OT: Fedora MulitiLiveCD, Current Status?

[Christoph Wickert]

Am Sonntag, den 12.06.2011, 13:55 +0200 schrieb Jan Kratochvil:

> I was trying to push it since 2009:
> 	[Fedora-livecd-list] auto-biarch (x86_64 + i686) LiveDVD patch + ISO
> 	https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-livecd-list/2009-June/msg00018.html
> 	http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Biarch_Spin

And we are very grateful for your work. 

> so when there exists now a releng-approved biarch spin why isn't the default
> "Download" button on http://fedoraproject.org finally the biarch-autodetecting
> spin?  

For various reasons:
      * It is still a new technology and only got a very limited amount
        of testing [1]. It was not tested during the release cycle at
        all but only last minute. Making it default would IMHO be to
        risky.
      * Your biarch spin is a spin of it's own and was never approved by
        the spins SIG. We said we would rather like to see a good tool
        coming out of this than a spin of it's own. If something should
        become default, it should be a biarch version of the desktop
        live CD.
      * Currently we don't have that, we only have a biarch
        installeation DVD and the multi desktop spin. A biarch desktop
        live media was not requested, produced or tested.

If you want biarch as the default, please
     1. make it a F16 feature
     2. get in touch with the different SIGs to discuss the size limit
        and application selection. If we target a biarch desktop live,
        we need to at least have the desktop SIG involved.
     3. make sure it is available for all milestones, this means alpha,
        beta and rc so it gets proper testing.
     4. have a test day for it. I really like to see wider testing of
        the images with bare metal hardware and not only virtualization.

> A biarch single-desktop download would be enough with under 2GB size.

There were various attempts to change the limit of the default download,
but there never was agreement. If we target 2 GB, we should change the
application selection to come close to the limit but not only double 2
700 MB media. If we target 2 GB, people want to see e.g. LibreOffice on
the media.

IHMO biarch is nice for physical media but not for downloads:
As an ambassador I don't need to worry about the arch and only take the
biarch spin to an event. If I am to make media for production, say for a
media in a computer magazine, it is a clear benefit because I can server
all users. But as a user I usually know what I want and only want to
download what I need.

Ja, I really think you have done an awesome job and I appreciate your
work helped me with the multi desktop spin. However I am not sure if it
is already mature enough to become the default download or if this is a
good thing. But if you decide to make a feature of it for F16 I promise
to support you.

Regards,
Christoph



[1]
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Test_Results:Fedora_15_Final_Multi_Boot_DVD