Re: Discussion: what would not blocking on btrfs look like?

Vendula Poncova <[email protected]> Tue, 10 Sep 2019 17:57:11 +0200
Newsgroups gmane.linux.redhat.anaconda.devel
Message-ID <CAAmygTTcC5Y6bQWwMqqj4QigHEaQ6MGokmyd9W9uggW12MdAUA@mail.gmail.com>
--===============7745153007939089171==
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="000000000000cadbc7059234f537"

--000000000000cadbc7059234f537
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

On Mon, Sep 9, 2019 at 5:10 PM Adam Williamson <[email protected]>
wrote:

> On Mon, 2019-09-09 at 15:19 +0200, Vendula Poncova wrote:
> > On Fri, Sep 6, 2019 at 3:02 AM Adam Williamson <
> [email protected]>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > On Tue, 2019-09-03 at 13:38 -0400, David Lehman wrote:
> > > > On Fri, 2019-08-23 at 12:16 -0700, Adam Williamson wrote:
> > > > > Hey folks!
> > > >
> > > > Hi Adam! Thanks for bringing this up again.
> > > >
> > > > > So...what should we do? Here are the options as I see 'em:
> > > > >
> > > > > 1. Keep supporting btrfs
> > > > > 2. Just modify the criterion with a btrfs exception, even if it's
> > > > > weird
> > > > > 3. Rewrite the criterion entirely
> > > > > 4. Keep btrfs support in the installer (and blivet-gui) but hide it
> > > > > as
> > > > > we used to - require a special boot argument for it to be visible
> > > > > 5. Drop btrfs support from the installer
> > > >
> > > > I like option 3 most. The current criteria have always seemed, to me,
> > > > too vague. I'd be happy to help hash out the details if/when it
> > > > happens.
> > >
> > > Thanks for the offer.
> > >
> > > So aside from the 'fun' of drafting very specific rules, my concern
> > > with #3 is we would then potentially be shipping an installer that
> > > presents things as roughly equal choices which are not in fact equally
> > > supported. You can pick 'btrfs' or 'ext4' from the dropdown...but one
> > > of those we commit to making sure is working, one of them we don't.
> > >
> > > That to me is concerning; in this scenario I'd prefer we indicate
> > > somehow, somewhere, that all the choices are not equally guaranteed to
> > > be reliable. WDYT?
> > >
> >
> > Hi Adam,
> >
> > I think that the best option is to add a new storage validation check
> that
> > will report a warning if a user wants to use a file system that is not
> > recommended by the installed product. The list of recommended file
> systems
> > would be provided by the Anaconda configuration files, so products and
> > variants could override it.
> >
> > We already show warnings with recommendations, for example for too small
> > root partition or missing swap. The storage validation checks are run for
> > every type of partitioning, results are logged and warnings have to be
> > waved by the user in the interactive mode.
>
> This could work, however it's what I'd call "backwards UI" (I'm sure
> there's a real term for it, but I'm not an expert so I don't know what
> it is) - it's a pattern I find annoying because it makes you make
> choices *before you know what the constraints are*, then tells you you
> broke the mystery rules you didn't know about. ;) It's like password
> systems that just say 'enter a password', then you enter one, and
> *then* it says 'oh BTW it's meant to have more than 8 characters', so
> you enter one with more than 8 characters and it says 'oh yeah and one
> of them has to be upper case', so you upper case one, then it says 'oh
> yeah and one has to be a special character', then you shoot the PC and
> go herd yaks...:P
>

Warnings inform you about potential risks of your choices, but you are
allowed to ignore them unlike the error messages you are talking about. It
is like, when you enter a password with non-ASCII characters, the password
system can say 'be careful, you might not be able to switch a keyboard
layout when typing it', but you can still go ahead and use your password
anyway.

I would expect that users in general know what they are doing (I thought
that is the premise of the Custom Partitioning Spoke), so I understand the
warning about unsupported file systems as a disclaimer.

-- 
> Adam Williamson
> Fedora QA Community Monkey
> IRC: adamw | Twitter: AdamW_Fedora | XMPP: adamw AT happyassassin . net
> http://www.happyassassin.net
>
> _______________________________________________
> Anaconda-devel-list mailing list
> [email protected]
> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/anaconda-devel-list
>

