Hi, Kevin Locke <[email protected]> wrote (Mon, 27 Jul 2026 11:31:46 -0600): > To summarize the options we've discussed and add a few of my own: > > 1. Leave the issue unsolved for netboot. > Pros: > - Only affects netboot (more often used by power users) > - No additional changes required. > Cons: > - Users may still inadvertently overwrite the installation media > (interactively or preseed). > 2. Prompt to use install media when starting partman on netboot. > Pros: > - Nearly eliminates risk of overwriting installation media. > - Relatively simple to implement. > Cons: > - Adds time/complexity/effort for all users. > - Non-interactive preseeds must be updated for netboot, and > requirements will differ between netboot and other media. > 3. Prompt to modify installation media at key points. > If it's infeasible to ask for every action which might affect a > disk, perhaps we could ask at key points? For example, > during/after "If you continue, the changes below will be written to > the disks" and when installing the bootloader? > Pros: > - Reduces risk of overwriting installation media. > - Only users at risk of overwriting must answer the question. > Cons: > - Implementation complexity. > - May not cover all cases. > 4. Add a non-user-visible debconf prompt to allow overwriting > installation media. Default to allow. > Pros: > - Gives preseed authors a mechanism to use to prevent overwriting. > - Relatively simple to implement. > - No time/complexity/effort for most users. > Cons: > - Users may still inadvertently overwrite the installation media > (interactively or preseed) in the default state. > > Does that match your understanding as well? If there are other > options, or other pros and cons worth considering, please chime in. > > My preference would be 3 > 4 > 1 > 2, but I'll defer to your > expertise and implementation willingness.
I tend to option 1. The MR would be ready for this, and using this, we would at least have a solution for the most relevant use cases (leaving out power-user use-cases via netboot images). Waiting for the big solution, which deals with all use cases seems to make us wait for a longer time (if not for ever), and will most likely not be implemented before Forky. Objections? Holger -- Holger Wansing <[email protected]> PGP-Fingerprint: 496A C6E8 1442 4B34 8508 3529 59F1 87CA 156E B076
