Contents of /trunk/installer/doc/TODO

Important things to do before the next beta release
===================================================

  * Get working CD images again.

  * Fix pcmcia suport (in progress, needs testing).
 
  * ftp-master:
        - di-utils-devicesfiles is still in the archive even though it has
          droped from its source package. Should be dropped from packages!
 
  * Update kernel to fix brk() hole? Or document it in release notes.
    (powerpc is fixed)

  * Fix ia64 debian-installer FTBFS.

  * Fix powerpc daily builds.

  * More install testing.

  * See which ports are releasable.

  * Resolve isolinux/syslinux boot problems.
    (Manty plans to test the final images before release.)
  
  * Write release announcement.
 
Probably postoned (again) until after this beta, unless someone gets busy
=========================================================================

  * Progress bar when running mkfs (in partconf). (#201191)

  * Is cfdisk really the best partitioner we can come up with on i386, 
    aside from autopartkit? (Possibly switch to partman..)
  
  * Come up with a way to ask the user if they want to use autopartit,
    even on normal, high-priority installs. Otherwise it's a hidden feature
    that nobody will know about. (Switch to partman may superscede this.)
  
  * Update base-config to integrate better with d-i, and suck less.a
    (base-config 2.0 is almost there, but still duplicates some location
    questions)

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

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

        CD installs to i386 and (some) powerpc are working, with many
        successful installs (and many bugs). A few successes have been
        reported on other architectures such as ia64.
        Some success with other install methods: floppy, USB, netboot, etc.

        debian-installer images are built daily for i386, ia64, powerpc
        (currently broken). This includes CD images.

        debian-installer boot images (i386, powerpc, mips) 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.. (many failure reports)
                - pcmcia-modules are not installed onto the target system
                - pcmcia is not enabled during CD or netboot installs,
                  because pcmcia-cs-udeb has the wrong priority.
                - Probably need to re-run hw-detect after loading pcmcia from
                  the net_driver floppy.
        - some architectures
                alpha
                hppa
                m69k (some subarches)
                        - boots to main menu, no more
                mipsel
                
[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/~barbier/debian-installer/l10n/
        - 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.
        - 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.
        - 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.
        - 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. 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
                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
                ia64
                powerpc (some subarches)
                mips
                        - problems with partitioning, CD images, arcboot
                        - netboot and basic install works, if you know what
                          you're doing

[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
                Needs progress bars.
        - 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.)
        - library reduction
                Still breaking from time to time.       

[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
        - cdebconf
        - dhcp
        - floppy retriever
        - main-menu
        - choose-mirror
        - busybox integration
        - disk formatter

