Boruch Baum <boruch_baum@???> writes:
> 1] For a day-to-day changing alpha release it makes plenty of sense to
> keep the initial download as small as possible, since so much is
> expected to change as part of the development process.
>
> 2] OTOH, a developer wants to encourage people to test the install and
> the release often, so it makes sense to have an initial iso download
> packed with the stable and large software packages that aren't central
> to the what the distribution is innovating. Any time a user runs a
> second test, she incurs a bandwidth burden of an entire new install.

Your idea of "wisdom" is a bit out-of-sync lopsided: I've been doing
Debian installs based on 'netboot' images for a long time because that's
just a lot easier and more comfortable to do: There's an 'initial
download' of enough of the system to install more software and a user
can then add more packages as needed 'on the go', without having to
download a huge file containing mostly "stuff which won't be needed"
(and without someone having to server this huge file to me).

There's also no need to download this "huge file" at all just to test
'installation'. It's perfectly possible to exit the Debian installation
procedure after the base system has been set up and before any other
software has been installed.