Bug 445489

Summary: When I added an UPS, YaST silently wanted to install NUT - aka YaST does not inform it is going to install new software to manage newly detected hardware
Product: [openSUSE] openSUSE 11.0 Reporter: Carlos Robinson <carlos.e.r>
Component: YaST2Assignee: Stefan Hundhammer <shundhammer>
Status: RESOLVED INVALID QA Contact: Jiri Srain <jsrain>
Severity: Enhancement    
Priority: P5 - None CC: mls
Version: Final   
Target Milestone: ---   
Hardware: Other   
OS: Other   
Whiteboard:
Found By: --- Services Priority:
Business Priority: Blocker: ---
Marketing QA Status: --- IT Deployment: ---

Description Carlos Robinson 2008-11-16 12:31:03 UTC
I connected my new UPS USB cable. Then I went to YaST package manager and searched for "UPS" software to add - and then I found to my surprise that it was already preselected.

That's nice, of course, but YaST should have popped a message at the start telling me so, instead of letting me waste time searching for what software to add >:-)
Comment 1 Jan Kupec 2008-11-19 11:38:41 UTC
This is a feature, where the solver preselects any new recommended packages for already installed ones, that are installable (roughly described).

Hm.. you would notice in the installation summary, if you looked at it. But the truth is that you might not want to look at it. The popup at the start seems to be a good idea.

The popup could also metion a hint how to get rid of the preselected packages if not wanted (going to installation summary first, deselect the packages...).
Comment 2 Carlos Robinson 2008-11-19 12:04:27 UTC
Yes, I went to the summary, but after I detected there was something already selected, and I was happy to see it intended to install precisely what I wanted.

But the point is that it would have been nicer to be told right at the start, via popup or whatever ;-)

For instance:

  "New hardware has been detected, and packages to handle it have been
  automatically preselected for your inspection in the summary tab. 
  You can [... etc]"

Perhaps this report can be changed to an "enhancement request" :-? Ah, right, you did already.

Thanks!
Comment 3 Stefan Hundhammer 2008-11-19 12:44:21 UTC
Yet another annoying pop-up? I can see a flood of bug reports on the horizon, like for each new pop-up we add.

Besides, this is nothing the package selector could handle. Other parts of YaST preselect packages. The package selector is merely a view on the package data base. It doesn't have (or want to get) any more context information.
Comment 4 Jan Kupec 2008-11-19 13:03:20 UTC
I disagree on this. It would be sufficient if the pop-up only appeared if there are some not-yet-installed packages preselected right after startup. Most of the time this would not happen. Only if you add hardware, new packages appear in repos, etc... 

And the pop-up's content does not need to be anything more than a simple (scrollable) list of the preselected packages.

Or it does not need to be a popup! It could be the summary view, with autoselected packages filtered. The selector could jump right into that view if there are preselected packages. What about that?

IMHO, both solutions are much better than this:
- opened the selector
- selected nothing!
- clicked Finish
- watched some packages being installed!
Comment 5 Carlos Robinson 2008-11-19 13:20:42 UTC
Consider the situation I described:

 - I connect new hardware.
 - I don't know how to handle it, so I open the package manager, and search for suitable software.
 - Nothing warns me that YaST already selected the appropriate packages for installation.

So, current situation: 

 - it is good that YaST pre-selects suitable software
 - it is bad that the admin is not told.

Possible solutions (none implemented, or if implemented, they failed):

 - something on the desktop advises me to install new software to handle the new software.
 - the something can be an email to root, and/or a message in warning log.
 - when I open the package manager for whatever reason, something advises me that such new software is already selected for installation.