Contents of /trunk/installer/doc/TODO

This TODO list can only touch on some larger issues, but there are a great
many open bugs on various components of the installer. See all bugs tagged
d-i in the BTS. Also, there are many unprocessed installation-reports bugs.


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-config 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 propagation for udeb sources!
        - pcmcia support
                Much improved, generally works now.
                Automatic PCI resource range exclusion based on probing
                still needed, work in progress.
        - 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
                Installation manual is up-to-date for i386.
                Needs sanity checking for other architectures.
                Translations need updates.
        - 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.
                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
                        lowmem issues
                        On its first release, probably still some problems.

[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	joeyh	18889	This TODO list can only touch on some larger issues, but there are a great
2			many open bugs on various components of the installer. See all bugs tagged
3			d-i in the BTS. Also, there are many unprocessed installation-reports bugs.
4
5
6	tfheen	1320	Status for different parts of debian-installer. The numbers are
7			approximate (as in +/- 50%) and may change in any direction, at any
8			time.
9	joeyh	273
10	joeyh	5531	[0%] Not begun
11	tfheen	1320	---------------------------------------------------------------------
12	joeyh	5586	- some architectures
13	joeyh	12043	hurd-i386 (we will ship w/o this)
14			sh (we will ship w/o this)
15	joeyh	409
16	joeyh	5669	[30%] Might need large rewrites. Current implementation might
17	joeyh	5531	work by accident
18	tfheen	1320	---------------------------------------------------------------------
19	joeyh	5531	- GUI frontend to cdebconf.
20			There are some basic implementations. The trick is to make
21			it a GUI that does not suck, while still using debconf
22			underneath.
23	joeyh	13965	- ppp support
24			Not as important for analog dialup, as for ISDN, pppoe.
25	joeyh	15590
26
27	joeyh	5531	[60%] Needs some work, but does its grunt work
28	tfheen	1320	---------------------------------------------------------------------
29	joeyh	5531	- I18N
30	joeyh	17927	Mostly done, still filling in minor holes.
31	joeyh	5531	- translations
32			Varying languages translated to varying degrees.
33	joeyh	12043	http://people.debian.org/~seppy/d-i/translation-status.html
34	joeyh	5586	- boot loader installers (lilo, grub, etc)
35	joeyh	5531	Work, except for when they don't. See BTS.
36			- anna
37	joshk-guest	10765	Works, mostly. Needs support for Release files.
38	tfheen	1320	Support for signed Release files would be cool, but
39			needs gpgv-udeb.
40	joeyh	5615	Needs to have load-installer properly split out of the anna
41	joeyh	10321	binary to save space on root floppy. Or removed, not used
42			anymore.
43	joeyh	5531	- disk selector, partitioner
44	joeyh	15590	We have switched to partman everything except a couple of
45	joeyh	17927	subarches and s390.
46	joeyh	12622	- bugreporter-udeb
47			only supports saving to floppy, which many lack
48	joeyh	17927	should offer a way to save via network or to usb stick
49	joeyh	6748	- post-reboot configuration
50	kraai	18910	base-config is stable, though it could use more polish
51	joeyh	12043	i18n is needed.
52			Some questions repeat questions from d-i.
53	joeyh	5531	- web site
54			http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/
55			Could be better laid out, lacking some sections, other
56			parts are quite good.
57	joeyh	5565	- archive integration
58	joeyh	12043	No automatic propagation to testing.
59	kraai	18910	No source propagation for udeb sources!
60	joeyh	10321	- pcmcia support
61	joeyh	17927	Much improved, generally works now.
62	joeyh	18889	Automatic PCI resource range exclusion based on probing
63			still needed, work in progress.
64	joeyh	8218	- low memory support
65	joeyh	10131	Where "low" is 32-46 mb!
66	joeyh	8218	Works, but user must be careful to set up swap ASAP.
67			There is no sanity checking, and some bad failure modes.
68	joeyh	17927	Zboob's patch for ultra-lowmem needs work and is not yet
69			integrated.
70	joeyh	12043	- user documentation
71	joeyh	18889	Installation manual is up-to-date for i386.
72			Needs sanity checking for other architectures.
73	kraai	18910	Translations need updates.
74	joeyh	12043	- developer documentation
