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
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)?
I agree those options don't belong in the TDE shutdown dialog. Hence my original
post.
Those options are not part of the original 3.5.10. Those options were inherited or merged
from elsewhere.
I'm trying to envision when I or others might want those options to appear and what
value they add. First, I don't think equivalent options with LILO are possible because
LILO needs to be "rebuilt" after editing the lilo.conf file. Normal users
can't do that on-the-fly. Similarly, editing the GRUB menu.lst file on-the-fly is
impossible too.
The only time those options could actually have effect is when the user is logged in and
using TDE as root. Using TDE as root does not bother me although I know some people have
heart attacks and start frothing with such topics. Regardless, the point here is I
don't see when those options become useful in the TDE shutdown dialog.
As mentioned, what is so challenging as to wait until the GRUB menu appears and then
selecting the desired option? Further, when the default option needs to be changed, then
somebody with admin privileges can login and edit the menu.lst file.
I have both options in my menu.lst file so I can test both command line and graphical
logins. I am struggling to see why those options are in the shutdown dialog when they
can't be changed anyway by normal users.
Should I file a bug report to rip those options from the shutdown dialog?
Darrell