Xorg breakage, problem solving and system recovery

[James Hall]

Convincing advanaced users to use a "dapper-proposed" repository sounds
like a great idea. Breakages will still happen tho, and people will need
a way to get the information from forums or IRC to fix their system.

Here's the big question: Why does the user have to type 'apt-get install
xorg-some-reaally-long-version-number'? Why does the user have to type
*anything* at all? Of course technically, we all understand why, the
solutions need to be found, then posted to the forums or discussed
through IRC - then the user needs to follow them. Could we build a
recovery system? I could envisage a 'livecd' living on a separate
partition to use as a recovery tool, easily accessible from Grub (and an
optional part of an Ubuntu install of course). It would be even more
useful if we could build additional tools for diagnosing problems:

      * Easy access to log files
      * IRC / web browser
      * GUI for reverting to the package versions you had before the
        last update

Also, we need a method to solve 'common problems' that can't be fixed
thru package management alone. How about a GUI that allows tiny scripts
to be automatically downloaded (from a trusted host) and ran to fix
particular issues? These will replace the need to follow solutions
posted in forums for alot of people. We're not just targeting those who
don't want to learn or use the command line because I'm sure everyone
would rather have stuff 'just work' and be getting on with something
more productive (Like taking over the world's desktop OS market). 

---------------

An example of how these 'fixlets' might work:

Joe has just bought a shiny new Nvidia graphics card. He opens up his PC
and and pops it in. Xserver correctly identifies his new card and
reconfigures itself to use the free 'nv' driver installed on his system.

What happens now:

Joe notices his screensavers run slowly, and playing video is jittery.
Joe eventually finds his way onto XChat, where he is told to "replace
'nv' with 'nvidia' in his Xorg config" or "sudo nvidia-glx-config
enable" and also to "apt-get install nvidia-glx". Then reset his xserver
by pressing 'Ctrl+Alt+Backspace'.

What should happen:

A small notice appears in the top right corner of his screen after
detecting a possible problem. The notice informs him that he may be
experiencing performance problems because he is using the opensource
nvidia drivers. After clicking for more information he is given the
option to install the binary drivers. The recovery software will do the
above steps for him and give him a chance to save his work before
restarting the xserver.

-----------------

Solutions can still be hacked together in the forums, but well tested
solutions to common problems can delivered thru something like the
software described above. What do you think?

Regards,
James

On Wed, 2006-08-23 at 14:13 -0400, Saad Shakhshir wrote:

> 1) The process - there needs to be better screening of updates prior
> to getting released worldwide.  Some have suggested an alternative yum
> repository.  Others have noted that there already is a
> "dapper-proposed" repository that would allow testers to test out
> updates before they get rolled.  This seems like a very good way to
> get tests done on a decent sized number of systems and to get feedback
> before pushing out an update.