Request for review/testing: switching the default installer

[Nathan Whitehorn]

On 03/07/11 19:27, Freddie Cash wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 7, 2011 at 4:56 PM, Nathan Whitehorn<nwhitehorn at freebsd.org>  wrote:
>> On 03/07/11 14:14, Freddie Cash wrote:
>>> Things that irritated me:
>>>    - when you drop to a shell from the disk editor screen, it lists the
>>> instructions at the top, but then never repeats them ever again
>> Can you suggest a better way to do this? In other words, when and in what
>> circumstances would you want to see them again?
> It follows along with the next item, so I'll address them both below.
>
>>>    - if you get lost in the disk editor shell and type "exit" to get
>>> back to the disk editor ... it thinks you are finished partitioning
>>> and carries on with the install, which then errors out due to no
>>> writable filesystems, requiring you to restart the entire process
>> This is bad. I can modify it to check if a filesystem has been mounted at
>> /mnt, and maybe if the fstab file exists and restart the disk editor menu if
>> they have not.
> If something like the above is done, then the first item above is also
> handled.  :)
>
> As in, if you forget the instructions, just exit the shell to go back
> to the disk editor, which then complains you don't have a mounted
> filesystem to install to, and then you can drop back to the shell.
>
> Maybe loop back to the beginning of the disk editor, where it asks you
> if you want to do it Guided, Manual, or Shell?  Or something like
> that.

The "Guided, Manual, Shell" is what I meant by "disk editor menu", so I 
agree with you entirely :)

> "Something" needs to go here to check for a mounted, writable
> filesystem to install to.  :)
>
> On the flip side, the entire install process is short enough that it's
> not too onerous to restart it.
>
>>>    - the disk editor is very limited, especially in its error handling;
>>> I found myself stuck in a loop trying to exit the screen without a /
>>> filesystem listed, but I was doing everything from the shell
>> That's a clear bug. It should probably only validate the setup if 'Save' is
>> selected. The issue of whether it should allow you to save without defining
>> a / partition when invoked from a shell is a more complicated one, and one
>> I'll have to think about (suggestions welcome).
> I don't recall there being a Save option, but maybe I skipped over it
> and just went to Exit.  I'll have to look at this screen again.  Using
> Save probably would have helpded.  :)

If you press Exit, it asks whether you want to Save, Abort, or Cancel. 
Abort exits the partitioner without making changes. I just modified this 
so that it will only try to validate the disk setup if you press Save -- 
you don't need a valid setup if you are bailing on the partitioner, 
after all.

>>>    - screen flips between a nice blue background (the curses
>>> interface?) and a black background (running shell commands?) which is
>>> quite jarring and slightly confusing;
>>>    - screen elements go from nicely centred (curses interface?) and
>>> then jump to the top-left corner of the screen (shell commands?) which
>>> is also quite jarring and slightly confusing
>> Yes, this should be prettified. It's running a few things (passwd, adduser)
>> in a chroot, and I figured getting things working there was more important
>> than making them pretty for now.
> It's a minor nit, as sysinstall does the same.  Maybe there's a way to
> use text input fields (like the DHCP screens, and adduser screens from
> sysinstall), then run the commands in the background, and just show
> error/success messages?  [shrug] I know nothing about curses
> programming.  :)

Yeah, I need to find time/a good way to do this (or someone else can: 
patches are always welcome). Text fields would work well, and I think 
even just making the banner at the top of the screen blue would help.
-Nathan