[Cucumber-linux-development] The Fate of Cucumber LInux Installation CDs

[Scott C. <sc...@cu...>]

Hello All,

As you all know, we have two different installer ISOs available for each
version of Cucumber Linux: the Basic Edition and the Full Edition. If
you're not familiar with why this is the case, an explanation can be
found at https://cucumberlinux.com/editions.php.

Publishing a basic ISO in its current form requires that every package
group be split into two subgroups: a Basic subgroup and a General
subgroup (i.e. net-base and net-general), with only the basic subgroup
being included on the CD installer (Basic Edition), and both subgroups
being included on the DVD installer (Full Edition). Furthermore, care
must be taken to ensure that all of the Basic subgroups are under 650 MB
when combined (so they fit on a single CD).

I know several of us have been finding the subgroup division to be quite
cumbersome and more of a pain than anything else. The only reason we
really have it is so that we can continue to publish the Basic Edition
ISO and provide an installation image that fits on a single CD. Now CDs
are rapidly going the way of the floppy disk. Pretty much every computer
I have seen that was made in 2001 or later is capable of booting from a
DVD and/or USB flash drive. So that being the case, my question to you
all is *should we continue providing the Basic Edition**ISO*?

If we do cease providing the Basic Edition ISO, that would enable us to
eliminate the subgroup divisions, resulting in a single group for
networking applications and so on. The single group approach is also the
approach we are taking in the community ports tree
(https://github.com/cucumberlinux/ports/tree/master/community), so it
would also make the ports tree structure more consistent between the
official Cucumber directory and the community directory.

Personally, I think the time has come to say goodbye to CDs. *Does
anyone see any potential issues with or have any objections
**discontinuing installation CD support*? If you do, please speak now.

    - Scott