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  • #8510
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Issue created Jan 01, 2015 by intrigeri@intrigeriMaintainer4 of 4 checklist items completed4/4 checklist items

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

  • #8527 (closed)
  • #8797 (closed)

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)
Edited May 15, 2020 by intrigeri
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