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Greetings<br>
<br>
This note is a request for review to anyone with time and interest,
with a test patch to apply if all goes well. Given that I am fairly
new to the fai community, I would like to focus ONLY on the
provision of repositories for use by server and client. Using FAI
provided "demohost" the concepts below were tested successfully.
Only FAI 4.0.8 and wheezy are considered here thus I request any
review to include all other familiar environments as well.<br>
<br>
What I see in apt are two things not fully integrated into FAI. <br>
<ol>
<li>The /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ directory is provided for
inclusion of addendum repository source lists, notably projects
like FAI. The inclusion of a "fai.list" file in the directory
negates the need to insert FAI into "sources.list" file by
editor. </li>
<li>The use of proxy server by an addition to /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/
directory. Apt documentation recommends the inclusion of a file
"02proxy" to enable repository access through a proxy server.</li>
</ol>
<br>
Recently in conversation with Thomas Lange, we agreed that a custom
hook would achieve instantiation of the proxy feature. We did not
discuss the sources.list.d/ feature that another hook could
install. In beginning to write a "How To" document it occurred to
me that both of these features might be best installed in the main
stream application. Thus I patched /usr/lib/fai/subroutines to
achieve both objectives without custom hooks.<br>
<br>
So just for sake of argument, let's assume the patch is installed.
To supply repositories, all work is done in the /etc/fai/apt/
directory. Now the "sources.list" may be identical to the file
provided by any Distro. I see it as an advantage to use the
Distro-supplied file. Now to access the FAI project source, install
the file "fai.list" into the sources.list.d/ directory. Others as
well if needed. Now to actuate a proxy, install the "02proxy" into
the apt.conf.d/ directory. Only if a need to make exception to
these files is a hook required. Should this concept be accepted,
then the approach is so simple no "How-To" document is useful.<br>
<br>
The patch is only for FAI4.0.8 file "subroutines". The patch is to
be inserted following line #957. To verify the location, the
attached text includes the line-before and the line-after commands
that will need to be deleted to prevent duplication. I provide it
only for testing convenience if anyone cares to go that far. Should
this concept be accepted I will submit a formal patch in the regular
channels.<br>
<br>
In the spirit of full disclosure, I see two scripts named
"FAISERVER" and "LAST" that also partly apply the above. I do not
fully understand the basis for these scripts yet and I will continue
my search. It is possible these scripts might undergo some change.<br>
<br>
Of course I will use this for my own work, but I will not go further
unless there is a positive response from FAI users. Thanks in
advance for any review of this concept, I do hope it might simplify
FAI slightly.<br>
<br>
Regards<br>
George<br>
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