Contents of /trunk/installer/doc/TODO

Important things to do before preview release
=============================================

Here's a list of urgent things we need to do before issuing a preview
release.

  * Get the load-* stuff out of NEW.

  * Fix mkreiserfs to not hang. (#213314)

  * Finish the libdebian-installer transition, get a working install again.
    (Done or nearly so.)

  * Error handling.  We need to make sure the user is told so when
    something goes wrong. It's especially bad for debootstrap.

  * Progress bar when running mkfs.

  * bogl-term refresh problem

  * Is cfdisk really the best partitioner we can come up with on i386, 
    aside from autopartkit?

  * Get some new successful CD installation reports with builds newer than
    the Oct 8th build.

  * Update the web site to include user docs, including links to download
    boot media.

Current status
==============

        CD installs to i386 and (some) powerpc are working, with many
        successful installs (and many bugs).
        Some success with other install methods: floppy, netboot, etc.

        debian-installer images are built daily for i386, powerpc.
        This includes CD images.

        debian-installer boot images (i386, powerpc) are available in
        the Debian archive, in unstable.
        
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 mechanism 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.
          (We will probably ship without this.)
        - lintian support for udebs, to catch all the common gotchas
        - ppp support
          Not as important for analog dialup, as for ISDN, pppoe.
        - wireless support
          If you're lucky, you may just get a nearby AP by default, but
          there is no wireless-tools, no way to configure it
        - some architectures
                arm
                hurd-i386
                sh
                s/390
                sparc

[30%] Might need large rewrites. Current implementation might
      work by accident
---------------------------------------------------------------------
        - user documentation
                Short term we have the INSTALLATION-HOWTO, but the real
                install manual is still being put together, and lacks a
                Makefile.
        - 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.
        - cdrom-checker
                apparently broken (#213054)
        - pcmcia support
                may work, may not..
                pcmcia-modules are not installed onto the target 
                pcmcia-cs-udeb has a broken (reduced?) pcmcia config
                which makes it not work with eg, orinoco
                Probably need to re-run hw-detect after loading pcmcia from
                the net_driver floppy.
        - some architectures
                alpha
                hppa
                ia64
                m69k (some subarches)
                mips, mipsel
                
[60%] Needs some work, but does its grunt work
---------------------------------------------------------------------
        - I18N
                Mostly there.
                Still working on various things such as moving menu items
                into debconf.
        - translations
                Varying languages translated to varying degrees.
        - language-chooser
                The perrenial problem is how to order/present the list of
                languages. Many complaints, but it works.
        - boot loader installers (lilo, grub, etc)
                Work, except for when they don't. See BTS.
        - disk formatter
                Works, except for reiserfs hang prolem.
        - base system installer
                debootstrap is stable, and has quite good support in
                base-installer
                Except for when it fails. See BTS.
                In particular, it always fails when used on a non-empty
                partition. Many users run into this.
        - netcfg
                Working, pending rewrite for IPv6 and multiple devices
                support.
        - anna
                Works, mostly.  Needs support for Releases 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.
        - kernel-package integration
                Moving to the new linux-kernel-di system, so far only i386
                is fully converted.
        - disk selector, partitioner
                There are two of them, autopartkit and partkit.
                partkit needs polish, both work, except for when they
                don't. (See BTS.)
        - iso-scan
                Works, but does not flag the disk the iso is mounted from
                as unusable by the rest of the installer.
        - web site
                http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/
                Could be better laid out, lacking some sections, other
                parts are quite good.
        - archive integration
                We probably want to separate testing and unstable at some
                point.
                Only a few arches (i386, powerpc) have boot media in the
                archive.
                There is currently no mechanism to promote boot media
                or udebs from unstable to testing.
        - some architectures
                i386
                powerpc (some subarches)

[90%] Single missing important feature or bug.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
        - install media build system
                The mrvn branch needs to be tested and merged.
                The dest/ image names need to be reorganised.
        - partconf
                Reiserfs hangs, in interactive mode.
        - hw-detect
                Working but needs to be switched over to discover2
        - bts
                Search for bugs tagged d-i
                (Still need a non-manual way to tag our bugs.)

[100%] Those shouldn't need to be touched any more 
       (famous last words)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
        - udpkg
                May be eventually replaced with busybox dpkg.
        - cd installs
                Works mostly.
        - net retriever
        - cdrom retriever
        - ethdetect
        - library reduction
                Working (on all arches?)
        - post-reboot configuration
                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.
                Integration with debian installer's debconf database still
                needs to be done, although the current ugly system works.
        - cdebconf
        - dhcp
        - floppy retriever
        - main-menu
        - choose-mirror
        - busybox integration

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

  * Nothing should send error messages to stderr. If there is an error,
    use debconf to display a message. stderr messages will overwrite the
    newt frontend.

  * 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.

