The developers of the YaST installer used by openSUSE and SUSE Linux have released the first installer image with a new installer developed by the D-Installer project that supports web-based installation management. The prepared image is designed to introduce D-Installer and provides the means to install a continuously updated edition of openSUSE Tumbleweed. D-Installer is still positioned as an experimental project and the first release can be seen as the transformation of a conceptual idea into the form of an initial product, already usable, but in need of a lot of work.
D-Installer is about separating the user interface from the YaST internals and making it possible to use different frontends. YaST libraries continue to be used to install packages, check equipment, partition disks, and other functions necessary for installation, on top of which a layer is implemented that abstracts access to libraries through a unified D-Bus interface.
For interaction with the user, a front-end built using web technologies has been prepared. The fontend includes a handler that provides access to D-Bus calls over HTTP and a web interface that is displayed to the user. The web interface is written in JavaScript using the React framework and PatternFly components. The service for binding the interface to D-Bus, as well as the built-in http server, are written in Ruby and built using ready-made modules developed by the Cockpit project, which are also used in Red Hat web configurators.
The installation is managed through the "Installation Summary" screen, which contains preparatory settings that are made before starting the installation, such as choosing the language and product to be installed, partitioning the disk, and managing users. The main difference between the new interface and YaST is that the transition to the settings does not require the launch of individual widgets and is offered immediately. The interface capabilities are still limited, for example, in the product selection section there is no possibility to manage the installation of individual sets of programs and system roles, and in the disk partitioning section it is only offered to select a partition for installation without the ability to edit the partition table and change the type of FC.
Of the features that need improvement, there are tools for informing the user about errors that occur and organizing interactive interaction in the process of work (for example, displaying a password request when an encrypted partition is detected). The plans also include the ability to change the behavior of different installation stages depending on the selected product or system role (for example, for MicroOS, a read-only partition is used).
Among the development goals of D-Installer is the elimination of existing limitations of the graphical interface; expanding the possibilities for using YaST functionality in other applications; avoiding being tied to one programming language (D-Bus API will allow you to create add-ons in different languages); encouraging the creation of alternative settings by community members.
Source: opennet.ru