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lsb-base "Fancy output"; please test lsb-base/experimental (4.1+Debian0+fancy0)



Hi -devel (and -lsb),

I have recently uploaded lsb-base 4.1+Debian0+fancy0 to experimental. As
this version introduces a small change that has a big visual impact on
the Debian boot, I would like to get some feedback on it before
uploading it to unstable.

In short, this version implements a new "fancy output" in the form of
[....] blocks prepended to the daemon status messages:

  Before:
     Starting/stopping long daemon name: daemond daemon2d
  After:
     [....] Starting/stopping long daemon name: daemond daemon2d

This block will become either a green [ ok ], a yellow [warn] or a red
[FAIL] depending on the daemon exit status. I plan to implement blue
[info] blocks for log_action_msg calls too.

Note that this block is displayed at the _beginning_ of the statuses
lines, not at their ends; the idea behind this is that with big console
screens (with KMS e.g.), status blocks at the lines' ends can end up
"far" from the daemon starting message.

More information about this change is in the NEWS file for lsb-base
4.1+Debian0+fancy0 (attached).

I would welcome discussion and feedback about the idea, the
implementation, the documentation or anything else related to this new
behaviour. Please either report bugs against lsb-base/experimental or
drop answers to this message in debian-lsb@lists.debian.org (M-F-T set).

Cheers,

OdyX
lsb (4.1+Debian0+fancy0) experimental; urgency=low

  This version implements a new "fancy" output in the form of "[....] "
  blocks prepended to the daemon status messages:

  Before:
     Starting/stopping long daemon name: daemond daemon2d
  After:
     [....] Starting/stopping long daemon name: daemond daemon2d

  This block will become either a green [ ok ], a yellow [warn]
  or a red [FAIL] depending on the daemon exit status.

  == How do I disable this? ==

  This is currently implemented in /lib/lsb/init-functions as _pre and
  _post functions. As such, they are overridable as function definitions
  in the /etc/lsb-base-logging.sh configuration file; for example:

    log_daemon_msg_pre () { :; }

  It is also possible to completely disable the "Fancy output" by setting
  the FANCYTTY variable to 0 in the same file.

  == Known bugs and plan for inclusion in unstable ==

  * Daemons writing too much information on the screen (hence getting
    their output spawned on multiple lines) won't get their [....]
    replaced by [ ok ] as the replacement will happen on the last input
    line.
  * The above has the side-effect of hiding 7 characters of potentially
    useful output.
  * init.d scripts not using the /lib/lsb/init-functions provided
    functions will (obviously) not get the fancy output.

  Feedback, ideas and help are welcome as bugs on the lsb-base package.

  Before including this change to unstable, the following changes will
  most probably happen:

  * The implementation will move from _pre/_post functions to the
    functions themselves. This is safe-guarded by the FANCYTTY global
    variable anyway.
  * The information from this NEWS file will get moved to README.Debian
    (hence avoiding the gory details to stable-upgrading users).

 -- Didier Raboud <odyx@debian.org>  Sat, 31 Mar 2012 18:49:23 +0200

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