Re: Only display ACPI bootmenu key if ACPI is present

On Tue, Nov 9, 2010 at 3:58 PM, Kevin Oberman <oberman_at_es.net> wrote:
>> Date: Tue, 9 Nov 2010 15:45:00 -0800
>> From: Garrett Cooper <gcooper_at_FreeBSD.org>
>> Sender: owner-freebsd-current_at_freebsd.org
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 9, 2010 at 2:58 PM, C. P. Ghost <cpghost_at_cordula.ws> wrote:
>> > On Mon, Nov 8, 2010 at 11:14 PM, John Baldwin <jhb_at_freebsd.org> wrote:
>> >> This patch changes the Forth code for the Beastie menu to only display the
>> >> menu option to enable or disable ACPI if the loader detects ACPI.  This avoids
>> >> displaying a menu item prompting to enable ACPI if the BIOS doesn't actually
>> >> include ACPI.  Any objections?
>> >
>> > Wouldn't that be a POLA violation? Some admins may be used to the
>> > current menu, and would be scratching head as what went wrong.
>> > Maybe it would be better to keep the menu option, but make it
>> > non-selectable and print next to it something like "(not available)"?
>>
>>     Yeah... seems like it would be; besides, I'm kind of used to
>> pressing numbers 4 and 6 when I have a boot menu :).
>
> Wait a minute. The menu is a POLA violation. I'm used to hitting
> '<SPC>boot -s' and entering just '4' is clearly not the way the Lord
> meant it to be. (I edit the loader.4th file to turn it off o my personal
> systems, being an old curmudgeon.)

    I use a bit easier means on some systems:

/boot/defaults/loader.conf:#beastie_disable="NO"		# Turn the beastie
boot menu on and off

> If you are going to use a menu at all, why not make it as functional as
> possible? If someone has menus on and hits '4' with the PCBSD menu, it
> won't do what it does now, but it won't really do anything at all until
> you tell it to go. As POLA violations go this is nothing compared to
> when the menu appeared.

    Whatever... people are going to gripe either way with this change,
so I guess making people think is more important than misleading them
into thinking things work. It's just easier to slap someone on the
hand if they hit ACPI, and less annoying for automated expect scripts
because they don't have to hit a different number, but I suppose if
they were smart they would use the loader prompt anyhow instead of the
menu *shrugs*.
    So, this is a "I understand, slap me on the hand if I hit 4 or 6"
agreement :).
Thanks,
-Garrett