FreeBSD 7.0-RELEASE Available

[gregoryd.freebsd at free.fr]

Quoting Ken Smith <kensmith at cse.Buffalo.EDU>:

Hi !

> On behalf of the FreeBSD Project thanks for your interest in FreeBSD.
> We hope you enjoy the new release.

I've just spent the whole morning installing it on my office desktop.

It was an awful experience: installing packages from the three CDs kept making
me switch from one CD to the other then to the previous one before the next one
again...
All in all about twenty-times !!! (sometimes just for ONE package, for Christ's
sake !)
It was particularly annoying, especially with those Linux guys around sneering
when comparing it to their smooth install.


I really think we should do something about it.
Either group the packages with dependencies together on a same CD, or let the
installer mark packages belonging to another CD as "dirty" and make it try to
install them later in a second pass... I don't know...

I guess a DVD release would more than help: all the packages would be on a
single disc (plus, we might add some more). Then again, that wouldn't solve the
problem of people needing to install it from CDs, though.
(I'm aware scripts exist on the web to group iso's together and make a DVD, but
I'm talking of a properly released one)


I hadn't been aware of that until today, since at home I upgrade with the usual
source compiling steps.
But in my office there is no internet connection available for that kind of
operations, so I had to recourse to the CDs...
That didn't help me convince the GNU/Linux users (although some really were
interested, because they enjoy our documentation...).
But I especially find it regrettable that a minor annoyances such as these
"spoil", in a way, all the good work that's done for the OS itself :-(
Even more so when keeping in mind people coming from other OS backgrounds and
wanting to use it as a desktop OS: more thant the appearance of the installer
(which I keep thinking is definitely efficacious, however spartan) it is that
problem with CD-toasting just to install packages that might prove a deterrent
:-(


That said, I'm all too willing to give a hand to people in charge with this
issue.

And yes, thank you all again *very much* for bringing 7.0 !


gregory