Contents of /trunk/installer/doc/TODO

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 architectures
                hurd-i386 (we will ship w/o this)
                sh (we will ship w/o this)

[30%] Might need large rewrites. Current implementation might
      work by accident
---------------------------------------------------------------------
        - GUI frontend to cdebconf.
                There are some basic implementations. The trick is to make
                it a GUI that does not suck, while still using debconf
                underneath.
        - ppp support
                  Not as important for analog dialup, as for ISDN, pppoe.

        
[60%] Needs some work, but does its grunt work
---------------------------------------------------------------------
        - I18N
                Mostly done, still filling in minor holes.
        - translations
                Varying languages translated to varying degrees.
                http://people.debian.org/~seppy/d-i/translation-status.html
        - boot loader installers (lilo, grub, etc)
                Work, except for when they don't. See BTS.
        - anna
                Works, mostly.  Needs support for Release files.
                Support for signed Release files would be cool, but
                needs gpgv-udeb.
                Needs to have load-installer properly split out of the anna
                binary to save space on root floppy. Or removed, not used
                anymore.
        - disk selector, partitioner
                We have switched to partman everything except a couple of
                subarches and s390.
        - bugreporter-udeb
                only supports saving to floppy, which many lack
                should offer a way to save via network or to usb stick
        - post-reboot configuration
                base-cofig is stable, though it could use more polish
                i18n is needed.
                Some questions repeat questions from d-i.
        - web site
                http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/
                Could be better laid out, lacking some sections, other
                parts are quite good.
        - archive integration
                No automatic propagation to testing.
                No source propigation for udeb sources!
        - pcmcia support
                Much improved, generally works now.
        - low memory support
                Where "low" is 32-46 mb!
                Works, but user must be careful to set up swap ASAP.
                There is no sanity checking, and some bad failure modes.
                Zboob's patch for ultra-lowmem needs work and is not yet
                integrated.
        - user documentation
                Short term we have the INSTALLATION-HOWTO, but the real
                install manual is still being polished.
        - developer documentation
                We understand it, but casual hackers have a high barrier to
                doing simple things like using a custom kernel.
        - 2.6 support
                Works on i386, with minor bugs.
                Many modules are not included in udebs yet.
                works on powerpc, at least newworld. Testing on
                other subarches needed, especially G5 and oldworld (with
                mkvmlinuz).
        - some architectures
                i386
                ia64
                powerpc
                mips
                        SGI (mips/r4k-ip22 and mips/r5k-ip22)
                                - fix parted's DVH disk labels support (#239371)
                                - install dvhtool
                        Broadcom SWARM (mips/sb1-swarm-bn)
                                - Needs a working boot loader in the archive
                        Documentation, manual
                        XXX the above may be somewhat out of date
                mipsel
                        DECstation (mipsel/r3k-kn02 and mipsel/r4k-kn04)
                                - cannot boot from CD (see end of #241231)
                        Cobalt (mipsel/cobalt)
                                - figure out whether to set link_in_boot=yes
                                  (see trunk/packages/rootskel/debian/templates-arch)
                                - boot has to be ext2 -r 0
                                - support installs via SSH, w/o serial console
                                - boot: use: execute rd_start=0x{initrd-start} rd_size=0x{initrd-size} console=ttyS0,{console-speed}
                                - debconf should output progess on the LCD
                        Documentation, manual
                        XXX the above may be somewhat out of date
                m68k (some subarches)
                alpha
                sparc
                arm (some subarches)
                hppa
                amd64 (unofficial)
                s/390
                        needs ssh support for base-config run

[90%] Single missing important feature or bug.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
        - hw-detect
                Working but needs to be switched over to discover2
        - iso-scan
                Works, but does not flag the disk the iso is mounted from
                as unusable by the rest of the installer.
        - netcfg
                Working, pending rewrite for IPv6.
        - bts
                Still need a non-manual way to tag our bugs.
        - language-chooser
                The perennial problem is how to order/present the list of
                languages. Many complaints, but it works.
        - base system installer
                It can break due to testing package churn. cdebootstrap
                would fix this; also debootstrap/apt/archive changes in
                progress to add Base: overrides to Packages files.

[100%] Those shouldn't need to be touched any more 
       (famous last words)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
        - udpkg
        - cd installs
        - net retriever
        - cdrom retriever
        - ethdetect
        - cdebconf
        - floppy retriever
        - main-menu
        - choose-mirror
        - busybox integration
        - install media build system
        - kernel-package integration
        - library reduction
        - wireless support

Common problems and transitions
===============================

This is a list of common mistakes that need to be corrected throughout the
code base:

  * All debconf commands that INPUT, GO, GET or SET questions should check
    their return value. This is pure evil:

    debconf->command(debconf, "GET", "mirror/suite", NULL); /* unchecked return code ! */
    asprintf(&command, "foo %s", debconf->value);
    system(command);

  * cdebconf's debconfclient.h has a set of macros for calling debconf
    (debconf_get() and so on)
    These should perhaps be used consistently throughout the code for
    clarity.

