[clug] Install without warning

[Michael James]

On Thursday 15 March 2007 3:15 pm, Alex Satrapa wrote:
> Live CD = nice toy to try out and see if you can grok the new OS.  
> Installer = hand grenade, which someone has handed to you, sans pin.

Even a Windows install disk doesn't do that.
Yes, booting it will stuff your master boot record,
 but it doesn't wipe anything without asking.

The only "CD without a safety catch" I ever encountered
 was a Dell diagnostics CD.
It had a button, "Install Diagnostic Tools" that did just that!
Not the expected next step of, "Where do you want them?"
Not even a warning screen, it re-partitioned the drive!

Luckily I could remember the old partition table,
 and it hadn't formatted over anything important.
Wasn't a production machine but what a shock.

How about  "Net-Boot-unattended-install"?
Such net-booting installers (like my cloneboot)
 are potentially pretty dangerous.
Great for cluster nodes or computer labs,
 but need to be kept on a tight leash.

michaelj


-- 
Michael James                         michael.james at csiro.au
System Administrator                    voice:  02 6246 5040
CSIRO Bioinformatics Facility             fax:  02 6246 5166

No matter how much you pay for software,
 you always get less than you hoped.
Unless you pay nothing, then you get more.