Bugzilla – Bug 1149070
Make use of plymouth features while loading the installation images
Last modified: 2022-09-22 14:27:44 UTC
To better justify the waiting time while loading the installation system, we could use plymouth to display a progress bar accurately representing the progress, which is displayed in the log when the installer sets itself up. plymouth --help command reveals what commands should be run to show a progressbar: # To change the display to "updates mode" plymouth change-mode --updates # To display a custom message plymouth display-message --text="[TEXT]" # To change the progress status plymouth system-update --progress=[0-100] # etc. The order should most likely be to first display the basic messages (Loading the basic drivers, Starting hardware detection etc.) and then showing the progress for the Loading Installation System steps. Keep in mind, this will work with the splash used as the default in Tumbleweed (bgrt theme), not with the theme currently used in the installation scenario (tribar theme). The themes would need to be swapped, either for the TW default or the spinner theme (this will require further investigation into space constrains). An implementation of this already exists in multiple programs, like: PackageKit https://github.com/hughsie/PackageKit/blob/master/client/pk-offline-update.c fwupd https://github.com/fwupd/fwupd/blob/master/src/fu-offline.c This would increase user's understanding of the boot process, and let them know that the installation will load up soon, without entering a less friendly looking console.
(In reply to Stasiek Michalski from comment #0) > ...without entering a less friendly looking console. White on black is friendly, maximum contrast, easy to see, unlike green on gray or gray on green. White on black is part of existing necessities, so takes up no extra space on installation media.
Well, we've *had* something like this in pre-plymouth times (with kernel splash). Then we switched to plymouth, had to cut down on features, and since then nobody really cared. FWIW, the old progress update function even still exists (and is called in the code at intervalls): https://github.com/openSUSE/linuxrc/blob/master/util.c#L1669 Also, note that the last step(s) (should) happen not in linuxrc but in the yast startup scripts.
(In reply to Felix Miata from comment #1) > (In reply to Stasiek Michalski from comment #0) > > ...without entering a less friendly looking console. > > White on black is friendly, maximum contrast, easy to see, unlike green on > gray or gray on green. White on black is part of existing necessities, so > takes up no extra space on installation media. Current Tumbleweed splash is white on black, albeit with larger fonts and more branding (and well, better looking overall). (In reply to Steffen Winterfeldt from comment #2) > Well, we've *had* something like this in pre-plymouth times (with kernel > splash). > > Then we switched to plymouth, had to cut down on features, and since then > nobody > really cared. > > FWIW, the old progress update function even still exists (and is called in > the > code at intervalls): > > https://github.com/openSUSE/linuxrc/blob/master/util.c#L1669 > > Also, note that the last step(s) (should) happen not in linuxrc but in the > yast > startup scripts. Ah, that's really helpful, thank you for that tip!
Tracking in YaST Scrum board.
This would be in gfxboot which is not maintained outside the YaST team by snwint@suse.com. Reassigning.