Software suspend is scary, and multiple booting

[Matt Zimmerman]

On Wed, Oct 05, 2005 at 03:39:19PM +0100, Ian Jackson wrote:
> I just tried the `Hibernate' option on my breezy testbed and I have to
> say that although it did actually work I'm not very impressed with the
> presentation:
> 
> * After selecting `Hibernate', the screen immediately goes black.
>   There is no feedback indicating that (a) the option has worked and
>   (b) when it is OK to remove mains power (eg by unplugging), should
>   you want to do that and (c) nothing telling the user how to make the
>   computer start again (perhaps people are supposed to know to try the
>   main ATX power switch).

(a) and (b) seem practically impossible, given that the successful end state
of hibernation is for the computer to be powered off.

Have you actually seen a real user confused by the lack of instructions for
(c)?  We don't do this on shutdown either, and neither does any other OS I'm
aware of ("Use the power switch if you want to turn your computer back on").
In my experience, users can tell the difference between a computer which is
turned off and a computer which is turned on, and know how to convert the
former into the latter.

> * On resuming, I see a normal boot sequence to usplash but the usplash
>   quickly vanishes and is replaced by what a user will see as
>   discouraging messages with lots of numbers in - considerably scarier
>   than the normal bootup sequence which we've gone to some trouble to
>   hide.

Yes, it's ugly, but it works, and getting it working well has been our
first priority.  Also recall that until about a month ago, we had a
text-mode boot with plenty of cryptic messages.  One step at a time.

> There are some related problems with the booting and partitioning
> arrangements:
> 
> * The partitioner arranged to reuse the existing swap partition on my
>   system.  This particular testbed has about 6 installs of various
>   Debian and Ubuntu derivatives on it, all with the same swap.  So it
>   is of course not safe to suspend to swap and resume unless there
>   were some way of making sure that the right operating system
>   resumes, or that the swap partition is not shared.

This is not a typical configuration, and users like you know how to
configure swap the way that they want it.

> * Relatedly, our booting arrangements need a comprehensive rethink for
>   the case of multiple operating systems.  Currently installing a
>   multiple-OS machine requires a reasonable understanding of the way
>   booting works, careful planning, and of course rescue media for
>   repairing things when they go wrong or for restoring trashed booting
>   arrangements.  This could be made much better.  (For Dapper
>   perhaps.)

What do you mean specifically?  In my experience, os-prober does an
excellent job of finding other operating systems, and the only extra step is
to review the list for completeness and acknowledge it.

-- 
 - mdz