Re: 9.0 beta2 & the new bsdinstaller

On Sun, Sep 25, 2011 at 3:01 PM, Fbsd8 <fbsd8_at_a1poweruser.com> wrote:
> deeptech71_at_gmail.com wrote:
>>
>> Fbsd8 wrote:
>>>
>>> 6. At the "Complete screen" when the reboot option is selected the
>>> cd/dvd drive should automatically open so the install media can be
>>> removed just like sysinstall does. If disc1.iso or dvd.iso was installed
>>> to memstick and used to boot from to install the system, then a message
>>> screen should pop out saying the memstick has to be removed now before
>>> the reboot starts. Don't let the reboot occur until the memstick is
>>> removed.
>>
>> Do NOT alter! More often than not,
>> (1) you keep floppies, optical discs, and memory sticks in your
>> computer without intending to boot from them, and
>> (2) you'll want to use your BIOS's boot-once functionality (press a
>> specific keyboard button to bring up the media choser menu for that
>> boot; otherwise boot from the hard drives) whenever you do want to
>> boot from floppies, optical discs, or memory sticks.
>>
>>
>>
> You have missed the subject completely of what #6 is addressing. This has
> nothing to do with telling the pc hardware which media to boot from at power
> up time like you suggest in your post.
>
> This has to do with the logic of the new bsdinstall process and the
> differences between bsdinstall and sysinstall in the way the install media
> is removed from the pc before it reboots as part of the normal install
> process.

I did not suggest anything related to hardware settings. FreeBSD can't
and shouldn't manipulate settings of a proprietary BIOS. In fact,
proper BIOSes have the option to allow changes to settings only via
the hardware-based BIOS menu (ie., to block the OS from changing BIOS
settings). Instead, I stated the reason why
- unmounting and ejecting the disc, or
- unmounting the memory stick and waiting for it to be removed
will be a nuisance for the majority of the users, and a convenience
for only the minority.

As others (Chris Rees, Miroslav Lachman) have said, a simple reminder
is sufficient.

BTW, let's assume that the user uses WRONG(TM) boot settings in the
BIOS, and therefore does want to remove a disc or memory stick at the
end of the installation process. What is the manual removability of
discs and memory sticks at the end of the installation process?
Because
- I can't eject discs (via the drive's eject button) while they are mounted,
- recently, there were some FreeBSD instability issues when unplugging
mounted memory sticks.
So it seems that bsdinstall should first unmount the installation
media. On the other hand, unacknowledged unmounting is still not
desired, because theoretically the user might want to do something via
the auxiliary console, for which the installation media is required.

To cover the above points, I propose the following dialog:
(1) the body text of "Installation has finished. You may now reboot
the machine. You also have the option to unmount/eject the
installation media before rebooting. Removal of the media may be
required to avoid starting the installer again on the next boot.",
(2) a button labeled "unmount/eject installation media",
(3) a button labeled "reboot", which should be the default selection.
Chosing the "unmount/eject installation media" button will unmount the
media, and eject it if it's a disc, and the following dialog will be
shown:
(1) the body text of "Please remove the installation media. Press any
key to reboot."