Beta, snapshots, and really prerelease software

[Bill Davidsen]

Jon Stanley wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 6:28 PM, Bill Davidsen <davidsen at tmr.com> wrote:
>> Would it be feasible to release the beta software as jigdo files and allow
>> frequent generation of a media to install at current level?
> 
> You can generate your own media with pungi. For detailed instructions
> on doing this, see my blog post:
> 
> http://jons-thoughts.blogspot.com/2008/05/pungi-and-mock-for-fun-and-profit.html

I'll have to try that, probably in a week or two as other "try that" things get 
done. Thanks for the thought.
> 
>> I currently locally store update packages and save some bandwidth that way,
>> but it's not the optimal solution.
> 
> Is that a local mirror that you keep updated via rsync? If so, then
> just point pungi there and it will Just Work(TM).
> 
No, it's based on two scripts and NFS. After the first install I set the 
yum.conf to keep the rpm files, and do an update. Then the first script copies 
any new rpms to the RPM server and deletes them. For the next upgrade I mount 
the previous RPM directory and run a script to create symlinks in /var/cache/yum 
to anything I already have downloaded. Then I upgrade again, save the RPMs, etc.

This came out of the desire to keep old versions of packages handy in case of 
need, and the complexity of having multiple repos since some machines use livna, 
or rawhide, or updates-testing, and I don't have to think about configuration.

I did the local mirror for a while, but there was a problem with createrepo, and 
I decided to simplify. This is easy to use, I can just save the RPM directory to 
DVD and everything works just as well on a non-networked machine.


-- 
Bill Davidsen <davidsen at tmr.com>
   "We have more to fear from the bungling of the incompetent than from
the machinations of the wicked."  - from Slashdot