new sysinstall

[David Leimbach]

On Aug 31, 2003, at 12:56 PM, Ben Laurie wrote:

Matthew Dillon wrote:
    What I am currently proposing:

    * Place Apache, PHP4, lynx, and some sort of browser (if we can 
get it to
      fit) on the live CD.

    * Use Apache and PHP4 as the backend to the installer, lynx as the
      character terminal frontend, or a browser as the graphical 
frontend.
      The installation code would be written primarily in PHP4.

    * The PHP4 code could make use of a simple database and the 
existing
      RCNG scripts to hold onto persistent data and execute its 
various
      functions.

    Problems with using high level languages like Ruby, Python, etc...

    * They have big library dependancy sets, which makes them 
somewhat fragile
      in regards to us being able to generate a release environment 
(everything
      is a moving target).
Is that truer for Python than PHP4? Most of Python's library
dependencies are for its own libraries - the core language hardly needs
anything. And PHP builds in a pile of weird shit, too.
    * They have a big CD footprint.

    * There are issues with having multiple versions installed... a
      'system' version installed by the CD which is often older then
      the current release version that you might need in production.
Why is this not so for PHP?

I have heard of people using PHP as a scripting language for system 
administrative
type stuff... but never seen it in practice as it just "feels wrong" to 
me :).

I'd rather see Python... its been done for years by RedHat [anaconda].

What about TCL?

Cheers,

Ben.

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