Dropping a lot of files from the DVD

[Dan Mossor]

On 08/10/2015 01:46 PM, Stephen Gallagher wrote:
> I'd like to propose that we drop from the Server installation
> everything that is not either part of the default install as it now
> stands or an optional component for hardware support.
>
> This would mean that we could remove a lot of historical cruft; all of
> the things we are dropping would remain available post-install or via a
> network install. They would simply stop being available from a DVD
> install.

Agreed. +1.

> There's a new feature[3] of rolekit that I have been working on that
> will allow us to deploy roles as part of kickstart, but it does not
> require that the packages actually be on the DVD at all; it only
> requires that the system have a valid network connection upon booting
> up for the first time. The way it will work is by creating a systemd
> service unit during the kickstart %post that will fire once the network
> is up on the newly-booted system and then will proceed to pull the
> packages from the appropriate repositories and start the roles.

As they say around these parts, muy interasante.

>
> Going this route would significantly reduce the size of the DVD as well
> as the risk that issues in one of our supported roles would block the
> release. (They would still need to be fixed and pushed stable for 0
> -day, but they wouldn't necessitate a respin of the media and thus a
> new validation run).

Sound reasoning.

> If we approve this plan, we'll probably need to amend the release
> criteria to accommodate it.
>
> Thoughts? I'd like to put this plan in place well in advance of Beta so
> that we can validate it with early test composes (and not risk
> slippage).

This is something I've been wanting to do since, oh, F21. I just didn't 
know how or where to start the process.

Dan

-- 
Dan Mossor, RHCSA
Systems Engineer
Fedora Server WG | Fedora KDE WG | Fedora QA Team
Fedora Infrastructure Apprentice
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San Antonio, Texas, USA