  * There needs to be a centralised logging method. Syslog will do, but
    we currently have a lot of nasty code that appends messages to
    /var/log/messages directly. All of that would be converted to pipe it
    to logger. However, this is a problem, because piping a command to
    logger loses the exit status of the command. Need some way to run a
    command, logging the ouput to syslog, w/o losing exit status.

  * udebs should not include md5sums files, or postrm, prerm, preinst
    scripts. This includes ones generated by debhelper. Linda will find
    these pretty well.

  * There is no need to set the seen flag anymore. All code that does so
    should be removed, unless that code is expected to also possibly run on
    a normal debian system (choose-mirror).
1	tfheen	1320	Status for different parts of debian-installer. The numbers are
2			approximate (as in +/- 50%) and may change in any direction, at any
3			time.
4	joeyh	273
5	joeyh	5531	[0%] Not begun
6	tfheen	1320	---------------------------------------------------------------------
7	joeyh	5586	- some architectures
8	joeyh	12043	hurd-i386 (we will ship w/o this)
9			sh (we will ship w/o this)
10	joeyh	409
11	joeyh	5669	[30%] Might need large rewrites. Current implementation might
12	joeyh	5531	work by accident
13	tfheen	1320	---------------------------------------------------------------------
14	joeyh	5531	- GUI frontend to cdebconf.
15			There are some basic implementations. The trick is to make
16			it a GUI that does not suck, while still using debconf
17			underneath.
18	joeyh	13965	- ppp support
19			Not as important for analog dialup, as for ISDN, pppoe.
20	joeyh	15590
21
22	joeyh	5531	[60%] Needs some work, but does its grunt work
23	tfheen	1320	---------------------------------------------------------------------
24	joeyh	5531	- I18N
25	joeyh	17927	Mostly done, still filling in minor holes.
26	joeyh	5531	- translations
27			Varying languages translated to varying degrees.
28	joeyh	12043	http://people.debian.org/~seppy/d-i/translation-status.html
29	joeyh	5586	- boot loader installers (lilo, grub, etc)
30	joeyh	5531	Work, except for when they don't. See BTS.
31			- anna
32	joshk-guest	10765	Works, mostly. Needs support for Release files.
33	tfheen	1320	Support for signed Release files would be cool, but
34			needs gpgv-udeb.
35	joeyh	5615	Needs to have load-installer properly split out of the anna
36	joeyh	10321	binary to save space on root floppy. Or removed, not used
37			anymore.
38	joeyh	5531	- disk selector, partitioner
39	joeyh	15590	We have switched to partman everything except a couple of
40	joeyh	17927	subarches and s390.
41	joeyh	12622	- bugreporter-udeb
42			only supports saving to floppy, which many lack
43	joeyh	17927	should offer a way to save via network or to usb stick
44	joeyh	6748	- post-reboot configuration
45	bubulle	13675	base-cofig is stable, though it could use more polish
46	joeyh	12043	i18n is needed.
47			Some questions repeat questions from d-i.
48	joeyh	5531	- web site
49			http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/
50			Could be better laid out, lacking some sections, other
51			parts are quite good.
52	joeyh	5565	- archive integration
53	joeyh	12043	No automatic propagation to testing.
54	bubulle	13675	No source propigation for udeb sources!
55	joeyh	10321	- pcmcia support
56	joeyh	17927	Much improved, generally works now.
57	joeyh	8218	- low memory support
58	joeyh	10131	Where "low" is 32-46 mb!
59	joeyh	8218	Works, but user must be careful to set up swap ASAP.
60			There is no sanity checking, and some bad failure modes.
61	joeyh	17927	Zboob's patch for ultra-lowmem needs work and is not yet
62			integrated.
63	joeyh	12043	- user documentation
64			Short term we have the INSTALLATION-HOWTO, but the real
65			install manual is still being polished.
66			- developer documentation
67			We understand it, but casual hackers have a high barrier to
68			doing simple things like using a custom kernel.
69	joeyh	14114	- 2.6 support
70	cjwatson	16609	Works on i386, with minor bugs.
71			Many modules are not included in udebs yet.
72	joeyh	17927	works on powerpc, at least newworld. Testing on
73	cjwatson	16609	other subarches needed, especially G5 and oldworld (with
74	joeyh	17927	mkvmlinuz).
