Robert G. Brown wrote: > On Fri, 24 Oct 2008, Jon Aquilina wrote: > >> true but if there is something that isnt in there i would be more then >> willing to add it to the repo. > > But what is the ADVANTAGE of reducing the number of packages in a > warehouse from which one pulls packages, when the filled warehouse > already exists and is free? > > I don't know about Debian so much, but with RPM repos one can set up the > primary full-distro repo, and create as many "local" repos as one wishes > on the side (or link in to e.g. livna -- other repos other humans > maintain and that you trust). I can only presume that Debianish distros > can do the same. Yes, very much so. Many, many updated packages or packages of dubious legality (libdvdcss anyone?) are available in ancillary repositories.
> So create a "cluster distro" as an OVERLAY on TOP of an existing distro. > That way you do far, far less work. All the distro packages are there > if you need them. Most of the cluster packages you might need are > already there. If you need to rebuild them, augment them with > non-distro packages, or e.g. add some custom kernels, build the > replacement/augmentations, package them, pop them in an overlay. Yum > will (if told to nicely) use them instead of the ones in the regular > distro. Or package the source packages and submit them upstream. Volunteer for a life of servitude! > Don't forget, of course, that then YOU are responsible for maintaining > the update stream of any packages you replace -- if the upstream version > is patched, you'd better (re-re-)patch your augmented version. > > This keeps the amount of work to the theoretical minimum required to > achieve your goals, costs you "nothing" (what does disk cost per GB > these days -- $0.20 or thereabouts? -- so keeping a full distro costs > you a few dollars, literally), and makes it extremely easy to track > updates and upgrades without YOU doing a ton of work. Usually when I build a cluster, I make local builds of MPICH2 for each compiler. This does not fit well with the paradigm of really any distro I've ever seen, which is why I leave it as a custom layer on top of e.g. Debian and do not package it. I have yet to see a distro do multiarch really well, so for the moment I try to work around (or perhaps above) the system and avoid using APT/YUM for handling multiple architectures/compiler toolchains. > > rgb > <snip> -- Geoffrey D. Jacobs _______________________________________________ Beowulf mailing list, Beowulf@beowulf.org To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf
