Request: add a short description field for os-configuration

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5 participants

Martin Castillo
Danny Milosavljevic
Ludovic Courtès
ng0
zimoun

Owner: unassigned

Submitted by: Martin Castillo

Severity: wishlist

Martin Castillo wrote on 23 Mar 2018 13:51

Recipients:(address . bug-guix@gnu.org)

Message-ID:d2032740-2182-6ded-a36c-14b6cdb5071b@uni-bremen.de

hi,

the grub entries for old system generations aren't very helpful. It

would be nice, if there was a field in the operating system declaration

stating what was changed in this generation, that would be added to the

boot entry label.

Martin

GPG: 7FDE 7190 2F73 2C50 236E 403D CC13 48F1 E644 08EC

Attachment: signature.asc

ng0 wrote on 23 Mar 2018 15:15

Recipients:(name . Martin Castillo)(address . castilma@uni-bremen.de)(address . 30916@debbugs.gnu.org)

Message-ID:20180323141537.64xtvlgalhlzlz3z@abyayala

Martin Castillo transcribed 1.6K bytes:

Toggle quote (12 lines)> hi,
> 
> the grub entries for old system generations aren't very helpful. It
> would be nice, if there was a field in the operating system declaration
> stating what was changed in this generation, that would be added to the
> boot entry label.
> 
> Martin
> -- 
> GPG: 7FDE 7190 2F73 2C50 236E  403D CC13 48F1 E644 08EC
> 

Hi,

Could you be a more specific what you think is missing?

Your request is written in a very open way, and the space in GRUB menus is

limited as far as I assume.

A88C8ADD129828D7EAC02E52E22F9BBFEE348588

https://n0.is

Martin Castillo wrote on 24 Mar 2018 13:33

Recipients:(name . ng0)(address . ng0@n0.is)(address . 30916@debbugs.gnu.org)

Message-ID:06f52ff5-4019-e449-1f56-a585c759abb1@uni-bremen.de

Hi,

On 23.03.2018 15:15, ng0 wrote:

Toggle quote (4 lines)

> Could you be a more specific what you think is missing?

> Your request is written in a very open way, and the space in GRUB menus is

> limited as far as I assume.

Sure,

Currently the grub menu looks like

GNU with Linux-Libre 4.15.12 (beta)

GNU system, old configurations...

and in the submenu

GNU with Linux-Libre 4.15.6 (beta) (#1, 2017-12-18 13:45)

GNU with Linux-Libre 4.15.8 (beta) (#2, 2017-12-22 12:15)

GNU with Linux-Libre 4.15.11 (beta) (#3, 2018-03-23 15:32)

but I'd like to have something like

GNU with Linux-Libre 4.15.12 (beta) [Add ssh-service on port 2222]

GNU system, old configurations...

and in the submenu

GNU with Linux-Libre 4.15.6 (beta) (#1, 2017-12-18 13:45)

GNU with Linux-Libre 4.15.8 (beta) (#2, 2017-12-22 12:15) [Add user bob]

GNU with Linux-Libre 4.15.11 (beta) (#3, 2018-03-23 15:32) [Add xfce]

where the description at the end comes from a field in the operating

system configuration (or the bootloader configuration).

GPG: 7FDE 7190 2F73 2C50 236E 403D CC13 48F1 E644 08EC

Attachment: signature.asc

ng0 wrote on 24 Mar 2018 13:45

Recipients:(name . Martin Castillo)(address . castilma@uni-bremen.de)

Message-ID:20180324124556.7x36ap6mfeugc7pa@abyayala

Martin Castillo transcribed 2.5K bytes:

