translations
          get updated and translators can do their work easier.
        - Keep this progress file up-to-date as you complete various parts 
          of it.

Status for different parts of debian-installer.  The numbers are
approximate (as in +/- 50%) and may change in any direction, at any
time.

[0%]     - Not begun
---------------------------------------------------------------------
        - Some kind of a machanism for udebs to declare what parts of
          busybox they need, so we can ensure that all deps are met while
          keeping the busybox footprint small.
          Packages depending on base-installer should use the
          utilities in /target so we can keep busybox's size down.          
        - polish everything so it is actually usable
        - translations
                (Waiting until there is i18n and final text to translate,
                and until we have figured out where the translations go.)
        - user documentation
                (Waiting until we have something to document..)
        - GUI frontend to cdebconf.  There has been talk about using
          gtk-fb as a frontend to cdebconf, but so far nobody has
          actually gotten anything working well.  [Michael Cardenas?]
          some people have talked about using Qtopia as well, but
          AFAIK, no work has been done there.

[30%]   - Might need large rewrites.  Current implementation might
          work by accident
---------------------------------------------------------------------
        - netcfg [David Whedon]
                Working, pending rewrite for IPv6 and multiple devices
                support.
        - busybox integration [Erik Andersen]
                TODO: seems we need touch, head, sort, and wc back on for
                debootstrap.
        - i18n [Denis Barbier, Tollef Fog Heen]
                Works in cdebconf, we need to make sure all templates
                are in UTF8 and make the frontends handle UTF8 in a
                sane way.
        - disk selector, partitioner [Raphael Hertzog, Raphael Hertzog]
                There are two of them, autopartkit and partkit.
                Autopartkit is a bit more advanced ATM.

[60%]   - Needs some work, but does its grunt work
---------------------------------------------------------------------
        - {lilo,grub} installer [Moshe Zadka, Tollef Fog Heen]
                moshez has a preliminary lilo-installer package in
                tools/lilo-installer, and a pre-preliminary grub-installer
                package in grub-installer.  lilo-installer seems to
                work.  grub-installer seems to work.
        - disk formatter
                Formats disks, turns on swap, etc.  mkfs is in udeb
                format, but nothing calls it.  swap is not begun.
        - base system installer [Anthony Towns, Tollef Fog Heen]
                debootstrap is stable, and has quite good support in
                base-installer
        - archive setup
                Mostly done, we probably want to separate testing and
                unstable at some point.
        - cdebconf [Randolph Chung]
                In progress, has multiple working database backends
                and one working text-based frontend, with progress on
                a slang frontend. Quite usable by now.
        - design [Joey Hess, debian-boot]
                80% done. Enough to know what the big pieces are 
                and how they fit together.
        - install media build system [David Whedon]
                We can build chrootable, library-reduced trees. It 
                boots too.  CD-ROM build system might some work.
        - dhcp [Matt Kraai]
                We're using dhclient, but should keep an eye on udhcpc,
                which is smaller.  We need to decide on one dhcp
                client.
         - floppy retriever [Martin Sjögren]
                Seems to work, at least for the time being.

[90%]  - Single missing important feature or bug.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
        - anna (retriever control program) [Martin Sjögren]
                Works, mostly.  Needs support for Releases files.
                Support for signed Release files would be cool, but
                needs gpgv-udeb.
        - main-menu (main menu generator) [Martin Sjögren, Joey Hess]
                - support for multiple provides are missing.
                - what happens when one step fails?
        - choose-mirror [Joey Hess]
                works, needs some polish and merging of ftp/http
                questions.

[100%] - Those shouldn't need to be touched any more 
         (except for wishlist features)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
        - udpkg (tiny dpkg clone) [Randolph Chung, Joey Hess]
                May be replaced with busybox dpkg.
        - cd installs
                Works mostly.
        - kernel-package integration [Herbert Xu]
                Udebs are built automatically; this is well in hand.
        - net retriever [Joey Hess]
                Seems to work.  FTP support missing.
        - cdrom retriever [Raphael Hertzog]
                Working
        - ethdetect [David Whedon]
                Working
        - library reduction
                mklibs.py works, and is packaged, and used by the
                build process.
        - generate treecompare data for each daily build and put or mail it
          somewhere [Joey Hess]
                http://people.debian.org/~joeyh/debian-installer/
        - post-reboot configuration [Joey Hess]
                base-cofig is stable, though stuff may need to be added to
                it to handle things d-i doesn't bother with.  i18n is
                needed.


