>>"Anthony" == Anthony Towns <aj@azure.humbug.org.au> writes:
Anthony> To clarify a little: I want to be able to answer the
Anthony> questions up front, do the install and have it work. If I've
This is not somethign anyone can argue with.
Anthony> made a mistake (like not put a file where I said I did
Anthony> maybe), I don't mind if it dies and leaves that package to
Anthony> be configured later or something. I don't want it to pause
Anthony> and leave the rest of the system unconfigured, though.
This is your system, and you should be able to set the
defaults that way (/etc/kernel-img.conf -- set do_symlink=NO
clobber_modules=YES, do_boot_enable=NO), and you shall never be asked
anything by the postinst. Of course, you are then responsible for
ensuring your new kernel is booted, but hey, you can't have
everything.
But other people may have other choices, and I'll fight tooth
and nail against any policy changes that leave them out in the cold
just cause some people like non-interactive installs.
Anthony> This is just for my system, I don't really care that much how it works
Anthony> for other people.
Hmm. Not an attitude I can afford to take, I don't think, as
package maintainer ;-)
Anthony> If we go through the `N' questions above, we have:
>> > .XXX........N 6) failure, retry?
>> > .XXX........N 7) failure, you have formatted floppy?
>> > .XXX........N 9) Failure writing floppy, retry?
>> > .XXX........N 10) failure, hit return when youhave new floppy
>> > .XXX........N 16) Failure writing mbr, do this manually, hit return
Anthony> ...failure cases, which I want to address as late as possible, rather
Anthony> than as soon as possible. (The realplayer question is mainly a failure
Anthony> question too, iirc)
Pardon me, I think I don't understand. So, writing the floppy
failed, and you want me to just stop doing what I was doing, leaving
you with an unbootable system?
I am not happy with not offering the user a chance to change
the floppy, or quit formatting and going woth a preformatted floppy,
or going to lilo instead.
If you arrive at these questions, you have asked stuff to be
done, and I can't really defer the failure case handling. Sure, I can
say that if you asked things to be done, and ignore error recovery,
you are responsible for the consequences, but unless that point is
driven home, the reputation for rock solid installs may suffer.
However, I have no objection in principle to allowing people
the *option* of silent installs. My objection is to making silent
install the *only* option.
>> > .XXX........N 5) Insert floppy, hit return
>> > .XX.........? 4) do I need to format the floppy?
>> > .XXX........N 8) you have floppy, hit return when ready
Anthony> ...questions needing a temporary change in hardware. I'd answer "no,
Anthony> I don't want to have a floppy" initially, or perhaps want to run
Anthony> /usr/lib/kernel-2.2.17/make-floppy or something after my install's
Anthony> completed.
Yup. But these questions will still be asked for people who
have not set these defaults, and these ned be asked at run time.
>> > .XX.........N 14) Install boot block on partition detected at runtime
Anthony> You can detect stuff at runtime from within the .config too;
Anthony> you should be able to this before the package is actually
Anthony> installed. At worst, you can say "no, don't try to detect it
Anthony> and annoy me later: this is what it should be. okay? trust
Anthony> me"
Easy. Just set up an /etc/lilo.conf (SILO,MILO< whatever) and
this questioh shan't be asked. But there are people who have not yet
done it, and this section is for them.
>> > XXXX........N 15) Install mbr root disk
>> > .XX.........N 17) make that partition active?
Anthony> And hence you should be able to ask these beforehand too, I think.
Same here.
Anthony> Basically, I'd like to be able to insist that I'm *never*
Anthony> asked a question as part of a postinst. I'd rather the
Anthony> postinst fail (and I'd rather Apt/Dpkg just get on with
Anthony> installing everything else, although it probably won't at
Anthony> the moment) than get asked a question.
I wuld not object to having such a mode if explicitly asked
for. But I refuse to support what happens if you do so. As long as
turning this option on is an admittance of responsibility for install
failures and their consequences, fine.
Anthony> would be tidier. For the moment, though, as long as I *can*
Anthony> say "no, I don't want a floppy made" and end up with a
Anthony> non-interactive postinst, I'm happy.
I would be happy to work towards this, as long as there is no
attempt to outlaw any installation phase interaction. And as long as
it is understood that people who ask for a non-interactive install
willy-nilly do it at their own risk.
manoj
--
panic: kernel trap (ignored)
Manoj Srivastava <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <http://www.debian.org/%7Esrivasta/>
1024R/C7261095 print CB D9 F4 12 68 07 E4 05 CC 2D 27 12 1D F5 E8 6E
1024D/BF24424C print 4966 F272 D093 B493 410B 924B 21BA DABB BF24 424C
