On Tue, Jan 06, 2004 at 10:47:01PM +0100, Erich Waelde wrote: > I keep thinking about the boot loader point in d-i. There were > several points in previous discussions (references see below) > with different points of view. I would like to collect this here > along with my thougts. > Currently ``Making the System Bootable'' is available as > a. "Install lilo" (default) > b. "install grub" > It is my current state of knowledge that > 1) "Install lilo" is called without asking in "normal" mode Lilo (the package) is installed without asking. Lilo (the bootloader) is not installed until you confirm whether you want it installed in the MBR, or on the root partition, according to what I see in the source (and what I remember from installing). > 2) there is no "cancel" button in the "Install lilo" menu > 3) the default install location is the root partition and not MBR > 4) "Install grub" is visible only if DEBCONF_PRIORITY="medium" or > "low" AIUI, a new version of grub is needed in testing before we can consider changing the default to grub; however, regardless of what the default is, I agree that users should not be offered a bootloader choice at DEBCONF_PRIORITY=high. > 5) lilo is the "default" installer > 6) there is currently no way to create a boot floppy instead > 7) there is currently no way to not install any bootloader > My experience from helping Windows literate people to install > Debian GNU/Linux on their systems tells me to not touch the > master boot record unless specifically asked to do so --- and > this is the rare occasion where I would like to see 2 > confirmations! This is a point where I was asked the most > questions. IMHO it worked best to tell folks: > ``Create a boot floppy. If you want Linux, boot the floppy. If > you want Windows (or whatever), remove the floppy and boot. When > you like it, install the boot loader later, when you have become > aquainted with the system. Nothing is broken until you decide to > install a new boot loader.'' Two points: - I don't believe that new Linux users trying to dual-boot Windows and Linux are the primary audience that the installer has to cater to. They're important, but I think that Debian in particular has tended to be better at attracting users from other Linux distributions than from the Windows world. - My own experience is that the floppy media commonly available today are of such low quality that they are far more likely to be a source of novice headache than installing the bootloader on the disk. At least, any problems with installing to disk are potentially remediable bugs, but we can't control the quality of media being used. > Make the system bootable: > + Install lilo (default) > + install grub > + create a boot floppy > (recommended if other OSes are present) > + do not install any boot loader > (I know what I'm doing, and I will not complain :-) > This means rewrite of code, rewrite of translations, and may > rightfully be rejected to go into beta 2. Well, the code for beta2 is already frozen, so this wouldn't be in it. :) > However, I would feel much better, if something close to this can > be agreed to go into beta-3. > Comments/hints/suggestions are, as always, most welcome. It is > not my intention to make a big wave, I just would like a clear > understanding of this point. For the reasons mentioned above, I feel that offering to create a boot floppy *in addition* to installing the (default) bootloader would be ok, but that the option to not install the bootloader (not even on the boot partition that's just been overwritten) should only be presented in expert mode. In most cases, if you have another bootloader on the MBR and your /boot partition is not marked as bootable in the partition table, adding a boot block to the /boot partition is as harmless as doing nothing and can be better explained without scaring the user into leaving his system unbootable. Cheers, -- Steve Langasek postmodern programmer
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