Re: Feature request: Automatic installation

[Hauke Fath <hauke%Espresso.Rhein-Neckar.DE@localhost>]

At 21:37 Uhr +0200 18.6.2012, Julian Fagir wrote:
> [...] making NetBSD suitable for larger installations like exactly
>that, or having a large number of desktop clients that are to be installed
>automatically (like FAI from Debian), would be very nice.

You might want to look into sysutils/radmind.

>I think, for the beginning a simple script that is started after a network
>boot (as would sysinst be), then downloads tarfiles, uses the whole disk,
>unpacks tarfiles, runs installboot(8), would be sufficient.
>Maybe a script for the user is called in the end, to enable him to set
>passwords or standard console (this could be implemented as well).

Usually scripts like that will be heavily modified locally, since no two
installation environmennts are alike. It could be a start to add a hook to
sysinst, and a sample script, so that sites can build custom install
kernels easily for automated installation. I suspect that an OSFA
auto-install script will quickly become unwieldy.

>Is somebody here who already has something like that or has time to write and
>test it? If so, please mail me. Maybe we could have an auto installation
>script before 6.0 release.

I am not sure this should be rushed...

        hauke

--
"It's never straight up and down"     (DEVO)