https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=156593 ------- Comment #32 from sh@novell.com 2007-02-05 04:37 MST ------- (In reply to comment #30)

I have yast2-qt-2.14.3-5 on my system.

..which came with openSUSE 10.2. yast2-qt-2-13.75, the version mentioned above, will be on SLE-10 SP1. That is the same code base as openSUSE 10.1 (a.k.a. as SUSE Code-10). As far as openSUSE is concerned, this feature is released with yast2-qt-2.14.4 (openSUSE factory, which will eventually become openSUSE 10.3).

This issue cannot possibly be an Enhancement.

I beg to differ. It is.

AutoYaST will not do the job. It applies, as best as I can tell, to a full installation of systems that are essentially all clones.

Not quite.

But I have computers of different architectures: single processors or SMP; single or dual boot; different disk sizes and partition structures; wireless or wired; fixed IP or DHCP;...

AutoYaST is a lot better dealing with all this, in particular with different kinds of hardware. You can even set up rules for partitioning for different size disks. And you can also leave some things open for manual intervention. AutoYaST is a very powerful tool. If you have that kind of heterogeous environment, please do yourself the favour and give AutoYaST a try. You will very likely find it makes a lot of tedious and error-prone manual work a lot easier.

... ...to use the file in Software Manager, after installation, to add/delete rpms (both) -- reviewing any proposed changes.

Review them you will have to, and very carefully, too -- because of all the things that AutoYaST has some built-in intelligence, whereas that export/import feature is a very dumb literal export and import. It does not care about what kernel you should install. It installs the same the original machine had. It does not care about hardware-dependent other packages. You will get the exact same as on the original machine. It does not know anything about architectures. For multi-architecture systems like x86_64 you may or may not get what you want. You have to look very carefully. Again, this is something that AutoYaST is a lot better at.

If I had to reinstall the system for some reason, I was back up to where I was in no time.

That's about the only really useful use case that comes to my mind.

I could use a list from one computer to be the base for a new computer,

That OTOH is a very dangerous thing to do. Because...

again reviewing the selections for necessary changes.

..this reviewing will be solely your responsibility.

To add/delete rpms, I use a mouse to put check marks or trash cans in little boxes. I can not understand how it is so difficult to have Software Manager read a very simple ascii file and do exactly the same thing. Computers are supposed to be good for that sort of thing.

Well, basically that's what it does - and with no more intelligence, too. But that's simply not enought for many, many use cases -- see above. Bottom line: You really might want to give AutoYaST a try. I think you will like it. OOo presentation about installation and AutoYaST: (skip the first 100 or so slides to get to AutoYaST) http://www.suse.de/~sh/brainshare/sles-installation-and-autoinstallation.sxi AutoYaST info: http://www.suse.de/~ug/ -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug, or are watching someone who is.