Re: [9fans] GSoC 2012

[John Floren <john@jfloren.net>]

On Wed, Mar 14, 2012 at 12:03 PM,  <tlaronde@polynum.com> wrote:
> May I suggest to add an "easy" project to the list: review Plan9
> installation.
>
> The "howto install without" (explaining how to create a Plan9 realm
> from another OS if the CD can not be used) that I posted a while
> ago did not attract a lot of attention. But dealing with the install,
> I saw many details that prevent a more versatile installation.
>
> And fdisk(8) has still to be fixed (on the stack but too many things
> going on with KerGIS or kerTeX for me).
>
> From what I have seen, it is a light project.

I agree that the install situation could use some work--it can be a
little bit odd if you aren't installing from a CD like a good boy, or
if you try to build an ISO from somewhere that *isn't* Bell Labs. It's
actually pretty straightforward to modify, though; it didn't take me
very long to get an iso building and figure out how the installer
works.

I've already done some tweaking with this in Nix, moving the inst/
programs to /rc/bin/inst, which makes it possible to easily start an
installation when booted from the CD with option 2, "boot plan 9 from
this cd", eliminating the need for the 9pcflop kernel and its limited
root environment.

I'd worry that doing an overhaul of the installation process is more
of a 1-2 week project, although it would be useful and a very nice
simple task.

John