--000000000000cadbc7059234f537
Content-Type: text/html; charset="UTF-8"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<div dir=3D"ltr"><div dir=3D"ltr"></div><br><div class=3D"gmail_quote"><div=
 dir=3D"ltr" class=3D"gmail_attr">On Mon, Sep 9, 2019 at 5:10 PM Adam Willi=
amson &lt;<a href=3D"mailto:[email protected]" target=3D"_blank">a=
[email protected]</a>&gt; wrote:<br></div><blockquote class=3D"gmai=
l_quote" style=3D"margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,20=
4,204);padding-left:1ex">On Mon, 2019-09-09 at 15:19 +0200, Vendula Poncova=
 wrote:<br>
&gt; On Fri, Sep 6, 2019 at 3:02 AM Adam Williamson &lt;<a href=3D"mailto:a=
[email protected]" target=3D"_blank">[email protected]</a>=
&gt;<br>
&gt; wrote:<br>
&gt; <br>
&gt; &gt; On Tue, 2019-09-03 at 13:38 -0400, David Lehman wrote:<br>
&gt; &gt; &gt; On Fri, 2019-08-23 at 12:16 -0700, Adam Williamson wrote:<br=
>
&gt; &gt; &gt; &gt; Hey folks!<br>
&gt; &gt; &gt; <br>
&gt; &gt; &gt; Hi Adam! Thanks for bringing this up again.<br>
&gt; &gt; &gt; <br>
&gt; &gt; &gt; &gt; So...what should we do? Here are the options as I see &=
#39;em:<br>
&gt; &gt; &gt; &gt; <br>
&gt; &gt; &gt; &gt; 1. Keep supporting btrfs<br>
&gt; &gt; &gt; &gt; 2. Just modify the criterion with a btrfs exception, ev=
en if it&#39;s<br>
&gt; &gt; &gt; &gt; weird<br>
&gt; &gt; &gt; &gt; 3. Rewrite the criterion entirely<br>
&gt; &gt; &gt; &gt; 4. Keep btrfs support in the installer (and blivet-gui)=
 but hide it<br>
&gt; &gt; &gt; &gt; as<br>
&gt; &gt; &gt; &gt; we used to - require a special boot argument for it to =
be visible<br>
&gt; &gt; &gt; &gt; 5. Drop btrfs support from the installer<br>
&gt; &gt; &gt; <br>
&gt; &gt; &gt; I like option 3 most. The current criteria have always seeme=
d, to me,<br>
&gt; &gt; &gt; too vague. I&#39;d be happy to help hash out the details if/=
when it<br>
&gt; &gt; &gt; happens.<br>
&gt; &gt; <br>
&gt; &gt; Thanks for the offer.<br>
&gt; &gt; <br>
&gt; &gt; So aside from the &#39;fun&#39; of drafting very specific rules, =
my concern<br>
&gt; &gt; with #3 is we would then potentially be shipping an installer tha=
t<br>
&gt; &gt; presents things as roughly equal choices which are not in fact eq=
ually<br>
&gt; &gt; supported. You can pick &#39;btrfs&#39; or &#39;ext4&#39; from th=
e dropdown...but one<br>
&gt; &gt; of those we commit to making sure is working, one of them we don&=
#39;t.<br>
&gt; &gt; <br>
&gt; &gt; That to me is concerning; in this scenario I&#39;d prefer we indi=
cate<br>
&gt; &gt; somehow, somewhere, that all the choices are not equally guarante=
ed to<br>
&gt; &gt; be reliable. WDYT?<br>
&gt; &gt; <br>
&gt; <br>
&gt; Hi Adam,<br>
&gt; <br>
&gt; I think that the best option is to add a new storage validation check =
that<br>
&gt; will report a warning if a user wants to use a file system that is not=
<br>
&gt; recommended by the installed product. The list of recommended file sys=
tems<br>
&gt; would be provided by the Anaconda configuration files, so products and=
<br>
&gt; variants could override it.<br>
&gt; <br>
&gt; We already show warnings with recommendations, for example for too sma=
ll<br>
&gt; root partition or missing swap. The storage validation checks are run =
for<br>
&gt; every type of partitioning, results are logged and warnings have to be=
<br>
&gt; waved by the user in the interactive mode.<br>
<br>
This could work, however it&#39;s what I&#39;d call &quot;backwards UI&quot=
; (I&#39;m sure<br>
there&#39;s a real term for it, but I&#39;m not an expert so I don&#39;t kn=
ow what<br>
it is) - it&#39;s a pattern I find annoying because it makes you make<br>
choices *before you know what the constraints are*, then tells you you<br>
broke the mystery rules you didn&#39;t know about. ;) It&#39;s like passwor=
d<br>
systems that just say &#39;enter a password&#39;, then you enter one, and<b=
r>
*then* it says &#39;oh BTW it&#39;s meant to have more than 8 characters&#3=
9;, so<br>
you enter one with more than 8 characters and it says &#39;oh yeah and one<=
br>
of them has to be upper case&#39;, so you upper case one, then it says &#39=
;oh<br>
yeah and one has to be a special character&#39;, then you shoot the PC and<=
br>
go herd yaks...:P<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Warnings inform you a=
bout potential risks of your choices, but you are allowed to ignore them un=
like the error messages you are talking about. It is like, when you enter a=
 password with non-ASCII characters, the password system can say &#39;be ca=
reful, you might not be able to switch a keyboard layout when typing it&#39=
;, but you can still go ahead and use your password anyway.</div><div><br><=
/div><div>I would expect that users in general know what they are doing (I =
thought that is the premise of the Custom Partitioning Spoke), so I underst=
and the warning about unsupported file systems as a disclaimer.<br></div><d=
iv> <br></div><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0px 0px 0px=
 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
-- <br>
Adam Williamson<br>
Fedora QA Community Monkey<br>
IRC: adamw | Twitter: AdamW_Fedora | XMPP: adamw AT happyassassin . net<br>
<a href=3D"http://www.happyassassin.net" rel=3D"noreferrer" target=3D"_blan=
k">http://www.happyassassin.net</a><br>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
Anaconda-devel-list mailing list<br>
<a href=3D"mailto:[email protected]" target=3D"_blank">Anacond=
[email protected]</a><br>
<a href=3D"https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/anaconda-devel-list" rel=
=3D"noreferrer" target=3D"_blank">https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/a=
naconda-devel-list</a><br>
</blockquote></div></div>

--000000000000cadbc7059234f537--


--===============7745153007939089171==
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: inline

_______________________________________________
Anaconda-devel-list mailing list
[email protected]
https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/anaconda-devel-list
--===============7745153007939089171==--