Why ISO was retired (2021)
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Why ISO was retired (2021)
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Re: Why ISO was retired (2021)
#2I have no idea how I would install EasyOS in my hypervisor. Well, I could probably boot from a Live linux ISO and then install it from there.
And on actual hardware I can mount an ISO over IPMI but I would not immediately be able to install EasyOS that way.
Also, the argument that you can store state isn't always an advantage. When I boot a Live ISO I never ever want to save anything, a clean state is one of the features of a Live ISO.
I don't know what EasyOS is, and it is for sure possible that it lives in a niche where it never makes sense to have an ISO. But I don't get the crusade against ISO.
>There are some multi-boot tools, that enable putting many ISO files on the one USB-stick; however, the ISO format does not have any intrinsic avantage, these boot managers could also be made to boot image files.
Well, they don't. Maybe that ought to be a hint?
Re: Why ISO was retired (2021)
#3I have no idea how I would install EasyOS in my hypervisor. Well, I could probably boot from a Live linux ISO and then install it from there. And on actual hardware I can mount an ISO over IPMI but I would not immediately be able to install EasyOS that way. Also, the argument that you can store state isn't always an advantage. When I boot a Live ISO I never ever want to save anything, a clean state is one of the feat…
Agreed. The author is discounting the ease of use argument, which frankly is the last argument you should make, especially when the cost is effectively ZERO. Frequently good enough is really good enough.
Re: Why ISO was retired (2021)
#4> So, I am repeating, there are no use-cases where the ISO format has an advantage over a Linux distribution as a drive image file. The perceived advantages are only due to ignorance.
This is paradoxical statement: overcoming said ignorance (read: ease of use) is by definition an advantage (actual, not just "perceived")
Re: Why ISO was retired (2021)
#5I have no idea how I would install EasyOS in my hypervisor. Well, I could probably boot from a Live linux ISO and then install it from there. And on actual hardware I can mount an ISO over IPMI but I would not immediately be able to install EasyOS that way. Also, the argument that you can store state isn't always an advantage. When I boot a Live ISO I never ever want to save anything, a clean state is one of the feat…
Seems easy. Import it as a disk image, and that's it.
I just tried under libvirt. It doesn't work as a virtual CD, so just add a virtio disk and point it at the image.
Re: Why ISO was retired (2021)
#6I have no idea how I would install EasyOS in my hypervisor. Well, I could probably boot from a Live linux ISO and then install it from there. And on actual hardware I can mount an ISO over IPMI but I would not immediately be able to install EasyOS that way. Also, the argument that you can store state isn't always an advantage. When I boot a Live ISO I never ever want to save anything, a clean state is one of the feat…
Well, the article is correct that there is nothing unique to ISO on your comment. You can achieve all of that with an EXT-4 or NTFS filesystem too.
Our tooling evolves in some strange ways. The only reason you want an ISO is because some software insists that it can't use a simpler FS the same way. It's like the software that insisted on saving things into floppy drivers even after no computer had them anymore.
Of course, that software existing may be a good reason for the author to keep the ISO packaging. Or maybe not, I have no idea what is his context. But what you describe is a deficiency on your software, and not any intrinsic benefit from ISOs.
Re: Why ISO was retired (2021)
#7I have no idea how I would install EasyOS in my hypervisor. Well, I could probably boot from a Live linux ISO and then install it from there. And on actual hardware I can mount an ISO over IPMI but I would not immediately be able to install EasyOS that way. Also, the argument that you can store state isn't always an advantage. When I boot a Live ISO I never ever want to save anything, a clean state is one of the feat…
Seems easy. Import it as a disk image, and that's it. I just tried under libvirt. It doesn't work as a virtual CD, so just add a virtio disk and point it at the image.
For sure when that works that is easy. I don't have that option and don't know how common it is in actual hypervisors and not desktop VM software.
Re: Why ISO was retired (2021)
#8I have no idea how I would install EasyOS in my hypervisor. Well, I could probably boot from a Live linux ISO and then install it from there. And on actual hardware I can mount an ISO over IPMI but I would not immediately be able to install EasyOS that way. Also, the argument that you can store state isn't always an advantage. When I boot a Live ISO I never ever want to save anything, a clean state is one of the feat…
Well, the article is correct that there is nothing unique to ISO on your comment. You can achieve all of that with an EXT-4 or NTFS filesystem too. Our tooling evolves in some strange ways. The only reason you want an ISO is because some software insists that it can't use a simpler FS the same way. It's like the software that insisted on saving things into floppy drivers even after no computer had them anymore. Of co…
Obviously, but with that logic the only unique thing with his solution is that it doesn't work well in the software ecosystem of our time. Not a great selling point.
It is more than fine to opt at not supporting ISO, but the arguments put forward for this crusade are not convincing.
Re: Why ISO was retired (2021)
#9For the specific case of "burning" some Linux distro's installer to a USB drive, I've always found those .img files much easier to deal with than ISO files, simply because a single dd(1) invocation is all I need to "burn" the image onto my drive.
I figure this is probably the vast majority of people who install Linux from a physical device rather than network booting. (I have dealt with PXE about a decade ago but I can't figure out how to use it anymore.)
Re: Why ISO was retired (2021)
#10I have no idea how I would install EasyOS in my hypervisor. Well, I could probably boot from a Live linux ISO and then install it from there. And on actual hardware I can mount an ISO over IPMI but I would not immediately be able to install EasyOS that way. Also, the argument that you can store state isn't always an advantage. When I boot a Live ISO I never ever want to save anything, a clean state is one of the feat…
I skimmed the docs for multiple hypervisors (qemu, vmware, virtual box, hyper-v), it looks like only Qemu can directly boot the raw image, but everything else can convert the raw image to a native format and then boot it. It does take an extra, often command line only step to get it booting though which is less than ideal.