Skip to content
New issue

Have a question about this project? # for a free GitHub account to open an issue and contact its maintainers and the community.

By clicking “#”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy statement. We’ll occasionally send you account related emails.

Already on GitHub? # to your account

Add import & export functionality for settings #244

Open
wants to merge 5 commits into
base: master
Choose a base branch
from

Conversation

dateiexplorer
Copy link

Hello all together,
here are some more improvements. Don't know if they are wanted by any users but I've had wished they already existed for my purposes.

This request adds an import and export function for the settings, so a user has the ability to load an existing settings configuration for the installation which fits his needs. This is helpful if you have a configuration file, e.g. for VMs or your current environment and you want an easy option to set up your installation quickly without the needs of passing all the menu points.

With this in mind I've added a POSTINSTALL setting, which can be loaded to apply some configuration directly in the install process. This could be helpful if you want to have an easy option to configure your void installation that they fit your needs.
Especially this gives the ability to add other pre-prepared installation scripts later, e.g. to install and configure window managers, desktop environments, only with some additional scripts.

I think this could improve the usability especially for new Linux users. Void is an awesome distribution and I like to see it on more desktops. :D

However, with the current implementation security might be an issue, because the naive implementation of the file storing with root privileges! Just want to know if such a functionality is maybe required by some users.

dateiexplorer added 2 commits March 28, 2022 17:53
…ps after installation

For more automation in the install process the POSTINSTALL settings adds
the ability to execute a script after the base installation process to
configure the installation before reboot.

This gives the ability to automate the installation process and install
software, wm's or desktop environments flawlessly.

The intention of this functionality is to give users the ability to
configure the void installation for their needs at installation time.
Could also be a good place to extend the installer functionality with
custom scripts, e.g. to set up a working development VM with all needed
packages and environment variables.
@Vaelatern
Copy link
Member

I like the idea, but have a concern around making sure people know they can skip this step.

@dateiexplorer
Copy link
Author

dateiexplorer commented Mar 29, 2022

I've flagged those functions "Optional" in the menu as suggested in another PullRequest.
If you run the installer the first menu entry is Import, but the first DEFITEM is still the Keymap. So if you wouldn't import settings (which is I guess the normal use case), you don't need to do anything. The installation process is straightforward as usual. But if you want to import settings the option is only one click away.

I've also improved the Import and Export menu and catch some exceptions that may occur. I've also replaced the cat command with an cp command to avoid overriding the existing configurations if the import fails.

Overall the usage should be far more intuitive than before. :)

Because of the "Optional" flag the menu grows in height but also in width. To ensure that the text is fully visible I've changed also the menu width from 70 to 80 which shouldn't be a problem because the installation menu uses the same sizes.

@classabbyamp classabbyamp added the installer issues and pull requests related to the el cheapo installer label Jul 19, 2022
# for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? # to comment
Labels
installer issues and pull requests related to the el cheapo installer
Projects
None yet
Development

Successfully merging this pull request may close these issues.

3 participants