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.
1	joeyh	5910	Important things to do before the next beta release
2			===================================================
3	joeyh	5565
4	joeyh	7277	* Get working CD images again.
5
6	joeyh	7132	* Fix pcmcia suport (in progress, needs testing).
7	joeyh	7243
8			* ftp-master:
9	joeyh	7277	- di-utils-devicesfiles is still in the archive even though it has
10			droped from its source package. Should be dropped from packages!
11	joeyh	7243
12	joeyh	6748	* Update kernel to fix brk() hole? Or document it in release notes.
13	joeyh	7132	(powerpc is fixed)
14	sjogren	2582
15	joeyh	7132	* Fix ia64 debian-installer FTBFS.
16
17			* Fix powerpc daily builds.
18
19	joeyh	6748	* More install testing.
20
21			* See which ports are releasable.
22
23	joeyh	7132	* Resolve isolinux/syslinux boot problems.
24			(Manty plans to test the final images before release.)
25
26	joeyh	6748	* Write release announcement.
27
28			Probably postoned (again) until after this beta, unless someone gets busy
29			=========================================================================
30
31	sesse	5959	* Progress bar when running mkfs (in partconf). (#201191)
32	mckinstry	3629
33	joeyh	5669	* Is cfdisk really the best partitioner we can come up with on i386,
34	joeyh	6437	aside from autopartkit? (Possibly switch to partman..)
35	joeyh	6748
36	joeyh	6054	* Come up with a way to ask the user if they want to use autopartit,
37			even on normal, high-priority installs. Otherwise it's a hidden feature
38	joeyh	7132	that nobody will know about. (Switch to partman may superscede this.)
39	joeyh	6748
40	joeyh	6319	* Update base-config to integrate better with d-i, and suck less.a
41			(base-config 2.0 is almost there, but still duplicates some location
42			questions)
43
44	joeyh	6748	* Error handling. We need to make sure the user is told so when
45			something goes wrong. It's especially bad for debootstrap.
46
47	joeyh	5565	Current status
48			==============
49	joeyh	3469
50	joeyh	5531	CD installs to i386 and (some) powerpc are working, with many
51	joeyh	5859	successful installs (and many bugs). A few successes have been
52			reported on other architectures such as ia64.
53	joeyh	5687	Some success with other install methods: floppy, USB, netboot, etc.
54	joeyh	273
55	joeyh	7243	debian-installer images are built daily for i386, ia64, powerpc
56			(currently broken). This includes CD images.
57	joeyh	5531
58	joeyh	7243	debian-installer boot images (i386, powerpc, mips) are available
59			in the Debian archive, in unstable.
60	joeyh	5531
61	tfheen	1320	Status for different parts of debian-installer. The numbers are
62			approximate (as in +/- 50%) and may change in any direction, at any
63			time.
64	joeyh	273
65	joeyh	5531	[0%] Not begun
66	tfheen	1320	---------------------------------------------------------------------
67	toff	4452	- Some kind of a mechanism for udebs to declare what parts of
68	joeyh	615	busybox they need, so we can ensure that all deps are met while
69			keeping the busybox footprint small.
70	tfheen	698	Packages depending on base-installer should use the
71	joeyh	5531	utilities in /target so we can keep busybox's size down.
72			(We will probably ship without this.)
73			- lintian support for udebs, to catch all the common gotchas
74	joeyh	5565	- ppp support
75			Not as important for analog dialup, as for ISDN, pppoe.
76	joeyh	5669	- wireless support
77			If you're lucky, you may just get a nearby AP by default, but
78			there is no wireless-tools, no way to configure it
79	joeyh	5586	- some architectures
80	joeyh	5531	arm
81			hurd-i386
82			sh
83			s/390
84			sparc
85	joeyh	409
86	joeyh	5669	[30%] Might need large rewrites. Current implementation might
87	joeyh	5531	work by accident
88	tfheen	1320	---------------------------------------------------------------------
89	joeyh	5531	- user documentation
90			Short term we have the INSTALLATION-HOWTO, but the real
91			install manual is still being put together, and lacks a
92			Makefile.
93			- GUI frontend to cdebconf.
94			There are some basic implementations. The trick is to make
95			it a GUI that does not suck, while still using debconf
96			underneath.
97	joeyh	5586	- cdrom-checker
98			apparently broken (#213054)
99	joeyh	5565	- pcmcia support
100	joeyh	6804	- may work, may not.. (many failure reports)
101			- pcmcia-modules are not installed onto the target system
102			- pcmcia is not enabled during CD or netboot installs,
103			because pcmcia-cs-udeb has the wrong priority.
104			- Probably need to re-run hw-detect after loading pcmcia from
105			the net_driver floppy.
106	joeyh	5586	- some architectures
107	joeyh	5531	alpha
108			hppa
109			m69k (some subarches)
110	joeyh	6437	- boots to main menu, no more
111			mipsel
112	joeyh	5531
113			[60%] Needs some work, but does its grunt work
114	tfheen	1320	---------------------------------------------------------------------
115	joeyh	5531	- I18N
116	joeyh	6748	Mostly done, still filling in minor holes.
117	joeyh	5531	- translations
118			Varying languages translated to varying degrees.
119	joeyh	6748	http://people.debian.org/~barbier/debian-installer/l10n/
