Re: Driver injection disk debconf templates in D-I
Christian PERRIER wrote:
> (please keep crosspost)
>
> Two new templates appeared recently in D-I, in the hw-detect
> component.
>
> They're related to the possibility of using "driver injection disks"
> to allow using OEM drivers for some devices. This feature was imported
> from Ubuntu.
>
> I think that these tempaltes deserve a review, to guarantee
> consistency with wording and style in other parts of D-I.
>
> Here they are:
>
> Template: debian-installer/driver-injection-disk-detect/title
> Type: text
> # Main menu item
> # :sl1:
> _Description: Detect OEM driver injection disks
>
> Template: driver-injection-disk/load
> Type: boolean
> # :sl2:
> _Description: Load OEM supported drivers from driver injection disk?
> Your OEM has prepared internal media that contains the drivers you may
> need for supporting this hardware with this OS release.
Extra problem: a media that contains? Media is a non-countable
noun, so it takes singular agreement. Or to avoid making anybody
worry about that, eliminate the need for agreement by saying:
[...] has prepared internal media containing the drivers [...]
But what on earth are "internal media", anyway? Is it talking about
drivers that are on a partition of the hard drive?
> My first concern here is that "OEM" is close to be jargon....
And jargon that has drifted from the meaning it originally conveyed,
since people now use it to mean the high street PC retailer rather
than the transistor factory or the assembly plant. Users really
shouldn't be expected to care about details of the supply chain
anyway.
> and
> "driver injection disk" is something quite uncommon AFAICT.
>
> Why not just talk about "drivers disk"? This is how things are named
> everywhere (either in the free software world or in the proprietary
> software world).
A "drivers disk" sounds like a floppy/CD/DVD (it seems to rule out
flash drives and memory cards, though this may not be intended).
But I don't know whether or not we're talking about removable media
here anyway.
And when it says "drivers", does it mean modules or firmware?
> "Your OEM" also sounds weird. I do not own any OEM...:-)
Do you mean in the sense that only retailers are entitled to talk
about "our" OEM? Or does "your parents" also sound weird?
> I would say
> something like "my hardware supplier" or "The hardware manufacturer".
> "this hardware": what hardware? The template doesn't say what part of
> the machine might need extra drivers. As it might be complicated to
> telle which in the template, at least we could be vague and say "Some
> hardware"
>
> "this OS release": we never talk like this in other parts of D-I. If
> we want to avoid branding ("this release of Debian"), we could at
> least use "this release of the operating system").
Is there any reason to tie it to a particular release anyway? I
mean, do we know of any hardware that comes with drivers labelled
"certified for use with Debian Lenny"?
And "may need" - is this uncertainty because it can detect the
existence of hardware for which drivers are available, but doesn't
know whether it's (e.g.) your sole network card or whether it's
something that can safely be ignored until the system's up and
running?
Making a few arbitrary guesses about what this template is trying to
say (I won't be very surprised if I'm wrong), I would suggest:
_Description: Load drivers from removable media?
Installing on this hardware may require some firmware to be
loaded from a drivers disk provided by the manufacturers.
--
JBR with qualifications in linguistics, experience as a Debian
sysadmin, and probably no clue about this particular package
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