Re: new sysinstall

[David Leimbach <leimy2k@xxxxxxx>]

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.
>
> --
> http://www.apache-ssl.org/ben.html       http://www.thebunker.net/
>
> "There is no limit to what a man can do or how far he can go if he
> doesn't mind who gets the credit." - Robert Woodruff