Update VM Quickstart

[camerons]

We should update our VM Quickstart, which is currently too verbose, and could be made easier to follow.

Current docs are here:

​http://adhoc.osgeo.osuosl.org/livedvd/docs/en/quickstart/virtualbox_quickstart.html

​http://live.osgeo.org/en/quickstart/usb_quickstart.html

​https://svn.osgeo.org/osgeo/livedvd/gisvm/trunk/doc/en/quickstart/virtualbox_quickstart.rst

What I suggest is:

1. Try to ensure that the doc is concise, so there is less to translate. (The current VM that I wrote is too long).

2. Describe how to set up a VM for only one VM. Our quickstarts should be quick, (and easy to maintain), and shouldn't confuse users by asking them to decide on which VM to use.

3. I'm open to suggestions re which VM you think you should write to. I'd guess you would select the easiest, or most widely used Open Source VM, but this will probably be your call.

4. Finish with a link to an OSGeo-Live-VM wiki page. The wiki page can include much more detail, including how to install multiple versions of VMs.

[hamish]

Replying to camerons:

2. Describe how to set up a VM for only one VM. Our quickstarts

should be quick, (and easy to maintain), and shouldn't confuse users by asking them to decide on which VM to use.

3. I'm open to suggestions re which VM you think you should

write to. I'd guess you would select the easiest, or most widely used Open Source VM, but this will probably be your call.

While I don't think we should be recommending any particular 3rd party technology over another, if we want to pick one out I do think the only choice we really have is VirtualBox, wrt combination cross-platform availably, FOSSness, and ease of use.

It would be valuable at the start to say something about there being a number of different VMs you can use, and our VM or ISO can work with any of them, but here's instructions to do it with $software. Otherwise people who already use one VM software might be fooled into thinking that they need to go out and get something else to get our image to work.

2c, Hamish

[micha]

I've entered a new virtualization quickstart. It's a brief explanation of why VM, and two links at the bottom, one to the existing doc about creating a VM based on the ISO image, and the second on creating a VM from the downloaded vmdk. I also altered the en/index.rst file to point to this new virtualization_quickstart.

Comments welcome.

[kalxas]

All those documents have to be reviewed after our switch to chroot method that produces a similar iso to Xubuntu.

[micha]

Replying to kalxas:

All those documents have to be reviewed after our switch to chroot method that produces a similar iso to Xubuntu.

I'm not familiar with the chroot method. Will this produce also a vmdk ready to go? or only an ISO? What script will run the new method?

[kalxas]

Replying to micha:

Replying to kalxas:

All those documents have to be reviewed after our switch to chroot method that produces a similar iso to Xubuntu.

I'm not familiar with the chroot method. Will this produce also a vmdk ready to go? or only an ISO? What script will run the new method?

chroot method produces an iso only. We are planning to pre-install this in a VM and distribute it. But we have to pay attention to some small details probably changing around. The script is build_chroot.sh in gisvm/bin/ folder

[kalxas]

Should we close this? I think that this is complete by now

[micha]

At what stage is a vmdk created? Will this be a manual task after the ISO is ready?

[wildintellect]

We are currently looking at tools like ubuntu-vm-builder or kickstart, but if those don't work an install from iso in a vm will be done by hand and that vm will be uploaded as a vmdk.

[kalxas]

this has been done for 6.0 final