replacing the Startup Disk Creator

[Marc Deslauriers]

On 2015-09-28 07:48 AM, Nio Wiklund wrote:
> Den 2015-09-21 kl. 18:03, skrev Nicholas Skaggs:
>> On 09/19/2015 07:29 AM, Marc Deslauriers wrote:
>>> On 2015-09-19 07:04 AM, Nio Wiklund wrote:
>>>> Hi Marc,
>>>>
>>>> My standard ISP's mail server is down. So I tried to send this mail
>>>> via Google's
>>>> web mail interface. In my saved version of the mail, there is an
>>>> attachment
>>>> "SCC-test.ods", size 17692 bytes. I'll try again ...
>>>>
>>>> Best regards
>>>> Nio
>>>>
>>> That's a very interesting spreadsheet, thanks for doing that. It seems
>>> most
>>> issues are:
>>>
>>> - A known bug in udisks that prevents the erase function from working
>>> reliably
>>> (LP: #1460602)
>>>
>>> - A mismatch between syslinux versions between the host system
>>> creating the usb
>>> key and the version being installed (LP: #1325801)
>>>
>>> - A limitation of the fix for the syslinux issue that prevents amd64
>>> images from
>>> being created on i386 systems (LP: #1446646)
>>>
>>>
>>> I believe a simple way to eliminate every one of these issues at once
>>> in UDC
>>> would be to get rid of the persistence functionality. All of the
>>> currently
>>> supported images can now be written directly to a usb device as-is.
>>>
>>> The syslinux and boot loader mangling that is currently required for
>>> persistence
>>> and used to be required for older end of life releases is a constant
>>> source of
>>> problems each time a new release come out and is difficult to get working
>>> properly on mismatched architectures.
>>>
>>> Removing persistence would also simplify the user interface and would
>>> remove the
>>> need of having the "Erase Disk" button, therefore eliminating the
>>> known udisks
>>> issue as a side effect.
>>>
>>> Advanced users who require generating a usb key with persistence can
>>> simply use
>>> one of the other tools that are available. Perhaps in the future
>>> persistence
>>> could be added back by creating a partition in the free space left
>>> over after
>>> copying over the image.
>>>
>>> Changing UDC to remove persistence and to copy images as-is is a
>>> trivial change,
>>> and I am willing to volunteer to do it.
>>>
>>> Marc.
>>>
>>>
>> Marc, this sounds like a great way to accomplishes two things at once.
>> It both simplifies the application for users,  while making the process
>> more robust. I'm in support.
>>
>> Nicholas
>>
> 
> Hi Nicholas and Marc,
> 
> I have added two test cases to the spreadsheet, now updated to
> 'SDC-test1.ods'. You find it via the following link
> 
> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2291946&page=2&p=13358864#post13358864
> 
> Would it be possible to remove persistence and to copy images as-is
> already in Wily? Or will Wily be released with the most acute bugfix but
> with some remaining serious bugs in the SDC, or maybe even without any
> bugfix, if the limited time will only allow for more important
> bug-fixes? Anyway, I can volunteer to help testing, what you develop, Marc.
> 
> I have assumed that we are talking about 'removing persistence' in the
> next release, 16.04 LTS, because there must be a formal decision. Is it
> like this, Nicholas, or can we 'save the SDC is Wily' with Marc's
> suggestion?
> 

Hi Nio,

I'm currently working on SDC in my free time. You can track progress here:

https://code.launchpad.net/~mdeslaur/usb-creator/imaging-rework

I still have a few things to fix, and then I'll build test packages to try out.

It's likely too late to have any rework in Wily, as we're already past feature
freeze and UI freeze. That being said, I'd definitely like it to get SRUed into
all releases when I'm done.

Marc.