[ec2-beta] some feedback on the i386 image

[Eric Hammond]

Mark Shuttleworth wrote:
> We should make it so that the default option in that list
> is "bare bones system", and so that the tools allow you to
> skip that dialog altogether if you know what you're doing.

It's difficult to have multiple startup options for a single EC2 AMI
without a prompt, because the supported paths of passing in information
are limited--primarily the single "user-data" blob, which should also be
left open for users' purposes.

[It's also theoretically possible to pass information in through the
keypair name and the security groups, but now we're getting into extreme
hacks that abuse the EC2 features.]

Other alternatives like asking the user what they want or ssh'ing in a
command before ssh'ing in as a user are just more of the same manual
thing that gets in our way currently.

My personal preference in this area would be to let the user in without
prompts and for the motd to let new users know what command they should
run to bring up tasksel.  This lets the advanced, frequent user not have
to keep manually closing the dialog for every new instance they connect
to, but gives new users a clue as to how to set up common types of
servers easily.

Again, this is not a strong opinion for the official AMI, though like
Alex, I might be tempted to build my own AMIs instead of using the
official ones.  (I suppose an appropriate user-data script could get the
job done once this functionality is fixed on the official AMIs).

The design approach with EC2 is very different from, say, a CD install
because even after a user gets started with the system and becomes an
expert, they are going to have to keep going through the same steps
every time they launch an instance.

--
Eric Hammond
ehammond at thinksome.com