Contents
Summary
The user experience with Mageia Installer can be adversely affected because:
- Some options aren't clear
- In many screens, it is impossible to go back
- It is impossible to stop the installation and reboot cleanly
It is suggested that altering the logical workflow of the installer will mitigate these issues and protect the user from accidental loss of data in more complex installations.
Owner
- Name: Vladimir Zawalinski (based on feature requests for Mageia 5 by Lebarhon and Lewis)
- Email: vzawalin2@gmail.com
Resources
Atelier, Developers, Doc, Unit Testers, Packagers and QA. I am prepared to undertake the initial analysis and assist further as far as I can.
Current status
- Targeted release: Mageia 6
- Last updated: 2025/05/11
- Percentage of completion: 0%
As the first alphas for Mageia 6 are being considered for early 2016, a more realistic target may become Mageia 7.
Detailed Description
The workflow through the current Mageia installer is something like:
- Get language information and other details.
- Force immediate disk partitioning.
- Get more information.
- Complete the installation.
This installation workflow is also used by Debian. It can result in poor choices at the partitioning stage (or before) leading to possible loss of data. It also introduces 'points of no return' from which it is logically not possible to exit cleanly.
An alternative workflow, provided by Suse, Fedora and Ubuntu is:
- Ask user for all necessary details to complete the installation
- Assist or allow the user to make partitioning choices
- The user can revert from any screen during this process to the previous one
- The user is presented with a clear summary of all installation choices made including proposed partitioning and formatting actions
- The user can go back from this point to try out different choices and to preview proposed actions by the installer without touching the existing system
- If unhappy, the user can bail out altogether at this point with no changes made to their computer
OR
- Decide to go proceed based on informed choices.
The basis for proposing this feature includes installer-related feature requests for Mageia 5 that were refused at the time and some installer-related bugs, mostly uncovered during QA process for Mageia 5.
Why it would be good for Mageia to include it
- User can preview and adjust installation and partitioning details without committing them to disk
- Protects user as far as possible against data loss resulting from installation or partitioning mistakes
- User can back out of the installation setup at any time and reboot back into an intact pre-existing system
- Protects Megeia's reputation by substantially reducing the likelihood of disastrous user experiences
- More efficient QA testing as it will be possible to see predicted installer actions without waiting for a lengthy installation cycle to complete
- Hub and spokes architecture is easier to maintain than a linear one
- The outcome will be a single installer that can be included on classical or live isos, reducing the maintenance, packaging and testing workload
Test case
Work through the installer dialogue, backtrack changing choices, finally install and evaluate the result. This testing should initially be limited to a small group of testers until confidence is gained in the end-product.
Software / Packages Dependencies
Most existing screens and routines can be retained, some with small changes, but the mainline logic will have to be rewritten. The summary screen and final processing will largely be new code.
What could disrupt development of this new feature
- Lack of consensus
- Insufficient resources
Planning
As this is a key component of the whole distribution, planning should start now with atelier, dev and QA all contributing.
Contingency
Release with the current Mageia Cauldron installer.
Release Notes
Documentation
None as yet. This would require initial analysis of installer logic that would in itself constitute valuable documentation and guide development of a new mainline routine.