Maybe, if somebody picks it up:
        - skinnable/themeable installer
1	sjogren	2577	Important things to do before preview release
2			=============================================
3			Following up on Anthony Town's mail "Chaos and Damnation!"
4			http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2003/debian-boot-200304/msg00067.html
5			Here's a list of urgent things we need to do before issuing a preview
6			release.
7
8			* Unbreak netinst CDs
9			- Implement support in anna for installing different udebs for different
10			installation scenarios. [Martin Sjögren]
11			- File bugs on ftp.debian.org to clean up udeb priorities.
12	sjogren	2583	- Decent order of menu items. It sucks to have the netcfg stuff appear
13			above anna in the menu.
14	sjogren	2577
15			* Finish partitioning/mkfs/mkswap/mount migration
16			- Create libpartconf for partconf and friends. [Martin Sjögren]
17			- Implementing fstab hinting in partconf.
18
19			* cdebconf
20			- Too long selection lists are cut short in the text frontend, and never
21			show up in the newt frontend. This has to be fixed. Probably a buffer
22	sjogren	2664	overflow somewhere. (#188043)
23			- Fix the progress bars to play nicer with debootstrap. (#188243)
24	sjogren	2626	- Fix the space mangling. (#185014)
25	sjogren	2577
26			* Localization
27			- We need a proper fix for the newt frontend borders. TERM=xterm is too
28	pere	2668	much of a hack! Yes this is a UTF-8 problem. (#187704)
29			- We need a way to discover all/most of the glyphs needed by d-i.
30			- We need find a way to load the missing glyphs into the linux
31			kernel console. (#188147)
32	sjogren	2577
33	pere	2578	* HW detection
34			- We need to start using module names from kernel 2.4 instead of 2.2.
35			The fix is probably to migrate all scripts and programs to discover2.
36	sjogren	2577
37	pere	2579	* Editor
38			- We need a working editor to be able to debug the installer.
39	sjogren	2745	- Nano needs a slang udeb to work (bugs #177405, #186292).
40			[Martin Sjögren, done]
41	pere	2579
42	sjogren	2582	* Give base-installer a progress bar. Needs fixed progress bars.
43
44	sjogren	2586	* Split off hostname configuration from netcfg.
45	sjogren	2582
46	pere	2668	* Error handling. We need to make sure the user is told so when
47			something goes wrong.
48	sjogren	2582
49	sjogren	2586
50	pere	2668
51	sjogren	2577	The old TODO list, out of date (FIXME!)
52			=======================================
53
54	joeyh	273	Where we are:
55	joeyh	185
56	joeyh	409	We have a small chrooted system that is being autobuilt daily.
57	joeyh	709	A few installations have been accomplished using floppy+net and
58			CD on i386.
59	joeyh	273
60	joeyh	409	General things to keep an eye on:
61
62			- All udeb packages should be able to build debug versions if
63			DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS="debug".
64	joeyh	607	- Udebs should not include .md5sum files.
65	toff	2683	- Make sure all udebs declare dependencies on everything they
66	joeyh	409	depend on (this includes depending on ash, busybox, etc). The
67	toff	2683	dependency web is pretty spotty right now.
68	barbier	2279	- Remember to run debconf-updatepo in package's debian/ dir after
69			changing original text in English templates so the translations
70	andrelop	2277	get updated and translators can do their work easier.
71	joeyh	409	- Keep this progress file up-to-date as you complete various parts
72			of it.
73
74	tfheen	1320	Status for different parts of debian-installer. The numbers are
75			approximate (as in +/- 50%) and may change in any direction, at any
76			time.
77	joeyh	273
78	tfheen	1320	[0%] - Not begun
79			---------------------------------------------------------------------
80	joeyh	615	- Some kind of a machanism for udebs to declare what parts of
81			busybox they need, so we can ensure that all deps are met while
82			keeping the busybox footprint small.
83	tfheen	698	Packages depending on base-installer should use the
84			utilities in /target so we can keep busybox's size down.
85	joeyh	409	- polish everything so it is actually usable
86			- translations
87	joeyh	615	(Waiting until there is i18n and final text to translate,
88			and until we have figured out where the translations go.)
89	joeyh	409	- user documentation
90			(Waiting until we have something to document..)
91	tfheen	1320	- GUI frontend to cdebconf. There has been talk about using
92			gtk-fb as a frontend to cdebconf, but so far nobody has
