Subject: Re: sysinst problems
To: None <port-sparc@NetBSD.org>
From: der Mouse <mouse@Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA>
List: port-sparc
Date: 12/02/2004 02:05:12
>> My comment was more "there needs to be a `yes, dammit, I know what
>> I'm doing and any resulting problems are my own lookout' knob".

> On one hand, I agree; providing such a knob could be beneficial.

> On the other, I've dealt with numerous support issues because people
> have unconditionally used `expert-mode' knobs and complained because
> things broke.

I suspect that a lot of these are because someone has provided, rather
than fine-grained "yes I want to override this particular safety check"
bits, one global "yes I'm an expert" bit - and then taken functionality
that non-experts commonly want and tucked it away behind that bit.
Lacking any other way to get what they need, they're told to turn on
the expert bit - and then they promptly get burned by one of the
_other_ safety checks that disables.

For sysinst, I'd much rather not have an "expert mode", but rather have
individual "override this check" items.  For example, in this case,
instead of

| partitions d and e overlap.
|
| You can either edit the partition table by hand, or give up and return
| to the main menu.
| 
| Edit the partition table again?

with an expert-mode setting that overrides this among other checks, I'd
rather see something like

| Partitions d and e overlap.  This is likely to cause problems
| because ...explanation...
| 
| Do you want to
| 
|                 **********************************
|                 *>a: re-edit the partition table *
|                 * b: give up                     *
|                 * c: use it anyway (DANGEROUS)   *
|                 **********************************

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