sanjay nadkarni wrote:
> Jack Schwartz wrote:
>> Hi everyone.
>>
>> Some of us had an impromptu meeting around the text-installer and
>> text-mode Device Driver Utility (DDU) invocation and interaction.
>> After the meeting I followed up with Frank, our resident UI expert.
>> Here's a summary of what I discussed with Frank, along with enough
>> background for those who didn't attend.
>>
>> 1)The text mode comes up with a menu of four options: Run DDU, run
>> installer, shell and reboot. We discussed just dropping to the shell
>> automatically if the installer exits after a successful installation,
>> and rebooting when the user quit that shell. Frank thought that
>> automatically dropping to a shell after the text installer finished
>> successfully was not worth the effort. He felt that displaying a
>> menu with four choices was fine. (I didn't solicit this particular
>> response either :) )
>>
>> 2) We discussed what the DDU should do about configuring network
>> access so it can go to repos, etc. We discussed the idea of having a
>> library for displaying the network screens and doing the network
>> setup; this library would be linked by both the DDU and the
>> installer. We discussed what to do in the installer if the DDU has
>> already set up the network.
>>
>> There were three choices in the first network screen, per Frank's
>> original mock up: auto, manual, none. One option discussed was to
>> offer a fourth choice alongside the existing three: to keep the
>> network as set up by the DDU (with the settings displayed, of course).
>>
>> Frank's preference for what to do in the installer regarding network
>> setup, after the DDU has configured the network, is to still offer
>> only three choices in the first network screen. If DHCP wasn't used
>> to set up the network, display the manual screen with all fields
>> filled in when chosen. The user could then change or tweak
>> accordingly. The choice for keeping three choices boils down to
>> having a less cluttered/confusing screen at the expense of having the
>> user hit an extra screen.
>>
>> On a related note, it would be better not to pass configuration from
>> the DDU to the text installer, but to have the text installer pick it
>> up using ifconfig and other commands (vs passing a file). Not only
>> is this kludge-free, but it allows the user to tweak the network
>> settings post-DDU and pre-Installer and have those new network
>> settings be properly reflected in the Installer network screens.
>>
>> 3) Frank and I agreed that there should be a common library of
>> network setup / screens to be shared by the DDU and installer. Not
>> only does this provide a more consistent user interface. It prevents
>> reinventing the wheel, and will be easier for the DDU team to just
>> link with the library when it is ready.
>>
>> 4) I also ran by Frank that the DDU will possibly need to configure
>> the network (if it is given the command to automatically install
>> missing drivers (which requires a repo), or if it otherwise needs to
>> go to a repository or a URL on the net). We agreed that if the DDU
>> requires the net, it will try to bring up the network automatically
>> first (a la DHCP / NWAM).
> I don't follow "a la DHCP/NWAM. It was my understanding that profile
> applied to the microroot would disable network/physical:nwam and the
> "default" instance of the service would be enabled. Do you plan to
> enable the nwam instance of the service ? Note that while NWAM uses
> DHCP, the reverse is not true.
In sync with my earlier response to Dave on this email thread, it's now
my understanding that NWAM will be brought up before the DDU runs. If
the network is not available, that would mean that DHCP is not available
and the user would need to reconfigure network settings (i.e. set up a
static address) in order to be able to read a repo. The text-mode DDU
will have a means to set up the network.
>> If it can't for some reason (maybe the net doesn't have a DHCP
>> server), then the user will be asked if the network should be set up,
>> and then presented with the network setup screen. (Screen would
>> likely have different text but the same choices as the installer's
>> "manual" network setup screen.)
>>
>> Questions/comments/corrections invited.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Jack
>>
>