93			actually gotten anything working well. [Michael Cardenas?]
94	tfheen	1322	some people have talked about using Qtopia as well, but
95			AFAIK, no work has been done there.
96	joeyh	409
97	tfheen	1320	[30%] - Might need large rewrites. Current implementation might
98			work by accident
99			---------------------------------------------------------------------
100			- netcfg [David Whedon]
101			Working, pending rewrite for IPv6 and multiple devices
102			support.
103			- busybox integration [Erik Andersen]
104			TODO: seems we need touch, head, sort, and wc back on for
105			debootstrap.
106			- i18n [Denis Barbier, Tollef Fog Heen]
107			Works in cdebconf, we need to make sure all templates
108			are in UTF8 and make the frontends handle UTF8 in a
109			sane way.
110			- disk selector, partitioner [Raphael Hertzog, Raphael Hertzog]
111			There are two of them, autopartkit and partkit.
112			Autopartkit is a bit more advanced ATM.
113	joeyh	607
114	tfheen	1320	[60%] - Needs some work, but does its grunt work
115			---------------------------------------------------------------------
116			- {lilo,grub} installer [Moshe Zadka, Tollef Fog Heen]
117			moshez has a preliminary lilo-installer package in
118			tools/lilo-installer, and a pre-preliminary grub-installer
119			package in grub-installer. lilo-installer seems to
120			work. grub-installer seems to work.
121	tfheen	1071	- disk formatter
122			Formats disks, turns on swap, etc. mkfs is in udeb
123			format, but nothing calls it. swap is not begun.
124	tfheen	1320	- base system installer [Anthony Towns, Tollef Fog Heen]
125			debootstrap is stable, and has quite good support in
126			base-installer
127			- archive setup
128			Mostly done, we probably want to separate testing and
129			unstable at some point.
130	joeyh	607	- cdebconf [Randolph Chung]
131	tfheen	1320	In progress, has multiple working database backends
132			and one working text-based frontend, with progress on
133			a slang frontend. Quite usable by now.
134			- design [Joey Hess, debian-boot]
135			80% done. Enough to know what the big pieces are
136			and how they fit together.
137			- install media build system [David Whedon]
138			We can build chrootable, library-reduced trees. It
139			boots too. CD-ROM build system might some work.
140	joeyh	615	- dhcp [Matt Kraai]
141			We're using dhclient, but should keep an eye on udhcpc,
142	tfheen	1320	which is smaller. We need to decide on one dhcp
143			client.
144			- floppy retriever [Martin Sjögren]
145			Seems to work, at least for the time being.
146
147			[90%] - Single missing important feature or bug.
148			---------------------------------------------------------------------
149	toff	2683	- anna (retriever control program) [Martin Sjögren]
150	tfheen	1320	Works, mostly. Needs support for Releases files.
151			Support for signed Release files would be cool, but
152			needs gpgv-udeb.
153			- main-menu (main menu generator) [Martin Sjögren, Joey Hess]
154			- support for multiple provides are missing.
155			- what happens when one step fails?
156	joeyh	183	- choose-mirror [Joey Hess]
157	tfheen	1320	works, needs some polish and merging of ftp/http
158			questions.
159	joeyh	132
160	tfheen	1320	[100%] - Those shouldn't need to be touched any more
161			(except for wishlist features)
162			---------------------------------------------------------------------
163	joeyh	409	- udpkg (tiny dpkg clone) [Randolph Chung, Joey Hess]
164	joeyh	607	May be replaced with busybox dpkg.
165	tfheen	1320	- cd installs
166			Works mostly.
167	joeyh	607	- kernel-package integration [Herbert Xu]
168			Udebs are built automatically; this is well in hand.
169	tfheen	1317	- net retriever [Joey Hess]
170	tfheen	1320	Seems to work. FTP support missing.
171	joeyh	615	- cdrom retriever [Raphael Hertzog]
172	tfheen	1071	Working
173	tfheen	659	- ethdetect [David Whedon]
174			Working
175	tfheen	1320	- library reduction
176			mklibs.py works, and is packaged, and used by the
177			build process.
178	joeyh	677	- generate treecompare data for each daily build and put or mail it
179			somewhere [Joey Hess]
180	tfheen	698	http://people.debian.org/~joeyh/debian-installer/
181	tfheen	1320	- post-reboot configuration [Joey Hess]
182			base-cofig is stable, though stuff may need to be added to
183			it to handle things d-i doesn't bother with. i18n is
184			needed.
185	tfheen	734
186	tfheen	1071
187	tfheen	734	Maybe, if somebody picks it up:
188			- skinnable/themeable installer