Toggle quote (36 lines)> Hi,
> 
> On 23.03.2018 15:15, ng0 wrote:
> 
> > Could you be a more specific what you think is missing?
> > Your request is written in a very open way, and the space in GRUB menus is
> > limited as far as I assume.
> 
> Sure,
> 
> Currently the grub menu looks like
> GNU with Linux-Libre 4.15.12 (beta)
> GNU system, old configurations...
> 
> and in the submenu
> GNU with Linux-Libre 4.15.6 (beta) (#1, 2017-12-18 13:45)
> GNU with Linux-Libre 4.15.8 (beta) (#2, 2017-12-22 12:15)
> GNU with Linux-Libre 4.15.11 (beta) (#3, 2018-03-23 15:32)
> 
> but I'd like to have something like
> 
> GNU with Linux-Libre 4.15.12 (beta) [Add ssh-service on port 2222]
> GNU system, old configurations...
> 
> and in the submenu
> GNU with Linux-Libre 4.15.6 (beta) (#1, 2017-12-18 13:45)
> GNU with Linux-Libre 4.15.8 (beta) (#2, 2017-12-22 12:15) [Add user bob]
> GNU with Linux-Libre 4.15.11 (beta) (#3, 2018-03-23 15:32) [Add xfce]
> 
> where the description at the end comes from a field in the operating
> system configuration (or the bootloader configuration).
> 
> -- 
> GPG: 7FDE 7190 2F73 2C50 236E  403D CC13 48F1 E644 08EC
> 

So basically you want a field in the operating-system declaration where you
can _manually_ set a description of a certain maximum length which will be
added to the GRUB entry of the generated system generation?
I don't see automatic generation happening, as there's so much that can be
changed and automated summary would easily mess up the GRUB list. I wouldn't
want that. If anything, optional entry with a manual note is the way to do it.


-- 
A88C8ADD129828D7EAC02E52E22F9BBFEE348588
https://n0.is

Martin Castillo wrote on 24 Mar 2018 14:56

Recipients:(name . ng0)(address . ng0@n0.is)(address . 30916@debbugs.gnu.org)

Message-ID:017b6770-3168-5d63-3dd5-e6c3b590f527@uni-bremen.de

Toggle quote (3 lines)

> So basically you want a field in the operating-system declaration where you

> can _manually_ set a description of a certain maximum length which will be

> added to the GRUB entry of the generated system generation?

yes

GPG: 7FDE 7190 2F73 2C50 236E 403D CC13 48F1 E644 08EC

Attachment: signature.asc

Danny Milosavljevic wrote on 24 Mar 2018 17:54

Recipients:(name . Martin Castillo)(address . castilma@uni-bremen.de)

Message-ID:20180324175438.2ff4e55e@scratchpost.org

Hi Martin,

On Sat, 24 Mar 2018 14:56:03 +0100

Martin Castillo <castilma@uni-bremen.de> wrote:

Toggle quote (6 lines)

> ng0 wrote:

> > So basically you want a field in the operating-system declaration where you

> > can _manually_ set a description of a certain maximum length which will be

> > added to the GRUB entry of the generated system generation?

> yes

I wonder whether this description can be generated instead - we have all

the information we need - the packages, the users that are there etc.

Or a description could be generated only if a custom description is not specified.

In fact it's easy to add this and would be a nice intro project for a

person interested in Guix development. I can mentor.

The thing used to fill the Guix bootloader entries is <boot-parameters>.

There's a procedure "operating-system-boot-parameters" which is used

to generate <boot-parameters> instances from an <operating-system>

declaration.

(operating-system-bootcfg calls operating-system-boot-parameters)

(perform-action calls operating-system-bootcfg)

(perform-action is in the top-level guix script)

<boot-parameters> are serialized to disk into:

/var/guix/profiles/system-704-link$ cat parameters

(boot-parameters (version 0) (label "GNU with Linux-Libre 4.14.14 (beta)") (root-device "dayas:/") (kernel "/gnu/store/fnk2xhicbrjsvbq082p6x0ch6npkrg0z-linux-libre-4.14.14/bzImage") (kernel-arguments ("crashkernel=256M" "modprobe.blacklist=pcspkr,snd_pcsp" "quiet" "acpi_osi=Linux" "clocksource=acpi_pm" "allow-discards" "root_trim=yes")) (initrd "/gnu/store/nvhkdssz1m1p8xrggi78y8pd7jz4p3ng-raw-initrd/initrd") (bootloader-name grub) (store (device "dayas:/") (mount-point "/")))

But I wouldn't change the serialization format or what fields <boot-parameters> contain.

Just change operating-system-bootcfg to take a "description" parameter.

