Plan of Record for Fedora 22 Network Install Media

[M. Edward (Ed) Borasky]

On Fri, Jan 23, 2015 at 2:24 PM, Stephen Gallagher <sgallagh at redhat.com> wrote:
> (Cross-posted to the WG mailing lists; please reply only to devel@)
>
> == Overview ==
>
> Today in #anaconda, we had a discussion of the plans for network install
> media for Fedora 22. We acknowledged that the network install (and more
> generally, unattended installation) story in Fedora 21 was somewhat
> lacking. In particular, there was user confusion around how to deploy
> Fedora Workstation in an unattended manner.
>
> Some of the problems we faced in Fedora 21 were a result of not having
> necessary plumbing in Anaconda (largely because we didn't even realize
> this until well into Beta phase, at which point we just started breaking
> out the duct tape and chewing gum). In particular, we needed a way for
> individual Fedora editions to provide a mechanism for specifying
> different defaults (such as automatic partitioning rules or the default
> environment group that would be displayed in an attended install).
> Without these things, while we could produce media with separate
> graphical branding, we couldn't truly produce separate network installs
> for Cloud, Server and Workstation. So we settled on producing only the
> Server network install media.
>
> == Output ==
>
> In Fedora 22, we will be producing four network install ISOs:
>  * Fedora Server
>   - Server branding
>   - Default environment group: Fedora Server
>   - Auto-partitioning defaults: LVM on XFS (except /boot)
>   - Responsible WG: Server WG
>  * Fedora Workstation
>   - Workstation branding
>   - Default environment group: Fedora Workstation
>   - Auto-partitioning defaults: LVM on EXT4
>   - Responsible WG: Workstation WG
>  * Fedora Cloud
>   - Cloud branding
>   - Default environment group: Fedora Cloud
>   - Auto-partitioning defaults: TBD
>   - Responsible WG: Cloud WG
>  * Fedora "Generic" (name TBD)
>   - Generic Fedora branding
>   - Default environment group: minimal
>   - Auto-partitioning defaults: TBD
>   - Responsible WG: Base WG
>
> In addition, there is ongoing discussion around media for bare-metal
> Fedora Atomic installations. This has not been finalized, but will
> likely result in an additional output.
>
> While each of these network installs will be *capable* of also
> installing any of the other products (though possibly not with the
> expected auto-paritioning), we have agreed that QA testing will only be
> performed on the intended environment group target for the branded
> media. We will not advertise or make any special effort to support other
> targets.
>
>
> == Remaining work that needs to be done ==
>
> Release engineering will need to modify their compose tools to produce
> each of these install trees, as well as handling the necessary mirroring
> functions.
>
> The working groups responsible for each of these install media will be
> responsible for performing the following tasks before the Alpha Freeze
> (ideally well before, so we can run test composes and fix issues without
> slipping):
>
>  * Modify the appropriate fedora-productimg-$PRODUCT package to include
> an anaconda extension model that will extend the InstallClass and set
> the default environment group and optionally modify the
> auto-partitioning functionality.
>  * Review the contents of comps-f22.xml.in and the related kickstart
> files in spin-kickstarts to ensure that the install media contains the
> appropriate content.
>
> For simplicity in understanding who to contact, it would be beneficial
> if each of the responsible working groups would nominate an individual
> to be the point of contact on these changes. I volunteer myself to
> represent the Server WG in this capacity.
>
>
> Given that we branch on February 10th enter Alpha Freeze on February
> 24th, I'd like to propose a soft deadline (a check-in) on February 9th
> with a hard deadline on February 16th in order to have time to run at
> least one test compose prior to Alpha Freeze.
>
>
>
> == Acknowledgements ==
>
> The cast of characters involved in this discussion were:
>  * Stephen Gallagher (Server WG)
>  * Dennis Gilmore (Release Engineering)
>  * Brian C. Lane (Anaconda)
>  * Ian McLeod (Project Atomic)
>  * David Shea (Anaconda)
>  * Adam Williamson (QA)
>
> --
> devel mailing list
> devel at lists.fedoraproject.org
> https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/devel
> Fedora Code of Conduct: http://fedoraproject.org/code-of-conduct

<rant>
My first question is "why do there need to be four branded network
install releases?" If they're all capable of making a workstation,
server, cloud image or generic Fedora, why not just have *one* network
install release and a more user-friendly menu for choosing the package
groups / packages?

Second, do there need to be so many live spins? I can see one for each
desktop (except GNOME, since that's "Workstation") and Sugar on a
Stick, but are people really downloading the Science spin, the
Robotics spin, the Design Suite, Fedora Jam, etc. often enough to
justify the project resources they consume? It's a simple yum/dnf
command to layer any of these on top of any of the desktops.

When I go to https://getfedora.org/ I see "Fedora is now more
focused". It seems to me that says "A workstation DVD, a server DVD, a
cloud DVD / images, *one* netinstall CD and nothing else."
</rant>

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