trinity-devel@lists.pearsoncomputing.net

Message: previous - next
Month: February 2012

Re: [trinity-devel] Shutdown Dialog Restart Options

From: "Timothy Pearson" <kb9vqf@...>
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 11:13:34 -0600
> IMHO these kind of options don't even make sense. If the user needs to
> change the kernel, it could do it with the grub editors that sometime
> ships
> in distros or just use the keyboard error. This has been a feature that
> has
> confused me since KDE 3.2
>
> Best regards,
> Tiago

Agreed.  A typical user should not even be able to change this except at
boot, as it would be possible (for example) to select an older kernel
containing a security vulnerability to be used at the next machine
restart.  I don't know if this honors any GRUB passwords; if it does (or
requires root access) then my scenario is rendered invalid of course. ;-)

From a usability standpoint, can we state categorically that anyone who
wants to select the specific kernel to use should know how to select the
correct kernel at system startup?  Does this option make it more
convenient, and therefore remain relevant (e.g. select a new kernel,
reboot, and go get coffee while the machine is rebooting instead of
lingering around waiting for the GRUB prompt)?

Tim