  * Use the cdebconf error template type for error messages, instead of
    note.
  
  * Most debconf title setting can be replaced with providing the
    appropriate title template and letting main-menu set it.

  * Some main menu items still need to be updated to provide menu entry
    templates.
1	sjogren	2577	Important things to do before preview release
2			=============================================
3	joeyh	5565
4	sjogren	2577	Here's a list of urgent things we need to do before issuing a preview
5			release.
6
7	joeyh	5669	* Get the load-* stuff out of NEW.
8	sjogren	2577
9	joeyh	5565	* Fix mkreiserfs to not hang. (#213314)
10	sjogren	2577
11	joeyh	5565	* Finish the libdebian-installer transition, get a working install again.
12			(Done or nearly so.)
13	pere	3281
14	joeyh	5565	* Error handling. We need to make sure the user is told so when
15			something goes wrong. It's especially bad for debootstrap.
16	sjogren	2582
17	joeyh	5565	* Progress bar when running mkfs.
18	mckinstry	3629
19	joeyh	5565	* bogl-term refresh problem
20	joeyh	3469
21	joeyh	5669	* Is cfdisk really the best partitioner we can come up with on i386,
22			aside from autopartkit?
23
24	joeyh	5565	* Get some new successful CD installation reports with builds newer than
25			the Oct 8th build.
26	joeyh	3469
27	joeyh	5565	* Update the web site to include user docs, including links to download
28			boot media.
29	joeyh	3469
30	joeyh	5565	Current status
31			==============
32	joeyh	3469
33	joeyh	5531	CD installs to i386 and (some) powerpc are working, with many
34			successful installs (and many bugs).
35			Some success with other install methods: floppy, netboot, etc.
36	joeyh	273
37	joeyh	5669	debian-installer images are built daily for i386, powerpc.
38	joeyh	5531	This includes CD images.
39
40	joeyh	5669	debian-installer boot images (i386, powerpc) are available in
41	joeyh	5565	the Debian archive, in unstable.
42	joeyh	5531
43	tfheen	1320	Status for different parts of debian-installer. The numbers are
44			approximate (as in +/- 50%) and may change in any direction, at any
45			time.
46	joeyh	273
47	joeyh	5531	[0%] Not begun
48	tfheen	1320	---------------------------------------------------------------------
49	toff	4452	- Some kind of a mechanism for udebs to declare what parts of
50	joeyh	615	busybox they need, so we can ensure that all deps are met while
51			keeping the busybox footprint small.
52	tfheen	698	Packages depending on base-installer should use the
53	joeyh	5531	utilities in /target so we can keep busybox's size down.
54			(We will probably ship without this.)
55			- lintian support for udebs, to catch all the common gotchas
56	joeyh	5565	- ppp support
57			Not as important for analog dialup, as for ISDN, pppoe.
58	joeyh	5669	- wireless support
59			If you're lucky, you may just get a nearby AP by default, but
60			there is no wireless-tools, no way to configure it
61	joeyh	5586	- some architectures
62	joeyh	5531	arm
63			hurd-i386
64			sh
65			s/390
66			sparc
67	joeyh	409
68	joeyh	5669	[30%] Might need large rewrites. Current implementation might
69	joeyh	5531	work by accident
70	tfheen	1320	---------------------------------------------------------------------
71	joeyh	5531	- user documentation
72			Short term we have the INSTALLATION-HOWTO, but the real
73			install manual is still being put together, and lacks a
74			Makefile.
75			- GUI frontend to cdebconf.
76			There are some basic implementations. The trick is to make
77			it a GUI that does not suck, while still using debconf
78			underneath.
79	joeyh	5586	- cdrom-checker
80			apparently broken (#213054)
81	joeyh	5565	- pcmcia support
82	joeyh	5669	may work, may not..
83			pcmcia-modules are not installed onto the target
84			pcmcia-cs-udeb has a broken (reduced?) pcmcia config
85			which makes it not work with eg, orinoco
86			Probably need to re-run hw-detect after loading pcmcia from
87			the net_driver floppy.
88	joeyh	5586	- some architectures
89	joeyh	5531	alpha
90			hppa
91			ia64
92			m69k (some subarches)
93			mips, mipsel
94
95			[60%] Needs some work, but does its grunt work
96	tfheen	1320	---------------------------------------------------------------------
97	joeyh	5531	- I18N
98			Mostly there.
99			Still working on various things such as moving menu items
100			into debconf.
101			- translations
102			Varying languages translated to varying degrees.
103	joeyh	5586	- language-chooser
104			The perrenial problem is how to order/present the list of
105			languages. Many complaints, but it works.
106			- boot loader installers (lilo, grub, etc)
107	joeyh	5531	Work, except for when they don't. See BTS.
108	tfheen	1071	- disk formatter
109	joeyh	5586	Works, except for reiserfs hang prolem.
110	joeyh	5531	- base system installer
111	tfheen	1320	debootstrap is stable, and has quite good support in
112			base-installer
