Re: Warning before running update-grub (was: Filing bug reports in Debian)
Hal Vaughan wrote:
> Instead of just calling
> update-grub, a script could have said, "This update will
> re-write /boot/grub/menu.lst. Press return to continue." That would
> have been enough (although giving a choice of continuing or not would
> have been nice, too).
> [...]
> I see the point of how and why it's overwritten, but still maintain a
> bash script with a warning would be appropriate.
>
I disagree. Installations should be made in order to be as automated as
possible, prompting the user or stopping in any way should only be done
in really important cases.
I think that such a warning is unnecessary, because it is not relevant
in most cases. The automatic overwriting of some parts of the file will
only render the system unusable in two cases:
a) The update-grub has a bug and does something it shouldn't. This can
happen, though is certainly not something common or expected. And even
so, such a warning is superfluous: it would be the same as if your mail
program warned, before each time it downloads mail: "I'll download new
mails and change the contents of your inbox, so please make a backup of
your mail files now, and then press ENTER to continue."
b) The user has changed the menu.lst file manually. In this case, the
user should probably have noted the warnings and pointers to
documentation that are present in that file, in which case he should
already be aware of the automatic calls to update-grub. And provided he
does not change a few specific parts of the file, it is perfectly
possible to edit the file, and changes will be preserved even after
update-grub.
Moreover, not-so-experienced users would be confused by a prompt about
changing that file, a probably they likely don't know nothing about.
While I think no OS should get in the way of advanced users doing
advanced things, new users should be kept in mind. And all the power is
given to advanced users that want to deal manually with the Grub
configuration, including the ability to disable running update-grub, or
run another script instead.
--
The world is full of people who have never, since childhood, met an
open doorway with an open mind.
-- E. B. White
Eduardo M KALINOWSKI
eduardo@kalinowski.com.br
http://move.to/hpkb
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