An option to disable boot timeout or set timeout time

[lkocman]

Hello team

I was just looking where to disable bootloader timeout (quite important for openQA for reboot after install) and well aside from that not being an option, I noticed that it's ver well hidden and I really had to be creative to find it :-)

Aside from this particular openQA case I think generally people want some timeout for power on lan, reboot after outage etc, automatic updates etc ... I could alternatively set a long timeout, in case that there is some value that can be set.

[dgdavid]

I was just looking where to disable bootloader timeout (quite important for openQA for reboot after install)

Hi @lkocman

AFAIK, there is not such an option yet.

I noticed that it's ver well hidden and I really had to be creative to find it :-)

About this,

• it's well hidden on purpose, since we understood it is a very special case. Actually not that hidden for a user that it's looking for selecting the storage boot options. I'll track this anyway in order to see if we manage to find a better way to avoid forcing users to be creative when looking for options :wink: Important is to avoid regular users shooting at their foot.
• be aware that it is not the option you're looking for

Let me ping @ancorgs to help us here.

[ancorgs]

The "hidden" option you mention is used to specify you want the system (ie. the / partition or system LVM) installed at one disk while the system actually boots from another disk, so special partitions like /boot/efi need to be placed on that alternative disk.

That's an option, as @dgdavid said, hidden on purpose. We know is a use-case for some people... but that's people with several disks and that know very well how they want to organize them.

Going back to the original topic (configuring aspects of the bootloader like the timeout), we need to discuss it. I'm a bit defensive about re-introducing YaST features into Agama.

[dgdavid]

Thanks @ancorgs!

I'm a bit curious to know why such an option was useful for @lkocman as a workaround for the bootloader timeout.

[lkocman]

@dgdavid This it's not workaround, setting timeout during installation to 0 is what openqa generally expects. Just to let you know, the workaround is to hit spacebar every 3 seconds or until grub appears. Otherwise, in many cases we were simply not fast enough to catch the screen and cancel timeout. Prefered would be to add a step to disable timeout just like with traditional installer,.

[dgdavid]

@dgdavid This it's not workaround,

So, I miss-understood your first comment :sweat_smile:

Just to let you know, the workaround is to hit spacebar every 3 seconds or until grub appears. Otherwise, in many cases we were simply not fast enough to catch the screen and cancel timeout.

Thanks for the explanation.

Prefered would be to add a step to disable timeout just like with traditional installer,.

I see. But as @ancorgs said it needs some discussion first.

[lkocman]

I agree, we're not blocked any more, but in general I think we should have this feature.