See Installer/Development for technical details on how to get started. Usually best to start with a particular component and learn by expansion from there.
locale configuration (localechooser)
- languagechooser/countrychooser merge incomplete; makes life hard for oem-config
keyboard configuration (console-setup)
- much better now we're using X keymaps
- no translations
- various keymap bugs to be hoovered up one by one
hardware detection (hw-detect)
- mostly done by udev these days
- some hardcoded things remain (weird buses, floppies, PS/2 mice, some IDE stuff, etc.)
- device enumeration order differs in some cases (defer disk detection until all udebs loaded?)
network configuration (netcfg)
- OK for DHCP, static
- wireless largely OK except for WEP glitches and no WPA support
- funky things like PPP not supported (work done in Debian, needs to be integrated)
mirror selection (choose-mirror)
- will need modifications for automatic optimal mirror detection eventually
partitioning (partman)
- needs to be optimised
- error handling poor in places
- parted breaks with newer ext3 filesystems
- RAID interface is clunky; assist Debian redesign along the lines of LVM
- cdebconf plugins could help; requires ABI break in libd-i to fix dependency handling
- writing recipes is hard
DST configuration (clock-setup)
- largely done; may need to check a couple of corner cases
user/password configuration (user-setup)
- historical state machine bugs, but basically done now
- reserved usernames list manually maintained
base system installation (base-installer)
- must be updated when kernel names change
- occasional initramfs generation hiccups
apt configuration (apt-setup)
- various extra bits of preseeding for Ubuntu
package selection (pkgsel)
- tasksel does most of the work now
- task conflict detection
- language-support-* awkwardness
boot loader installers (grub-installer, lilo-installer, yaboot-installer, silo-installer, etc.)
- loads of bugs and lots to try to figure out
- grub is particularly liable to just failing to install for no obvious reason
- lilo used in some cases where grub can't cope (notably XFS)
- probably number one place where extra developer effort would yield good results
is grub2 any better?
- booting other operating systems (os-prober) largely works but isn't optimal
- some argument for installing simple MBR and chaining to boot loader in partitions; needs very careful thought and testing, probably spec fodder
preseeding (preseed)
- infrastructure Just Works; always needs more testing
- glitches in various components (chiefly partman)
Kickstart (kickseed)
- thin layer over preseeding, so pretty reliable for what it does
- still needs lots more testing to catch changes in underlying preseeding
- has small manual test suite, but should be more automated
- often needs minor updates
- RAID; other features
rescue mode (rescue)
- exiting rescue shell started blowing up in edgy for some reason
- could do with more features for common tasks
miscellaneous infrastructure
- Tollef's cdebconf Unix sockets work
- language packs are IMO impractical, but we should keep translations more up to date somehow
build system (debian-installer)
- needs updates when kernel udebs are rearranged (again)
- careful of netboot initramfs size
- floppies never supported by d-i on 2.6 to date, but recent work in Debian should be investigated
platform support
- Intel Macs done, at least with BIOS compatibility; EFI is more work
- new ports come along from time to time
- typically subarchitecture detection, new bits in hw-detect, sometimes partitioning, boot loader installers
documentation (installation-guide)
- guide isn't bad, but needs various cleanups
- translations; perhaps try to get more changes into Debian protected by conditionals to make this easier
testing
- base-installer has automatic test suite for kernel selection; cdebconf has some manual tests
- many more unit tests would be reasonably straightforward
- automatic system testing (joeyh's digress?)
CD boot loader (syslinux, gfxboot, gfxboot-theme-ubuntu)
- not installer as such, but tightly coupled for locale and keyboard
- gfxboot-theme-ubuntu needs regeneration for new locales and keymaps
- UI glitches
- accessibility
OEM installation (oem-config)
various minor enhancements in simplify-oem-installation
- should be merged into ubiquity for UI improvements and ease of maintenance
- guide for OEMs
Installation from live CD (ubiquity)
- uses localechooser, tzsetup, console-setup, user-setup, partman, apt-setup, grub-installer, etc.
bug list is massive; bughelper and apport beginning to help
- external partition editors the intrinsic source of many bugs; new partman-based partitioner to address this
- still slow; disk bar UI not done
- grub-installer causes a big chunk of the rest of the problems; probably largely grub's fault
- recover more gracefully from errors, particularly boot loader installation problems
- automatic partitioning UI not as designed yet (needs partman changes)
lots of minor UI things (feisty-ubiquity)
- better customisation and advanced configuration
- test suite: unit? system? special frontend?
- user guide