On Sat, Oct 03, 1998 at 01:12:32PM -0700, jim@laney.edu wrote:
> (disclaimer: jim@laney.edu does NOT have voting status)
disclaimer: knghtbrd@debian.org does, but this is just the comment stage so
your comments are welcome, at least by me (specially since for the most part
you are stating my views.. hehehe) =>
> About not having to press enter during an install process...
>
> I like the idea as an admin... it lets me upgrade lots of machines at once.
> I would add that configuration of packages can be handled by GNU expect or
> some such equivalent for totally hands-free installs of debian from scratch,
> something that an admin would majorly cherish.
A suggestion... Howabout the messages of that type are simply collected
into a file. When dpkg is done installing and configuring, apt or dselect
or whatever decides what to do with the file. Simplest solution:
#!/bin/bash
# I never know if my scripts have bashisms or not, so I assume they do, even
# if I know this one does not so forgive the use of bash where sh will do.
exec /usr/bin/sensible-pager $1
Something more advanced might be...
#!/bin/bash
if (dpkg -l mail-transport-agent | grep ^ii > /dev/null); then
mail -s "dpkg install results" root < $1;
else
(echo "WARNING: could not send mail to root"; \
echo " sending to pager instead"; echo ""; cat $1) | \
sensible-pager;
fi
Please note that dpkg -l mail-transport-agent DOES NOT WORK so far as I can
tell, I get un for it instead of ii or whatever. It's provided by exim,
but. Perhaps there is another method I don't know of? (I'd {imagine,hope}
there is..)
> Whether it's mailed to root (or the first created user), placed in a log file,
> delayed until all packages are configured or each individual piece of info
> is delayed until such time as it's needed in the install process (maybe
> delaying configuration, or alternatively moving configuration ahead so that
> all such packages are configured before other packges not requiring "press
> enter to ack" are configured), the user should have a choice. Debian shouldn't
> make assumptions like "this user is an admin" or "all users should know unix"
> (a way-wayyyy-too-often-made assumption) or "this user is a newbie -- coddle
> accordingly".
Does the above suffice? The default should be to send to sensible pager,
but something more advanced like the above could be in the file commented
out suggesting you MIGHT prefer it to the other method.
I personally would keep the pager myself because I want those messages right
then. I might add a prompt "Show me now, Mail root the info, Both [S,m,b]"
for myself, but that looks kinda stupid so I probably wouldn't. =>
> As a new user, however, I'd want to be informed about everything on-the-fly
> as is now done. I'd want to be able to say "wut id dis?" and "hewp me figger
> out wut yu ar tellig me" (disclaimer: I don't assume that all newbies have
> problems speling :)
>
> Summary: I am suggesting here that the level of verbosity during the unpacking
> and configuring of packages should be looked at together with the problem of
> the cloning of admin boxes: admin boxes should -never- pause, and complete
> config info can be built into expect scripts, while newbie installs -should-
> pause and allow the user to take in the info. There may be midpoints, and
> also points beyond these supposed extreme points.
So add an easily commented out couple of lines explaining how to use a the
pager in question? =>
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