120	joeyh	5586	- language-chooser
121			The perrenial problem is how to order/present the list of
122			languages. Many complaints, but it works.
123			- boot loader installers (lilo, grub, etc)
124	joeyh	5531	Work, except for when they don't. See BTS.
125			- base system installer
126	tfheen	1320	debootstrap is stable, and has quite good support in
127			base-installer
128	joeyh	5531	Except for when it fails. See BTS.
129			In particular, it always fails when used on a non-empty
130			partition. Many users run into this.
131	joeyh	5586	- netcfg
132	sesse	5959	Working, pending rewrite for IPv6.
133	joeyh	5531	- anna
134	tfheen	1320	Works, mostly. Needs support for Releases files.
135			Support for signed Release files would be cool, but
136			needs gpgv-udeb.
137	joeyh	5615	Needs to have load-installer properly split out of the anna
138			binary to save space on root floppy.
139	joeyh	5531	- kernel-package integration
140			Moving to the new linux-kernel-di system, so far only i386
141			is fully converted.
142			- disk selector, partitioner
143			There are two of them, autopartkit and partkit.
144			partkit needs polish, both work, except for when they
145			don't. (See BTS.)
146	joeyh	5565	- iso-scan
147			Works, but does not flag the disk the iso is mounted from
148			as unusable by the rest of the installer.
149	joeyh	6748	- post-reboot configuration
150			base-cofig is stable, though stuff may need to be added to
151			it to handle things d-i doesn't bother with. i18n is
152			needed. Some questions repeat questions from d-i.
153	joeyh	5531	- web site
154			http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/
155			Could be better laid out, lacking some sections, other
156			parts are quite good.
157	joeyh	5565	- archive integration
158	joeyh	5586	We probably want to separate testing and unstable at some
159			point.
160	joeyh	5565	Only a few arches (i386, powerpc) have boot media in the
161			archive.
162			There is currently no mechanism to promote boot media
163			or udebs from unstable to testing.
164	joeyh	5586	- some architectures
165	joeyh	5669	i386
166	joeyh	6748	ia64
167	joeyh	5531	powerpc (some subarches)
168	joeyh	6437	mips
169			- problems with partitioning, CD images, arcboot
170			- netboot and basic install works, if you know what
171			you're doing
172	joeyh	132
173	joeyh	5531	[90%] Single missing important feature or bug.
174	tfheen	1320	---------------------------------------------------------------------
175	joeyh	5531	- install media build system
176			The mrvn branch needs to be tested and merged.
177			The dest/ image names need to be reorganised.
178	joeyh	5565	- partconf
179	sesse	5959	Needs progress bars.
180	joeyh	5565	- hw-detect
181			Working but needs to be switched over to discover2
182	joeyh	5586	- bts
183			Search for bugs tagged d-i
184			(Still need a non-manual way to tag our bugs.)
185	sesse	5959	- library reduction
186			Still breaking from time to time.
187	joeyh	5531
188			[100%] Those shouldn't need to be touched any more
189	joeyh	5615	(famous last words)
190	joeyh	5531	---------------------------------------------------------------------
191	joeyh	5586	- udpkg
192	joeyh	5531	May be eventually replaced with busybox dpkg.
193	tfheen	1320	- cd installs
194			Works mostly.
195	joeyh	5531	- net retriever
196			- cdrom retriever
197			- ethdetect
198			- cdebconf
199	joeyh	5586	- dhcp
200			- floppy retriever
201			- main-menu
202			- choose-mirror
203			- busybox integration
204	joeyh	6748	- disk formatter
205	joeyh	5565
206	joeyh	5586	Common problems and transitions
207			===============================
208	joeyh	5565
209			This is a list of common mistakes that need to be corrected throughout the
210			code base:
211
212			* All debconf commands that INPUT, GO, GET or SET questions should check
213			their return value. This is pure evil:
214
215			debconf->command(debconf, "GET", "mirror/distribution", NULL); /* unchecked return code ! */
216			asprintf(&command, "foo %s", debconf->value);
217			system(command);
218
219			* Nothing should send error messages to stderr. If there is an error,
220			use debconf to display a message. stderr messages will overwrite the
221			newt frontend.
222
223			* cdebconf's debconfclient.h has a set of macros for calling debconf
224			(debconf_get() and so on)
225			These should perhaps be used consistently throughout the code for
226			clarity.
227
228			* There needs to be a centralised logging method. Syslog will do, but
229			we currently have a lot of nasty code that appends messages to
230			/var/log/messages directly. All of that would be converted to pipe it
231			to logger. However, this is a problem, because piping a command to
232			logger loses the exit status of the command. Need some way to run a
233			command, logging the ouput to syslog, w/o losing exit status.
234
235			* udebs should not include md5sums files, or postrm, prerm, preinst
236			scripts. This includes ones generated by debhelper.
237	joeyh	5586
238			* Use the cdebconf error template type for error messages, instead of
239			note.
240
241			* Most debconf title setting can be replaced with providing the
242			appropriate title template and letting main-menu set it.