Prepare Installation executes installation

[dablenparty]

When applying options within the Prepare Installation menu, the installer applies those changes immediately. It seems a bit un-intuitive that the menu is labeled Prepare Installation when it is actually executing the installation steps, especially when there is a second menu labelled Install System. I had expected it to work similarly to archinstall where it prepares the steps in a readable format, shows them to you so you can validate, then executes it all at once.

[vnepogodin]

Yes, correct thats current behaviour. It is planned to have UI only for select, but that will be only at 'simple' view

[dablenparty]

What's the difference between "Simple" and "Advanced" views and how do I access either? Based on my experience, there is no "Simple" view.

Edit: My issue is the un-intuitiveness of the wording. If Prepare Installation executes steps, it should not be labeled as Prepare, even if that is your intention later. It is not the current behavior and that needs to be reflected by the docs or tool itself.

[vnepogodin]

Simple view is meant to provide UI which contains only basic selections.

Currently it also applies immediate actions like Advanced one. It's also used to have config based install: where is everything defined in pre-made installation info

To use Simple view need to create settings.json in current folder with content: {"menus":1}

[dablenparty]

Thank you, where is that documented so that I can find this info again later, if need be? Also, you are not addressing my concern about the wording.

[vnepogodin]

Here is the documentation for the config(a bit outdated)

Also, you are not addressing my concern about the wording.

What would be better wording here? Can be changed. prepare means that it's not actual installation(just doing partititioning and mounting mostly)

[dablenparty]

When partitioning and formatting disks, you are making irreversible changes to the filesystem. With all due respect, that is not “preparing” for an installation, it is part of the installation itself. I understand that you are viewing it as “preparing the system for installation” but even that’s a stretch; however, if that truly is the function of the menu, it should be labeled “prepare system” or something similar. Instead, it is labeled “prepare installation” which, at least to me, communicates that you are “preparing to install” and the actual installation commands will then be executed en-masse, like archinstall and many others. At the very least there should be a notice, text box, or SOMETHING letting users know that the commands they are “preparing” are actually being executed in the background instead of a generic warning about the dangers of disk partitioning. It let me erase the disk I was currently using which obviously caused problems and ultimately drove me here.

Moving on, I tried using the CLI installer again after your response and found that it flat out does not work in either Simple or Advanced mode. I can’t even say why because the logs claim it succeeds but nothing is actually done on my system after except the Cachy repos being added to pacman. I cannot mount disks in the installer, it always fails and I have to do it manually; formatting sometimes succeeds, but creates a partition that I can’t use, and I have to redo it manually; nothing in the Install System menu worked; basically the only thing that the installer can do is erase a disk and add Cachy repos, which it doesn’t even inform you it’s doing in the background.

I can’t keep toying with this installer; if it is supposed to be in this non-working state, that needs to be reflected because as it stands, the language in this repo strongly suggests that the tool is usable.

[vnepogodin]

Sad to hear that, in our tests installer worked for the latest version in the repo. Can you provide the installation log?

What filesystem, what did you select(steps)? The repos will be added when installing base system.

For btrfs in advanced view that would be:

1. partition (erase)
2. mount partitions: select root and boot partition
3. install base system
4. install desktop
5. install bootloader
6. setup user
7. setup hostname
8. setup locale
9. setup timezone
10. exit

[dablenparty]

I am trying to install this on a laptop with one SSD and because the installer wipes and repartitions the drive before anything else, when it goes to save the installation log, there’s no filesystem to save it to (because it was just erased) and it therefore doesn’t save. The only time I was able to access logs is when I tried to run it from an installation media, but I had to manually setup so much in the installation media to even get the Cachy installer to compile that by the end, I had created a fully functioning Arch installation, ultimately defeating the purpose of an automated installer. I don’t exactly want to go through that long process for a fourth time right now, but here’s what I selected:

1. Erase
2. Could not complete this step
   • Tried with BTRFS, XFS, and ext4. All erase and format, but all fail to mount with no error message.
3. Does not execute
4. Does not execute
5. Does not execute

I can’t get to steps 6-10 because steps 1-5 all fail. Steps 3-5 literally don’t execute; I select the option, the screen flashes, and nothing happens.

[vnepogodin]

The installation log is located at /tmp