[Fedora-livecd-list] patch review and move of livecd scm

[Jane Dogalt]

--- Jeremy Katz <katzj at redhat.com> wrote:

> On Tue, 2007-03-06 at 21:52 -0500, David Zeuthen wrote:
> > since this is what Joe Enduser wants to do. 
> 
> No.  Joe Enduser wants to download a CD and use it.  Or maybe use a
> web
> UI to create a live CD on a remote server and then download it.
> 
> Joe Enduser does not want to pass command line arguments to a tool.

 I somewhat disagree with this.  I think it's a mistake to forget about
the fact that many Joe (and Jane :) Endusers of a livecd generation
system will be the sorts of people that either do understand things
like an xterm in a little more detail, or want to learn.

IMO part of the power of linux, in addition to the source code, is the
command line.  The command line is the place where you leverage your
imagination and a wide variety of tools to create new things rapidly. 
I know this isn't exactly the RH party line, but no one has ever been
able to count on me towing the(any) party line.  I think the fact that
microsoft is bringing a powerful shell/terminal back into their OS
shows that even they understand this a little.


But getting back on point-  You mention Joe Enduser building a livecd
on a remote server with a web UI?  What makes you think they want to do
this when there is no reason they couldn't build it on the local system
with the exact same web(or other graphical) UI?  Here is an example of
what I think the first thing Jane Enduser wants to do-

livecd-generator \
   --make_me_a_livecd_just_like_this_template=knoppix-5.0 \
   --but_with_these_two_apps_I_like=emacs,xmms \
   --and_go_ahead_and_pull_in_latest_security_updates \
   --outputfile=./mylivecd.iso

Now clearly, most, (though I would argue not a _vast_ majority) would
want to do this via a GUI that provides a nice list of pre-existing
templates, and a nice list of available packages (i.e. pup gui).

But I definitely think a signifigant number of (especially the early)
end users of a livecd generator would like to be able to do anything
from a commandline(+configfiles) (CRON... COUGH... CRON... COUGH...)
that they can do from the GUI.

Just 2 more cents because I think our future depends on at least a few
hobbyists learning to wield the full force of the command line.  (and
free speech, but thats a different war)

-dmc/jdog



 
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