On Fri, Nov 14, 2003 at 10:55:17PM +0100, koolinus wrote: > > Mandrake has since long time ago the possibility to SAVE in a floppy (but > today it would be useful to be capable of saving also on USB sticks) the > configuration & the packages one has choosen during install, and then > automatize (?) the install procedure on other machine. This without setting > up a "ghost" of the HD You're joking, right? After installation of RedHat/Fedora, you'll find a anaconda-ks.cfg file in root's home directory. This is the kickstart file that describes the installation you've just done. Copy it to floppy and you'll be able to use it with the "ks=floppy" option to skip the installation sections described in the file. > SuSE, Mandrake & Debian have the possibility to CLEARLY set a LOCAL (on > LAN) location to witch point their tools for installing packages. Two years ago, I set up a local apt-enabled mirror of Red Hat 7.3 and its updates. Installing was done via ftp, the kickstart file did everything but partition the drive. It installed apt before rebooting. A quick "pat-get update && apt-get upgrade" and the machine was ready to be used. Nowadays, I would use yum, easier to use. > This is very useful in places where you have at work a fast connection and > at home no connection at all (or a very solow one ... 56kbps for example) > .... one could make a nice cd-rw, copy it's content on a directory and then > easily upgrade. Yum-ify the rpms before burining the CD and everything will be done automatically. > Now on Fedora the very weakness consist in it's package management ... > which at home, with no connection is a pian in the ***beeep*** Seriously, given Red Hat's user base until Fedora, do you really think "automated installation" would be at the top of their TODO list? Emmanuel
