Hendrik Boom wrote:

>Once the Debian installer starts setting a lot of stuff up for the
>benefit of systemd, we're going to have to have a fork. At that point,
>the only question is whether we want to marginalize the potential user
>base. I think that would be still a bad idea.

Indeed most Debian-derived distros have replaced the installer in an
effort to make the user's first experience seem "friendly" or to support
specific features such as Debian-Edu's school network. Debian's prior
text-only installer was an easy target for scorn, but that same minimal
design could be implemented and maintained on an amazing variety of
architectures. The current graphic installer potentially supports the
majority of the world's written languages, limited mostly by volunteer
translators, advancing the goal of being the Universal Operating System.

Once Devuan has a more robust infrastructure it can examine ways to
improve life for every user, not just the majority. (This "needs of the
few" conflict appeared to be the cause of a lot of friction on
debian-boot when I still followed installer development there.)

For the current issue, if an option early in the install process[1]
could redirect logging output to a different virtual console without
breaking expectations of other users[2], and such a solution would be
easy to maintain during the timeframe it is needed, then of course
Devuan should encourage this freedom of choice. --Don



[1] By command line, menu item, interpretive dance, or any other means
of human-machine communication the creative programmer may devise.

[2] As examples, options for visually impaired users or SSL-connected
terminals come to mind.