Package: debian-installer Version: 20081029 Severity: wishlist Tags: patch The attached patch makes it possible to return to the graphical syslinux boot menu after viewing the help screens by typing 'menu'.
Patch is based on research done by Franklin Piat as discussed on #d-boot a few days ago. There is one thing missing in the patch and that is some indication to the user that the option exists. I see three options: 1) add a help text when the user selects Help in the graphical menu I had a look at that but could not make it work: it kept overwriting some existing lines in the menu. Main problem is that because the menu starts so low there are not many lines available. If someone (Franklin maybe?) wants to give this another shot that would be great. 2) add a line in the F1 or other help screen The F1 screen is already pretty full (especially for I suspect sercon!) and I could not really find anywhere else that's logical. Additional problem is that not all installation methods use the vesamenu, so that would need to be made clear, or the text made variable. IMO we should think about restructuring the help screens for Squeeze. 3) mention it in the boot prompt line Even less space and same problem that its not valid for all methods. As this is quite a nice usability improvement (even without the hint), I suggest including it for RC2, but will wait with commit for approval from RM. If accepted, I can probably manage to at least get it documented in the installation guide.
diff --git a/installer/build/boot/x86/exithelp.cfg b/installer/build/boot/x86/exithelp.cfg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6d9579a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/installer/build/boot/x86/exithelp.cfg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+label menu
+ kernel ${SYSDIR}vesamenu.c32
+ config ${SYSDIR}${SYSLINUX_CFG}
diff --git a/installer/build/boot/x86/prompt.cfg b/installer/build/boot/x86/prompt.cfg
index cd2957d..5ee6b27 100644
--- a/installer/build/boot/x86/prompt.cfg
+++ b/installer/build/boot/x86/prompt.cfg
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ prompt 1
display ${SYSDIR}f1.txt
timeout 0
include ${SYSDIR}menu.cfg
+include ${SYSDIR}exithelp.cfg
f1 ${SYSDIR}f1.txt
f2 ${SYSDIR}f2.txt
diff --git a/installer/build/config/x86.cfg b/installer/build/config/x86.cfg
index 39a52f6..75bdd5c 100644
--- a/installer/build/config/x86.cfg
+++ b/installer/build/config/x86.cfg
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ endif
VIDEO_MODE $(VIDEO_MODE) \
VIDEO_MODE_GTK $(VIDEO_MODE_GTK) \
BEEP "$$beep" \
+ SYSLINUX_CFG syslinux.cfg \
| todos | mcopy -i$(TEMP_BOOT) - ::$$outfile; \
fi; \
)
@@ -169,6 +170,7 @@ arch_cd_info_dir:
VIDEO_MODE $(VIDEO_MODE) \
VIDEO_MODE_GTK $(VIDEO_MODE_GTK) \
BEEP "$$beep" \
+ SYSLINUX_CFG isolinux.cfg \
> $(TEMP_CD_INFO_DIR)/$$outfile; \
)
@@ -228,6 +230,7 @@ arch_miniiso:
VIDEO_MODE $(VIDEO_MODE) \
VIDEO_MODE_GTK $(VIDEO_MODE_GTK) \
BEEP "$$beep" \
+ SYSLINUX_CFG isolinux.cfg \
| todos > $(TEMP_CD_TREE)/$$outfile; \
)
@@ -282,6 +285,7 @@ arch_netboot_dir:
INITRD $(NETBOOT_PATH)/initrd.gz \
VIDEO_MODE $(VIDEO_MODE) \
BEEP "$$beep" \
+ SYSLINUX_CFG syslinux.cfg \
> $$outfile; \
)
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