Fedora Workstation Anaconda wishlist

[Michael Catanzaro]

Hi,

The Fedora Workstation team has been considering some changes we'd like
to see in Anaconda to make installation as simple as possible and
reduce redundancy with GNOME Initial Setup. These changes are proposed
for the Workstation installer only and not other products' installers,
so we assume that Anaconda will allow this level of per-product
configurability. Changes would be targeted for F24, not F23, since
we're aware that the Anaconda team is busy on RHEL work right now.

1) Remove the network configuration spoke. In the live installer, this
spoke allows setting only the system hostname, but it follows different
rules for setting the hostname than GNOME and systemd (which has the
concept of a user-facing "pretty hostname" that allows special
characters and spaces). We'd prefer to implement this in Initial Setup
instead, where we can pick a default based on the user's name (e.g.
Michael's Computer).

2) Remove the user account creation spoke. This is redundant with
Initial Setup.

3) Remove the root password configuration spoke. It's very confusing
how this is different from the user's admin account password. Initial
Setup ensures the first user is an administrator (is placed in the
wheel group). Advanced users can set a root password after installation
if desired.

4) With root password and user account creation removed, the
installation progress panel will require a redesign. We haven't thought
much about this. One possibility would be to move the progress bar to
the center of the screen.

5) Optional: We've also discussed removing the hub and spokes and
having one panel flow directly into the next. Many of us feel that
removing the need to choose which spoke to visit next would make the
installer easier to use and perhaps less intimidating, but we do not
have consensus on this point. It isn't related to the goal of reducing
redundancy between Anaconda and GNOME Initial Setup.

This mailing list might not be the greatest place for a discussion of
these changes, since the other Workstation folks are not here. Paul
Frields will work with David Cantrell to arrange a meeting.

Thanks,

Michael

[David Cantrell]

Post by Michael Catanzaro
Hi,
The Fedora Workstation team has been considering some changes we'd like
to see in Anaconda to make installation as simple as possible and
reduce redundancy with GNOME Initial Setup. These changes are proposed
for the Workstation installer only and not other products' installers,
so we assume that Anaconda will allow this level of per-product
configurability. Changes would be targeted for F24, not F23, since
we're aware that the Anaconda team is busy on RHEL work right now.
1) Remove the network configuration spoke. In the live installer, this
spoke allows setting only the system hostname, but it follows different
rules for setting the hostname than GNOME and systemd (which has the
concept of a user-facing "pretty hostname" that allows special
characters and spaces). We'd prefer to implement this in Initial Setup
instead, where we can pick a default based on the user's name (e.g.
Michael's Computer).
2) Remove the user account creation spoke. This is redundant with
Initial Setup.
3) Remove the root password configuration spoke. It's very confusing
how this is different from the user's admin account password. Initial
Setup ensures the first user is an administrator (is placed in the
wheel group). Advanced users can set a root password after installation
if desired.

Each of these items can be discussed further, but I'd prefer meeting
somewhere other than a mailing list. For each request you've listed for us
to remove something, you've provided no explanation as to what replaces it.
g-i-s is fine and all, but my understanding there is it's optional.
Remember that the installer team is charged with ensuring that Fedora users
get an installed system they can use on the first reboot. Removing things
like this increases our risk of failing on that, unless a proposed
replacement is guaranteed.

But these can be discussed further elsewhere.

Post by Michael Catanzaro
4) With root password and user account creation removed, the
installation progress panel will require a redesign. We haven't thought
much about this. One possibility would be to move the progress bar to
the center of the screen.

The progress bar placement allows for optional third party spokes to appear
on that screen.

Post by Michael Catanzaro
5) Optional: We've also discussed removing the hub and spokes and
having one panel flow directly into the next. Many of us feel that
removing the need to choose which spoke to visit next would make the
installer easier to use and perhaps less intimidating, but we do not
have consensus on this point. It isn't related to the goal of reducing
redundancy between Anaconda and GNOME Initial Setup.

Yeah, we're not going to do that. Customizations to allow anaconda to adapt
better to different Fedora variants is one thing, but trashing the only UI
we've had in the installer with actual UX studies, design, and development
backing it is not something we're interested in.

Post by Michael Catanzaro
This mailing list might not be the greatest place for a discussion of
these changes, since the other Workstation folks are not here. Paul
Frields will work with David Cantrell to arrange a meeting.

Yes, I will work with Paul to arrange further discussions.

Thanks,

[Michael Catanzaro]

Post by David Cantrell
For each request you've listed
for us
to remove something, you've provided no explanation as to what
replaces it.
g-i-s is fine and all, but my understanding there is it's optional.

Hm, no, that is the misunderstanding: g-i-s is not optional in Fedora
Workstation. It runs unconditionally on first boot, and creates the
first user if Anaconda has not. The first user is always an admin, so
we can leave the root password unset. We will add a new page to g-i-s
to allow hostname configuration.

Post by David Cantrell
The progress bar placement allows for optional third party spokes to appear
on that screen.

My concern is simply that we don't want all that space to be completely
blank in Fedora Workstation: it looks fine now because we have two
spokes there, but with all the space blank I think it would look quite
awkward.

Post by David Cantrell
Yeah, we're not going to do that. Customizations to allow anaconda to adapt
better to different Fedora variants is one thing, but trashing the only UI
we've had in the installer with actual UX studies, design, and
development
backing it is not something we're interested in.

OK, let's just drop that point then.

Thanks,

Michael

[Matthew Miller]

Post by Michael Catanzaro
4) With root password and user account creation removed, the
installation progress panel will require a redesign. We haven't thought
much about this. One possibility would be to move the progress bar to
the center of the screen.

Bigger splash graphics?

[Jason L Tibbitts III]

MM> Bigger splash graphics?

More hot dog. (Sorry.)

- J<

[Michael Catanzaro]

Post by Michael Catanzaro
The Fedora Workstation team has been considering some changes we'd like
to see in Anaconda to make installation as simple as possible and
reduce redundancy with GNOME Initial Setup.

Well I waited until I thought the Workstation discussion had died down
before taking these changes to anaconda-devel-list, but now we're
discussing keeping language, keyboard layout, and timezone selection in
g-i-s, removing them from anaconda, and running language/keyboard
selection *before* anaconda. The reason is that anaconda is really too
late to pick language and keyboard layout: we should prompt the user
for those before entering the live session, so that users who don't
know to hunt for them in System Settings can change them.

So this alternative proposal is quite simple: remove language selection
and remove every spoke except installation location.