Distribute a hybrid ISO image (#8510) · Issues · tails / tails

Distribute a hybrid ISO image

Originally created by @intrigeri on #8510 (Redmine)

As explained on #5573 (closed), our main reason to stop hybrid’ing the ISO images we distribute was that some crappy BIOS’es were not able to boot from a DVD burnt from a hybrid image. I think we should reconsider this, as:

most distros distribute hybrid ISOs these days, so hopefully, such BIOS’es have mostly disappeared nowadays;
we don’t use a super-weird isohybrid command anymore, so hopefully, the problems we had in the past have vanished;
having to run one more command (isohybrid) makes the installation process more complicated than it needs to be;
having to download and extract the syslinux tarball when installing from a Mac is tedious, and anyway is something we should avoid advising users to do;
the Mac manual installation doc uses isohybrid.pl, that’s not maintained anymore;
isohybrid’s behavior depends on its exact version, so:
- it’s hard to make use of bug reports about failed boots without knowing exactly what version of isohybrid was used to create the boot device
- it’s harder than it should to verify that a USB stick installed with isohybrid+dd is genuine.

To sum up, if all Tails ISO images were hybrid’ed in the same way, with a known version of isohybrid, our life and users’ life would be easier. IMO, even if some buggy systems might still have problems with booting a DVD burnt from a hybrid ISO, this drawback is by far outrun by the advantages of distributing a hybrid ISO.

Feature Branch: feature/hybrid-iso-strikes-back

Subtasks

Related issues

Related to #7496
Related to #8664 (closed)
Related to #8524 (closed)
Related to #8891 (closed)
Blocked by #8525 (closed)
Blocked by #8526 (closed)

_Originally created by @intrigeri on [#8510 (Redmine)](https://public-redmine-archive.tails.boum.org/code/issues/8510)_

As explained on tails/tails#5573, our main reason to stop hybrid’ing the ISO
images we distribute was that some crappy BIOS’es were not able to boot
from a DVD burnt from a hybrid image. I think we should reconsider this,
as:

- most distros distribute hybrid ISOs these days, so hopefully, such
    BIOS’es have mostly disappeared nowadays;
  - we don’t use a super-weird isohybrid command anymore, so hopefully,
    the problems we had in the past have vanished;
  - having to run one more command (`isohybrid`) makes the installation
    process more complicated than it needs to be;
  - having to download and extract the syslinux tarball when installing
    from a Mac is tedious, and anyway is something we should avoid
    advising users to do;
  - the Mac manual installation doc uses `isohybrid.pl`, that’s not
    maintained anymore;
  - `isohybrid`’s behavior depends on its exact version, so:
      - it’s hard to make use of bug reports about failed boots without
        knowing exactly what version of isohybrid was used to create the
        boot device
      - it’s harder than it should to verify that a USB stick installed
        with isohybrid+dd is genuine.

To sum up, if all Tails ISO images were hybrid’ed in the same way, with
a known version of isohybrid, our life and users’ life would be easier.
IMO, even if some buggy systems might still have problems with booting a
DVD burnt from a hybrid ISO, this drawback is by far outrun by the
advantages of distributing a hybrid ISO.

Feature Branch: feature/hybrid-iso-strikes-back

### Subtasks

- [x] tails/tails#8527
  - [x] tails/tails#8797

### Related issues

- **Related to** tails/tails#7496
  - **Related to** tails/tails#8664
  - **Related to** tails/tails#8524
  - **Related to** tails/tails#8891
  - [x] **Blocked by** tails/tails#8525
  - [x] **Blocked by** tails/tails#8526

Edited May 15, 2020 by intrigeri

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