Re: Installation
The Wanderer <wanderer@fastmail.fm> writes:
> On 09/12/2012 09:55 AM, Andrei POPESCU wrote:
>
>> On Mi, 12 sep 12, 08:57:37, The Wanderer wrote:
>>
>>> Admittedly, not presenting the user with such a prompt at all would be less
>>> off-putting than either, but we may not be able to avoid that unless we
>>> relegate the ability to control partitioning/filesystems to the full expert
>>> install - and there may well be people who would prefer to handle their own
>>> partitioning, but would not be comfortable with all the details of the
>>> expert install process.
>>
>> One shortcut could be added: if the system has only one mass storage
>> device[1] display a simple prompt to choose between wiping
>> everything (and
>> doing a all-in-one partition install without other questions asked) or
>> proceeding to partitioning as usual.
>
> But how do you phrase such a prompt so that it won't be confusing (or otherwise
> off-putting) to our hypothetical "user who has no idea what a partition is"?
Simply ask the user if they want to allow the installer to remove all
data that might be stored on their computer and tell them that they
won't be able to get it back once it has been removed unless they go to
great lengths like employing professional data recovery services.
If they say yes, present them with a big red warning asking if they
really want that, and if they still say yes, the installer can do its
partitioning in whatever way it wants.[1] Do that as early as possible.
If the user says no, they have two options: Either not to install or to
decide themselves what they want. If they want to decide themselves,
you can help them to learn in ways I've described in other posts.
This wouldn't constitute a need to delegate partitioning entirely to the
expert installation mode. If you want to partition yourself, you just
say no and do it yourself.
[1]: I don't know if that sufficiently covers UEFI boards with which I
have no experience with. Apparently such boards need software
installed on some storage media to be able to boot which some user
might not want to allow the installer to remove. (How does this
software get onto a storage media in the first place? Is there
something included in the package when you buy such a board?)
> As I understand the discussion so far how to avoid putting off that
> hypothetical user is precisely the issue at hand.
It's also about not keeping users stupid. When someone figures that
doing something is over their heads, they either need to learn more or
don't do it or find an alternative. Letting someone realise that they
are attempting to do something which is over their heads can be a good
thing to do. The number of direct choices you can give them (with some
installation software) is limited.
>> [1] more than one mass storage device can mean that the user has at least
>> some knowledge of partitions and also the risk of doing something wrong is
>> too big.
>
> There's also the consideration that an "all in one partition" install isn't
> necessarily the smartest thing in the first place - a separate /tmp/ at the very
> least would seem like a good idea. But the question of what the default "the
> user didn't want to handle partitioning at all" configuration should be is a
> separate one, and I may not know as much about the subject as I think I do.
Yes, that's a different issue. Some improvement there would be nice.
--
Debian testing amd64
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