The partitioner and the debconf priority
Hi!
Until now I haven't given much thought about how the debconf priority
should change the behaviour of the partitioner. Se lets discuss this.
CRITICAL PRIORITY
I suppose that this priority should be used for noniteractive
installs. Actually it is possible to use some noninteractive frontend
but priority=critical is preferable as if something goes wrong the
user can easily be told. Acording to debconf specification this
priority is for `items that will probably break the system without
user intervention'.
Suppose we reach noninteractively the partitioner. The first question
is `Please choose a partition, free space or device to edit'. In this
menu there are not only items for each device and partition, but also
items such as `Undo the partitioning', `End the partitioning', etc.
If the package `partman-auto' is unpacked then it adds an item
`Automaticaly partition the storage devices'. In this case the
question is asked with medium priority and the item of partman-auto
will be automaticaly chosen. If `partman-auto' is not unpacked then
the priority of the menu will be critical because all other items
require user interaction.
The first question of partman-auto will be `Please choose how the
storage devices should be automaticaly partitioned' and the options
are `use the free spaces', `use the whole space in some of the storage
devices' and `do custom partitioning'. The priority of this question
is high.
Probaby the database of cdebconf is filled somehow with answers to
this and the next questions. When it isn't the default option will be
to use the free spaces. If there isn't enough free space then we will
be returned back to the menu to choose how the storage devices should
be used but the priority will be raised from high to critical.
Suppose now that the automatical partitioning finishes successfuly.
Then we are returned back to the main partitioning menu (`choose a
partition, free space or device to edit'). Its priority is raised
from medium to high but high is less than critical so again the menu
won't be shown. On this time default option is to `end the
partitioning' so the installer happily continues.
HIGH PRIORITY
First time the main partitioning menu won't be shown because of the
priority and as in the previous case we reach the menu of
partman-auto. Its priority is high so the user will see it. Now the
user has the option to select `do custom partitioning' in which case
the main partitioning menu will be shown again. Its priority will be
raised so the user will see it.
If the user decides to use automatical partitioning then when it
finishes we again reach the main partitioning menu. Its priority is
raised from medium to high so it will be shown. The user can see the
result of the automatical partitioning. Some things can be changed or
even completely undone. The default option in the menu is to `end the
partitioning'. If the results are satisfactory then the user only has
to press <enter> and the installation continues.
MEDIUM PRIORITY
The installers main-menu is shown. The main partitioning menu is also
shown. The user will be shown some warnings issued by parted.
LOW PRIORITY
Like with medium priority but the user will be shown also some
informational messages by parted.
Anton Zinoviev
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