And change operating-system-boot-parameters to take a "description" parameter and

use it to calculate the label.

And change perform-action to calculate the value for to "description" parameter in this way:

- Taking it from <operating-system> (or the command line?)

- Falling back to an automatic value (comparing it to the previous generation) otherwise.

That's it.

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ng0 wrote on 24 Mar 2018 18:00

Recipients:(name . Danny Milosavljevic)(address . dannym@scratchpost.org)

Message-ID:20180324170046.sl4hpkmblp5tzpzz@abyayala

Danny Milosavljevic transcribed 2.9K bytes:

Toggle quote (14 lines)> Hi Martin,
> 
> On Sat, 24 Mar 2018 14:56:03 +0100
> Martin Castillo <castilma@uni-bremen.de> wrote:
> 
> > ng0 wrote:
> > > So basically you want a field in the operating-system declaration where you
> > > can _manually_ set a description of a certain maximum length which will be
> > > added to the GRUB entry of the generated system generation?  
> > yes
> 
> I wonder whether this description can be generated instead - we have all
> the information we need - the packages, the users that are there etc.

But how much space do we have in the GRUB descriptions? I have computers with 800x600 or what
it was resolution for the screen, and while this would be a nice feature I wonder if there's
some implications in GRUB menu readability.
I'm not an expert in GRUB, I can boot without a menu, but GRUB is a small operating system
on its own :)

Toggle quote (34 lines)> Or a description could be generated only if a custom description is not specified.
> 
> In fact it's easy to add this and would be a nice intro project for a
> person interested in Guix development.  I can mentor.
> 
> The thing used to fill the Guix bootloader entries is <boot-parameters>.
> 
> There's a procedure "operating-system-boot-parameters" which is used
> to generate <boot-parameters> instances from an <operating-system>
> declaration.
> 
> (operating-system-bootcfg calls operating-system-boot-parameters)
> (perform-action calls operating-system-bootcfg)
> (perform-action is in the top-level guix script)
> 
> <boot-parameters> are serialized to disk into:
> 
> /var/guix/profiles/system-704-link$ cat parameters 
> (boot-parameters (version 0) (label "GNU with Linux-Libre 4.14.14 (beta)") (root-device "dayas:/") (kernel "/gnu/store/fnk2xhicbrjsvbq082p6x0ch6npkrg0z-linux-libre-4.14.14/bzImage") (kernel-arguments ("crashkernel=256M" "modprobe.blacklist=pcspkr,snd_pcsp" "quiet" "acpi_osi=Linux" "clocksource=acpi_pm" "allow-discards" "root_trim=yes")) (initrd "/gnu/store/nvhkdssz1m1p8xrggi78y8pd7jz4p3ng-raw-initrd/initrd") (bootloader-name grub) (store (device "dayas:/") (mount-point "/")))
> 
> But I wouldn't change the serialization format or what fields <boot-parameters> contain.
> 
> Just change operating-system-bootcfg to take a "description" parameter.
> And change operating-system-boot-parameters to take a "description" parameter and
> use it to calculate the label.
> 
> And change perform-action to calculate the value for to "description" parameter in this way:
> - Taking it from <operating-system> (or the command line?) 
> - Falling back to an automatic value (comparing it to the previous generation) otherwise.
> 
> That's it.

-- 
A88C8ADD129828D7EAC02E52E22F9BBFEE348588
https://n0.is

Ludovic Courtès wrote on 26 Mar 2018 15:05

Recipients:(name . Danny Milosavljevic)(address . dannym@scratchpost.org)

Message-ID:87vadjdm1s.fsf@gnu.org

Hello,

What about offering a way to specific the label of the new menu entry,

or otherwise a suffix or prefix of the label?

That is, you’d do:

guix system reconfigure -m "The config that works just fine, I think." config.scm

and that string would be used as the label itself in the GRUB menu, or

as a prefix/suffix of the automatically generated label.

Thoughts?

Ludo’.

zimoun wrote on 25 Nov 2021 00:55

control message for bug #30916

Recipients:(address . control@debbugs.gnu.org)

Message-ID:86mtltrtwj.fsf@gmail.com

severity 30916 wishlist

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