Package installation on CDROM Platform

Dortje · Feb 9, 2007, 8:06 PM

That just came to my mind, why not allow package installation on CDROM Platform:

make it store information about "installed" packages in the config.xml and download the package on reboot. Also store the package´s configs on the config medium (floppy/usb).
simply store the downloaded files complety on a usb stick and run them from there. Like setup a loop device through a file on the stick, which is mounted in the device tree.

sullrich · Feb 9, 2007, 8:24 PM

No thanks, every reboot it downloads the packages again?

Bandwidth unfortunately does not grow on trees and to me this sounds like a bad idea.

yoda715 · Feb 10, 2007, 2:35 AM

I agree. Not a practical solution. That's what harddrives/flashdrives are for :).

Dortje · Feb 10, 2007, 1:34 PM

Thats why i wrote option 2. USB drives with 1GB+ space are very cheap, and should have more than enough space for saving the package files and configurations. Wouldnt that be a practical solution?

jahonix · Feb 10, 2007, 1:57 PM

@Dortje:

USB drives with 1GB+ space are very cheap, and should have more than enough space for saving the package files and configurations.

What do you want to gain by this stunt?
Why not install it completely on the USB device if it's big enough anyway?

Dortje · Feb 10, 2007, 3:18 PM

What do you mean by completly? I meant installing the package completly on the stick. If you mean the complete pfsense by completly: many computers cant boot from usb.

Bredys · Feb 10, 2007, 4:22 PM

You can buy IDE to CF reduction and install PFsense on cheap CF card

sullrich · Feb 10, 2007, 5:14 PM

@Dortje:

What do you mean by completly? I meant installing the package completly on the stick. If you mean the complete pfsense by completly: many computers cant boot from usb.

But many do. Why should we spend 100 hours on shoe horning this into the package system when it could be installed to a large CF drive?

The package system was not designed with this in mind and it would take a major overhaul. Don't you think the developers would be better suited working on improvements that are just not possible now? With this your just asking for something that already works to retrofitted to work in crazy edge cases which is a waste of manpower IMHO.

yoda715 · Feb 14, 2007, 2:22 PM

@Dortje:

Thats why i wrote option 2. USB drives with 1GB+ space are very cheap, and should have more than enough space for saving the package files and configurations. Wouldnt that be a practical solution?

The idea is basically that if you've got a USB drive that large, then you are able to install pfSense directly on to the USB drive. Most motherboards support booting from USB drives, so it is likely that you will not run into a problem with that. Like Scott said, it would just be too much work to install only packages on a USB drive in the cdrom platform.