75	joeyh	5586	- some architectures
76	joeyh	5669	i386
77	joeyh	6748	ia64
78	joeyh	17927	powerpc
79	joeyh	6437	mips
80	tbm	15619	SGI (mips/r4k-ip22 and mips/r5k-ip22)
81			- fix parted's DVH disk labels support (#239371)
82			- install dvhtool
83			Broadcom SWARM (mips/sb1-swarm-bn)
84			- Needs a working boot loader in the archive
85			Documentation, manual
86	joeyh	17927	XXX the above may be somewhat out of date
87	joeyh	14340	mipsel
88	tbm	15619	DECstation (mipsel/r3k-kn02 and mipsel/r4k-kn04)
89			- cannot boot from CD (see end of #241231)
90			Cobalt (mipsel/cobalt)
91			- figure out whether to set link_in_boot=yes
92			(see trunk/packages/rootskel/debian/templates-arch)
93			- boot has to be ext2 -r 0
94			- support installs via SSH, w/o serial console
95			- boot: use: execute rd_start=0x{initrd-start} rd_size=0x{initrd-size} console=ttyS0,{console-speed}
96			- debconf should output progess on the LCD
97			Documentation, manual
98	joeyh	17927	XXX the above may be somewhat out of date
99	joeyh	8944	m68k (some subarches)
100	joeyh	8218	alpha
101	joeyh	11633	sparc
102	joeyh	14340	arm (some subarches)
103	joeyh	15590	hppa
104	joeyh	17927	amd64 (unofficial)
105			s/390
106			needs ssh support for base-config run
107	joeyh	132
108	joeyh	5531	[90%] Single missing important feature or bug.
109	tfheen	1320	---------------------------------------------------------------------
110	joeyh	5565	- hw-detect
111			Working but needs to be switched over to discover2
112	joeyh	10321	- iso-scan
113			Works, but does not flag the disk the iso is mounted from
114			as unusable by the rest of the installer.
115			- netcfg
116			Working, pending rewrite for IPv6.
117	joeyh	5586	- bts
118	joeyh	7843	Still need a non-manual way to tag our bugs.
119	joeyh	12043	- language-chooser
120			The perennial problem is how to order/present the list of
121			languages. Many complaints, but it works.
122			- base system installer
123	cjwatson	14888	It can break due to testing package churn. cdebootstrap
124			would fix this; also debootstrap/apt/archive changes in
125			progress to add Base: overrides to Packages files.
126	joeyh	5531
127			[100%] Those shouldn't need to be touched any more
128	joeyh	5615	(famous last words)
129	joeyh	5531	---------------------------------------------------------------------
130	joeyh	5586	- udpkg
131	tfheen	1320	- cd installs
132	joeyh	5531	- net retriever
133			- cdrom retriever
134			- ethdetect
135			- cdebconf
136	joeyh	5586	- floppy retriever
137			- main-menu
138			- choose-mirror
139			- busybox integration
140	joeyh	10321	- install media build system
141	joeyh	12043	- kernel-package integration
142			- library reduction
143	joeyh	17927	- wireless support
144	joeyh	5565
145	joeyh	5586	Common problems and transitions
146			===============================
147	joeyh	5565
148			This is a list of common mistakes that need to be corrected throughout the
149			code base:
150
151			* All debconf commands that INPUT, GO, GET or SET questions should check
152			their return value. This is pure evil:
153
154	joeyh	8489	debconf->command(debconf, "GET", "mirror/suite", NULL); /* unchecked return code ! */
155	joeyh	5565	asprintf(&command, "foo %s", debconf->value);
156			system(command);
157
158			* cdebconf's debconfclient.h has a set of macros for calling debconf
159			(debconf_get() and so on)
160			These should perhaps be used consistently throughout the code for
161			clarity.
162
163			* There needs to be a centralised logging method. Syslog will do, but
164			we currently have a lot of nasty code that appends messages to
165			/var/log/messages directly. All of that would be converted to pipe it
166			to logger. However, this is a problem, because piping a command to
167			logger loses the exit status of the command. Need some way to run a
168			command, logging the ouput to syslog, w/o losing exit status.
169
170			* udebs should not include md5sums files, or postrm, prerm, preinst
171	joeyh	12043	scripts. This includes ones generated by debhelper. Linda will find
172			these pretty well.
173	joeyh	5586
174	joeyh	12043	* There is no need to set the seen flag anymore. All code that does so
175			should be removed, unless that code is expected to also possibly run on
176			a normal debian system (choose-mirror).