113	joeyh	5531	Except for when it fails. See BTS.
114			In particular, it always fails when used on a non-empty
115			partition. Many users run into this.
116	joeyh	5586	- netcfg
117	joeyh	5531	Working, pending rewrite for IPv6 and multiple devices
118			support.
119			- anna
120	tfheen	1320	Works, mostly. Needs support for Releases files.
121			Support for signed Release files would be cool, but
122			needs gpgv-udeb.
123	joeyh	5615	Needs to have load-installer properly split out of the anna
124			binary to save space on root floppy.
125	joeyh	5531	- kernel-package integration
126			Moving to the new linux-kernel-di system, so far only i386
127			is fully converted.
128			- disk selector, partitioner
129			There are two of them, autopartkit and partkit.
130			partkit needs polish, both work, except for when they
131			don't. (See BTS.)
132	joeyh	5565	- iso-scan
133			Works, but does not flag the disk the iso is mounted from
134			as unusable by the rest of the installer.
135	joeyh	5531	- web site
136			http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/
137			Could be better laid out, lacking some sections, other
138			parts are quite good.
139	joeyh	5565	- archive integration
140	joeyh	5586	We probably want to separate testing and unstable at some
141			point.
142	joeyh	5565	Only a few arches (i386, powerpc) have boot media in the
143			archive.
144			There is currently no mechanism to promote boot media
145			or udebs from unstable to testing.
146	joeyh	5586	- some architectures
147	joeyh	5669	i386
148	joeyh	5531	powerpc (some subarches)
149	joeyh	132
150	joeyh	5531	[90%] Single missing important feature or bug.
151	tfheen	1320	---------------------------------------------------------------------
152	joeyh	5531	- install media build system
153			The mrvn branch needs to be tested and merged.
154			The dest/ image names need to be reorganised.
155	joeyh	5565	- partconf
156			Reiserfs hangs, in interactive mode.
157			- hw-detect
158			Working but needs to be switched over to discover2
159	joeyh	5586	- bts
160			Search for bugs tagged d-i
161			(Still need a non-manual way to tag our bugs.)
162	joeyh	5531
163			[100%] Those shouldn't need to be touched any more
164	joeyh	5615	(famous last words)
165	joeyh	5531	---------------------------------------------------------------------
166	joeyh	5586	- udpkg
167	joeyh	5531	May be eventually replaced with busybox dpkg.
168	tfheen	1320	- cd installs
169			Works mostly.
170	joeyh	5531	- net retriever
171			- cdrom retriever
172			- ethdetect
173	tfheen	1320	- library reduction
174	joeyh	5531	Working (on all arches?)
175			- post-reboot configuration
176	tfheen	1320	base-cofig is stable, though stuff may need to be added to
177	joeyh	5531	it to handle things d-i doesn't bother with. i18n is
178	tfheen	1320	needed.
179	joeyh	5531	Integration with debian installer's debconf database still
180			needs to be done, although the current ugly system works.
181			- cdebconf
182	joeyh	5586	- dhcp
183			- floppy retriever
184			- main-menu
185			- choose-mirror
186			- busybox integration
187	joeyh	5565
188	joeyh	5586	Common problems and transitions
189			===============================
190	joeyh	5565
191			This is a list of common mistakes that need to be corrected throughout the
192			code base:
193
194			* All debconf commands that INPUT, GO, GET or SET questions should check
195			their return value. This is pure evil:
196
197			debconf->command(debconf, "GET", "mirror/distribution", NULL); /* unchecked return code ! */
198			asprintf(&command, "foo %s", debconf->value);
199			system(command);
200
201			* Nothing should send error messages to stderr. If there is an error,
202			use debconf to display a message. stderr messages will overwrite the
203			newt frontend.
204
205			* cdebconf's debconfclient.h has a set of macros for calling debconf
206			(debconf_get() and so on)
207			These should perhaps be used consistently throughout the code for
208			clarity.
209
210			* There needs to be a centralised logging method. Syslog will do, but
211			we currently have a lot of nasty code that appends messages to
212			/var/log/messages directly. All of that would be converted to pipe it
213			to logger. However, this is a problem, because piping a command to
214			logger loses the exit status of the command. Need some way to run a
215			command, logging the ouput to syslog, w/o losing exit status.
216
217			* udebs should not include md5sums files, or postrm, prerm, preinst
218			scripts. This includes ones generated by debhelper.
219	joeyh	5586
220			* Use the cdebconf error template type for error messages, instead of
221			note.
222
223			* Most debconf title setting can be replaced with providing the
224			appropriate title template and letting main-menu set it.
225
226			* Some main menu items still need to be updated to provide menu entry
227			templates.