Re: [PATCH] Clarify "Press any key to continue..." message

[Prarit Bhargava <prarit@redhat.com>]

On 04/03/2014 12:52 PM, Colin Watson wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 03, 2014 at 12:49:50PM -0400, Prarit Bhargava wrote:
>> On 04/03/2014 10:23 AM, Colin Watson wrote:
>>> When grub_wait_after_message says "Press any key to continue...", it
>>> really means that it will continue anyway after a short delay, but that
>>> you can press a key to skip the delay.  Unfortunately, the delay is just
>>> long enough that in practice a number of users have time to see it,
>>> press a key, and then report a bug saying that their system won't boot
>>> without manual intervention, even though it would have booted just fine
>>> if they'd left it alone.  Rephrase this message to make it clearer
>>> what's really happening.
>>
>> I have mixed feelings about changing this message since it is such a
>> well known message.  OTOH, I've never really liked it myself.
> 
> Surely nobody can really be depending on it; I don't see a problem with
> changing that kind of text, in and of itself.

Yeah ... but it is one of those things like the NMI dazed and confused message.
 Everyone knows about it, everyone agrees it could be better, but no one wants
to change it because so much open documentation references it.

Try googling linux + "Press any key to continue" and you'll see what I mean.

But again, I've never really cared for the message so I'm favour of changing it ;)

> 
>> Maybe a better idea is to do a timeout message
>>
>> Press any key for menu (boot will continue in 5 seconds) ...
>> Press any key for menu (boot will continue in 4 seconds) ...
>> ...
>> etc.
>>
>> ?
> 
> It's not necessarily "for menu" - you get this for errors after a menu
> item has been selected too, and then it's just a delay before booting.

Hmm ... really?  After a menu item has been selected?  I've never done that before.
> 
> Seems like a lot of effort.  The actual delay is 2.5 seconds so a
> countdown would look jumpy at the end ...
> 

Just do a countdown and change the delay to an even 3 seconds.  Who is really
going to care about a 1/2 second?

P.