On 11/03/2015 18:24, Kevin O'Connor wrote:
On Wed, Mar 11, 2015 at 05:42:18PM +0100, Paolo Bonzini wrote:
I have no problem with changing the key; the problem I have with ESC is that I'm going to add F12 for network boot, and then I would like ESC+@ to trigger network boot. ESC for the boot menu would clash. With my full patches, the default message would be like this:
Can you explain that "network boot" feature further?
It prioritizes NIC option ROMs over other options, trying all network cards before falling back to HD, CD/DVD and non-NIC option ROMs.
It's a common feature on a real machine, to the point that the SMBIOS tables have a special bit for "network boot can be done with F12". This makes sense mostly for Coreboot, though some people requested it on virtual machines as well.
I think the message should be as succinct as possible - hit this key to stop the default boot - otherwise the default boot is going to happen. I don't think we should make that initial prompt any more complex. Once the user stops the default boot (by hitting ESC, F12, whatever) then a more detailed explanation and more detailed options can be provided.
What about this:
- for now, change the default key to "ESC" and the default message to "Press ESC for boot menu".
- in my next round of patches, add "Press N for network boot" in the boot menu.
- also in my next round of patches, support the F12 key for direct network boot but keep it "secret". It's the same as real machines anyway. Maybe support ESC+@ in addition to ESC+N too, but that seems overengineered.
Everyone seems to want something slightly different for the boot splash, which is why there are so many fw_cfg/cbfs entries that allow customization of it. I'm leery of adding more complexity to it, because I fear that's going to lead to even more complexity as users desire further customization.
I understand.
Paolo