HEADS-UP: Boot Loader Interface Fixes

[Devin Teske]

On Nov 15, 2012, at 6:38 PM, Daniel Eischen wrote:

> On Thu, 15 Nov 2012, Devin Teske wrote:
> 
>> Hi All,
>> 
>> I'm back with more changes to the boot loader menu.
>> 
>> First, don't panic!
>> 
>> Second, calm down!
>> 
>> Let's go over where we've been so-far so we don't repeat it here.
>> 
>> 1. Changing the order of items should be avoided as it "moves the goal posts"
>> 
>> Agreed. This is not always avoidable, but should be avoided if possible.
>> 
>> 2. Hiding "Single User" mode behind a submenu is bad.
>> 
>> Agreed. It's been suggested, "why can't it be an action item?" I've thought about it and it doesn't seem right to be an action item because it's a setting in loader.conf(5). However, nobody said it can't be both an action item _and_ a boolean option.
>> 
>> ===
>> 
>> Now that we've covered those basics, let me explain the current situation:
>> 
>> If you are a proponent of the "goal posts" argument, then you may find yourself astonished one day to find that the following procedure does not work:
>> 
>> + Boot to beastie menu
>> + Press V to enable verbosity
>> + Press Enter to boot
>> 
>> The reason the above may fail and violate POLA is because of the improvements made in SVN r241523. Since r241523, adding something like:
>> 
>> 	boot_verbose="YES"
>> 
>> to loader.conf(5) will not cause the boot menu to display a default ON-status for the Verbose boot option. In this case, booting and pressing V will disable verbose boot.
>> 
>> Given that all boot options in the menu are dynamically-initializing and will inherit the states of their respective options from loader.conf(5), a new problem emerges:
>> 
>> 	Q. How does one go about restoring the defaults in the event that a system doesn't boot?
>> 
>> Furthermore, the person may not know what the defaults are.
>> 
>> The need arises to have a "Load Defaults" option.
>> 
>> However, the introduction of this new menu item would both crowd the main menu and (unless appended to the end) violate the first rule of not re-ordering items (which we just argued that it doesn't matter if you memorize the numbers, their initial state may be negated from what the user expects).
>> 
>> The latter arguments of crowded main-menu and that the memorization of numbers is broken right now brings up the good idea of utilizing submenus (reasoning that if we have to make a change, best to make a change that can last).
>> 
>> ===
>> 
>> I want to move the boot options into a submenu. This submenu will have all the boot options you see today on the main menu.
>> 
>> At the same time, add a "Load Defaults" action item for resetting the various boot options to their hard-coded defaults (overriding loader.conf(5) inheritance).
>> 
>> ===
>> 
>> While proposing this, I realize that we need an easy way to get to single-user mode. So in-addition to be able to access SUM as a boolean option in the "Boot Options" submenu, I propose adding a new "alternate boot" menu item to the main menu.
>> 
>> At the same time, I've recognized the need to have more feedback in the "Boot" option. For example, it would be nice if setting boot_single="YES" in loader.conf(5) that the first menu item said "Boot Single User [Enter]" -- vociferating the default boot action. Meanwhile, the "Alternate Boot" (not actually titled that) gives a quick and easy way of booting Multi-User in the case of boot_single="YES" or vice-versa.
> 
> I always disliked adding the large FreeBSD logo and beastie
> to the boot screen.  Nearly 3/4 of the real-estate is that.
> 

echo "loader_logo=none" >> /boot/loader.conf
echo "loader_brand=none" >> /boot/loader.conf
-- 
Devin


> I'd rather put all the information on one screen and do
> away with the large logo and beastie.  Perhaps there
> should be an option to "6: Show Large Logo and Beastie" ;-)
> 
> -- 
> DE

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