Technology Roadmap – FreeBSD Foundation
freebsdfoundation.org
Enjoy.
disklabel -E
. However for all other parts of the installer, I really don't see how the TUI dialogs improve it. Perhaps it gives an illusion that it is "easier"?OpenBSD doesn't really have this option so just thrusts you intodisklabel -E
. However for all other parts of the installer, I really don't see how the TUI dialogs improve it. Perhaps it gives an illusion that it is "easier"?
… The installer is actually so basic (which is a good thing) …
… Were you using FreeBSD before we had bsdinstall? …
Deterministic installs are much easier to diagnose issues.
Haha, no. ee is tiny like (n)vi so certainly no problem in base. What I do think would be frustrating is if *sometimes* it is installed, *sometimes* (n)vi is missing, etc. Just because some guy decided one way or the other when he installed FreeBSD. This is the part that should be deterministic. A proper concept of a base install rather than an ever changing random selection of packages.I can't imagine a preference for ee making diagnosis difficult.
… if *sometimes* it is installed, *sometimes* (n)vi is missing, …
Yeah the Handbook is incredibly detailed. Perhaps too detailed for a new user! I do think it would be good to have a 'guide for new people' just focusing on the basics coming from other operating systems*. As for the default editor the installer already asks for a default shell (sh, csh, tcsh). It would just be a case of adding an additional prompt asking which editor to use (vi, ee)? Of all the difficulties FreeBSD is facing I would think that would be the least of the issues!I don't know.
I do recall experimenting with FreeBSD, long ago, on an iMac G5, I found things unreasonably difficult. Generally unusable. The difficulties were not with the installer. The FreeBSD Handbook was way too dense, walls of text. I don't doubt that the texts made sense to people who were already familiar with FreeBSD, however to me: the walls were barriers to understanding problems and so, I simply abandoned FreeBSD. Abandoned for years.
My eventual switch from Mac OS X was to PC-BSD.
I can't imagine a preference for ee making diagnosis difficult.
No me neither.I'm not aware of any suggestion to remove vi from base.
… a supplementary 'guide for new people' just focusing on the basics coming from other operating systems. …
… they will make a mess. …
ee is in base. What if a beginner unselects both ee and vi during installation (because both are "old fashioned") and then something likeHow can a personal preference for ee make a mess?
visudo
or git commit
fails because they broke base?… unselects both ee and vi during installation …
A whole question just for this (trivial) list of editors? Seems this is almost certainly a per user choice too. You can see in the default profile scripts the EDITOR variable is set.I'd like the installer to ask the person installing whether the installed system should default to:
- ee (easy editor); or
- vi.
visudo
or git
even respect your choice? Every port like this would need to be modified. It is probably also a reason why Microsoft Windows installer doesn't give you the choice between notepad
and edit
during the installer.visudo or git even respect your choice?
Every port like this would need to be modified. … Microsoft Windows …
No it doesn't. It just uses the EDITOR variable. Not some globally set editor preference. The closest you can probably get is setting the default dot.profile skel file.visudo certainly does.
Don't see it as conflating the issue, see it as prior research. No OS installer currently asks for preferred editor. You don't want to scare off users asking them pointless questions. You might need to have a look around and try some more installers out to see what works and what doesn't (certainly the OpenBSD one is a good example).Please, let's not conflate the issue.
pointless
You going to ask them what pager they prefer to use next?That's not an incentive to correct you.
useradd
command.Please, let's not conflate the issue.
Please, let's not conflate the issue.
You going to ask them what pager they prefer to use next?
OK, Well I'm going to leave it here then because just focusing on an editor selection during installation is a little bit too trivial and narrow to even be considered when there are *far* more difficulties that a beginner will encounter along their travels.Please, let's not conflate the issue.
… how many editors …
I'm aware of only three in base:
- the two above, for which the installer might offer a choice
- ed(1).
… package installation … support …
pkg rquery '%m %w' geany
I never saw the proof of concept