75			We understand it, but casual hackers have a high barrier to
76			doing simple things like using a custom kernel.
77	joeyh	14114	- 2.6 support
78	cjwatson	16609	Works on i386, with minor bugs.
79	joeyh	18889	Works on powerpc, at least newworld. Testing on
80	cjwatson	16609	other subarches needed, especially G5 and oldworld (with
81	joeyh	17927	mkvmlinuz).
82	joeyh	5586	- some architectures
83	joeyh	5669	i386
84	joeyh	6748	ia64
85	joeyh	17927	powerpc
86	joeyh	6437	mips
87	tbm	15619	SGI (mips/r4k-ip22 and mips/r5k-ip22)
88			- fix parted's DVH disk labels support (#239371)
89			- install dvhtool
90			Broadcom SWARM (mips/sb1-swarm-bn)
91			- Needs a working boot loader in the archive
92			Documentation, manual
93	joeyh	17927	XXX the above may be somewhat out of date
94	joeyh	14340	mipsel
95	tbm	15619	DECstation (mipsel/r3k-kn02 and mipsel/r4k-kn04)
96			- cannot boot from CD (see end of #241231)
97			Cobalt (mipsel/cobalt)
98			- figure out whether to set link_in_boot=yes
99			(see trunk/packages/rootskel/debian/templates-arch)
100			- boot has to be ext2 -r 0
101			- support installs via SSH, w/o serial console
102			- boot: use: execute rd_start=0x{initrd-start} rd_size=0x{initrd-size} console=ttyS0,{console-speed}
103			- debconf should output progess on the LCD
104			Documentation, manual
105	joeyh	17927	XXX the above may be somewhat out of date
106	joeyh	8944	m68k (some subarches)
107	joeyh	8218	alpha
108	joeyh	11633	sparc
109	joeyh	14340	arm (some subarches)
110	joeyh	15590	hppa
111	joeyh	17927	amd64 (unofficial)
112			s/390
113	joeyh	18889	lowmem issues
114			On its first release, probably still some problems.
115	joeyh	132
116	joeyh	5531	[90%] Single missing important feature or bug.
117	tfheen	1320	---------------------------------------------------------------------
118	joeyh	5565	- hw-detect
119			Working but needs to be switched over to discover2
120	joeyh	10321	- iso-scan
121			Works, but does not flag the disk the iso is mounted from
122			as unusable by the rest of the installer.
123			- netcfg
124			Working, pending rewrite for IPv6.
125	joeyh	5586	- bts
126	joeyh	7843	Still need a non-manual way to tag our bugs.
127	joeyh	12043	- language-chooser
128			The perennial problem is how to order/present the list of
129			languages. Many complaints, but it works.
130			- base system installer
131	cjwatson	14888	It can break due to testing package churn. cdebootstrap
132			would fix this; also debootstrap/apt/archive changes in
133			progress to add Base: overrides to Packages files.
134	joeyh	5531
135			[100%] Those shouldn't need to be touched any more
136	joeyh	5615	(famous last words)
137	joeyh	5531	---------------------------------------------------------------------
138	joeyh	5586	- udpkg
139	tfheen	1320	- cd installs
140	joeyh	5531	- net retriever
141			- cdrom retriever
142			- ethdetect
143			- cdebconf
144	joeyh	5586	- floppy retriever
145			- main-menu
146			- choose-mirror
147			- busybox integration
148	joeyh	10321	- install media build system
149	joeyh	12043	- kernel-package integration
150			- library reduction
151	joeyh	17927	- wireless support
152	joeyh	5565
153	joeyh	5586	Common problems and transitions
154			===============================
155	joeyh	5565
156			This is a list of common mistakes that need to be corrected throughout the
157			code base:
158
159			* All debconf commands that INPUT, GO, GET or SET questions should check
160			their return value. This is pure evil:
161
162	joeyh	8489	debconf->command(debconf, "GET", "mirror/suite", NULL); /* unchecked return code ! */
163	joeyh	5565	asprintf(&command, "foo %s", debconf->value);
164			system(command);
165
166			* cdebconf's debconfclient.h has a set of macros for calling debconf
167			(debconf_get() and so on)
168			These should perhaps be used consistently throughout the code for
169			clarity.
170
171			* There needs to be a centralised logging method. Syslog will do, but
172			we currently have a lot of nasty code that appends messages to
173			/var/log/messages directly. All of that would be converted to pipe it
174			to logger. However, this is a problem, because piping a command to
175			logger loses the exit status of the command. Need some way to run a
176			command, logging the ouput to syslog, w/o losing exit status.
177
178			* udebs should not include md5sums files, or postrm, prerm, preinst
179	joeyh	12043	scripts. This includes ones generated by debhelper. Linda will find
180			these pretty well.
181	joeyh	5586
182	joeyh	12043	* There is no need to set the seen flag anymore. All code that does so
183			should be removed, unless that code is expected to also possibly run on
184			a normal debian system (choose-mirror).