Ubiquity NG - was Re: ubiquity migrated to git

[Mark Shuttleworth]

Thanks Dimitri for this!

I'd like to start a thread on Ubiquity NG, and this seems like the best
place and time to start :)

First, a trip down memory lane. MDZ and I were shooting the moon on a
Saturday afternoon in my apartment in London when the idea for Ubiquity
formed. A live CD that would let people try out Ubuntu, and then dive
straight into the install, seemed like science fiction but quickly took
shape on a piece of paper that I rather wish I'd kept. MDZ created
Casper (the friendly ghost that most people won't see) and the rest is
history.

Now, 14 years later, we have a few new kinds of magic to draw on, and
perhaps Ubiquity NG could take advantage of them.

First, we have Curtin, which knows how to take a description of a
machine and do-the-right-thing; partitioning, installing, and cleaning
up. Curtin is neat and efficient, super-fast, and it's used by both MAAS
and the new Ubuntu Server installer, Subiquity. It knows how to install
a couple of different flavours of Linux, including Ubuntu and CentOS,
which could be handy. It's probably the best place for us to handle new
kinds of partitioning and root filesystem and network storage.

Second, we have MAAS, which has some very nice HTML interfaces for
configuring network and storage on a machine. All of that lines up with
Curtin, because MAAS uses Curtin to do the actual install. So we have
the beginnings of an HTML5 installer.

Third, we have Electron, which is the HTML5 app framework used by world
class app developers. Skype, Spotify and a ton of GREAT apps on Ubuntu
are Electron apps.

Fourth, we have snaps, which are just amazingly tasty ways to get the
latest bits in the hands of your community.

Who's game to sketch this further?

Mark