dc10 - 0.5
DebConf10
| Speakers | |
|---|---|
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Michael Prokop |
| Schedule | |
|---|---|
| Day | DebConf Day 5 (2010-08-05) |
| Room | Davis Auditorium |
| Start time | 17:00 |
| Duration | 01:00 |
| Info | |
| ID | 547 |
| Event type | lecture |
| Track | |
| Language | en |
| Feedback | |
|---|---|
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State of Debian (based) Linux live systems in 2010
This talk will provide an overview of the current state of Linux live systems. How do the various ways to boot a live system work and which ways exist? Which ways exist to build a live system and what steps are involved? Where are chances for improvement and what's needed for the future of live systems? What is Grml and its unit testing framework and how could it be used for Q/A stuff within Debian?
The main challenges for Linux live systems 5-10 years back were mainly about hardware recognition. Nowadays udev and the kernel itself do most of what's needed and developers of Linux live systems can concentrate on the main purposes of the live system.
Today there are more than 125 Debian based (meta-)distributions[1] and several of them have a live system (or even exclusively just provide it as a live system). One of them is Grml[2], which is an Open Source live system specialised for system administrators. The first release of Grml dates back in 2004. Currently the Grml project is working towards a unit test framework which allows automated Q/A testing for a live ystem. Runing within the live system it provides developers who work on low level stuff like partitioning, installers,... with the necessary tools to test their software.
Besides presenting the unit test framework which might be of interest to Debian(-live) developers, the author of the talk wants to address the following topics:
- What's possible with todays bootloaders (isolinux/syslinux/grub2)?
- How do the various ways to boot a live system work and which ways exist?
- Which ways exist to build a live system and what steps are involved?
- Which live system focused teams exist and how do they coorporate? Which problems do they have to face with?
- Where are chances for improvement and what's needed for the future?
[1] http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=independence [2] http://grml.org/