Revision as of 17:28, 15 January 2025

Replace cockpit-navigator with cockpit-files

This is a proposed Change for Fedora Linux.
This document represents a proposed Change. As part of the Changes process, proposals are publicly announced in order to receive community feedback. This proposal will only be implemented if approved by the Fedora Engineering Steering Committee.

Summary

Obsolete cockpit-navigator for cockpit-files due to the availability of a modern, maintained file system browser for Cockpit.

Owner

Name: Jelle van der Waa
Email: jvanderw@redhat.com

Current status

Targeted release: Fedora Linux 41
Last updated: 2025-01-15
[<link to devel-announce post will be added by Wrangler> Announced]
[<will be assigned by the Wrangler> Discussion thread]
FESCo issue: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>
Tracker bug: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>
Release notes tracker: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>

Detailed Description

Last year the Cockpit project released a new officially supported Cockpit Files plugin intended to provide a modern alternative to the existing Cockpit navigator plugin. The latest release (14) supports everything which Cockpit navigator did except the creation of symlinks which is planned to be implemented.

Feedback

Benefit to Fedora

Cockpit navigator users will be upgraded to Cockpit files which is actively developed, automated tested and maintained by the Cockpit team.

Scope

Proposal owners: Add "Obsoletes: cockpit-navigator" to cockpit-files and retire cockpit-navigator.

Other developers: N/A
Release engineering: N/A

Policies and guidelines: N/A (not needed for this Change)

Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change)

Alignment with the Fedora Strategy:

Upgrade/compatibility impact

When upgrading to Fedora 42, systems with cockpit-navigator installed will be switched to cockpit-files.

How To Test

cockpit-files is available in the Fedora repositories.

User Experience

Replacing cockpit-navigator with cockpit-files leads to a visual change within Cockpit the Navigator menu entry will be replaced with a new File browser menu entry under Tools.

The UI of cockpit-files is different from cockpit-navigator but offers the same functionality with the exception symlink creation. cockpit-files like Cockpit uses PatternFly as UI toolkit making the user experience more consistent.

Dependencies

Contingency Plan

Contingency mechanism: (What to do? Who will do it?) N/A (not a System Wide Change)
Contingency deadline: N/A (not a System Wide Change)
Blocks release? N/A (not a System Wide Change), Yes/No

Documentation

N/A (not a System Wide Change)

Release Notes

@@ Line 36: / Line 36: @@
 == Detailed Description ==
-Last year the Cockpit project released a new officially supported [https://cockpit-project.org/blog/first-cockpit-files-release.html Cockpit Files] plugin intended to provide a modern alternative to the existing [https://github.com/45Drives/cockpit-navigator Cockpit navigator] plugin.
+Last year the Cockpit project released a new officially supported [https://cockpit-project.org/blog/first-cockpit-files-release.html Cockpit Files] plugin intended to provide a modern alternative to the existing [https://github.com/45Drives/cockpit-navigator Cockpit navigator] plugin. The latest release (14) supports everything which Cockpit navigator did except the creation of symlinks which is planned to be implemented.
 == Feedback ==
@@ Line 43: / Line 42: @@
 == Benefit to Fedora ==
-<!-- What is the benefit to the distribution?  Will the software we generate be improved? How will the process of creating Fedora releases be improved?
-      Be sure to include the following areas if relevant:
-      If this is a major capability update, what has changed?
-           For example: This change introduces Python 5 that runs without the Global Interpreter Lock and is fully multithreaded.
-      If this is a new functionality, what capabilities does it bring?
-           For example: This change allows package upgrades to be performed automatically and rolled-back at will.
-      Does this improve some specific package or set of packages?
-           For example: This change modifies a package to use a different language stack that reduces install size by removing dependencies.
-      Does this improve specific Spins or Editions?
-           For example: This change modifies the default install of Fedora Workstation to be more in line with the base install of Fedora Server.
-      Does this make the distribution more efficient?
-           For example: This change replaces thousands of individual %post scriptlets in packages with one script that runs at the end.
-      Is this an improvement to maintainer processes?
-           For example: Gating Fedora packages on automatic QA tests will make rawhide more stable and allow changes to be implemented more smoothly.
-      Is this an improvement targeted as specific contributors?
-           For example: Ensuring that a minimal set of tools required for contribution to Fedora are installed by default eases the onboarding of new contributors.
-     When a Change has multiple benefits, it's better to list them all.
+Cockpit navigator users will be upgraded to Cockpit files which is actively developed, automated tested and maintained by the Cockpit team.
-     Consider these Change pages from previous editions as inspiration:
-     https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/Annobin (low-level and technical, invisible to users)
-     https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/ParallelInstallableDebuginfo (low-level, but visible to advanced users)
-     https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/VirtualBox_Guest_Integration (primarily a UX change)
-     https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/NoMoreAlpha (an improvement to distro processes)
-     https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/perl5.26 (major upgrade to a popular software stack, visible to users of that stack)
--->
 == Scope ==
-* Proposal owners:
+* Proposal owners: Add "Obsoletes: cockpit-navigator" to cockpit-files and retire cockpit-navigator.
-<!-- What work do the feature owners have to accomplish to complete the feature in time for release?  Is it a large change affecting many parts of the distribution or is it a very isolated change? What are those changes?-->
-* Other developers: <!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
-<!-- What work do other developers have to accomplish to complete the feature in time for release?  Is it a large change affecting many parts of the distribution or is it a very isolated change? What are those changes?-->
-* Release engineering: [https://pagure.io/releng/issues #Releng issue number] <!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
+* Other developers: N/A
-<!-- Does this feature require coordination with release engineering (e.g. changes to installer image generation or update package delivery)?  Is a mass rebuild required?  include a link to the releng issue.
+* Release engineering: N/A
-The issue is required to be filed prior to feature submission, to ensure that someone is on board to do any process development work and testing and that all changes make it into the pipeline; a bullet point in a change is not sufficient communication -->
 * Policies and guidelines: N/A (not needed for this Change) <!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
@@ Line 92: / Line 61: @@
 == Upgrade/compatibility impact ==
-<!-- What happens to systems that have had a previous versions of Fedora installed and are updated to the version containing this change? Will anything require manual configuration or data migration? Will any existing functionality be no longer supported? -->
+When upgrading to Fedora 42, systems with `cockpit-navigator` installed will be switched to `cockpit-files`.
 <!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
-== Early Testing (Optional) ==
-<!-- This is an optional step for system-wide changes to avail of. If you would like to build an initial proof of concept of your change and have a member of Fedora QA help you write and/or run some initial basic tests on your code, please email tests@fedoraproject.org and include the link to your change proposal. This step is *optional*. -->
-Do you require 'QA Blueprint' support? Y/N <!-- Optional Step for System-Wide Changes only -->
 == How To Test ==
-<!-- This does not need to be a full-fledged document. Describe the dimensions of tests that this change implementation is expected to pass when it is done.  This can be based off of the above section if early testing has been completed. If it needs to be tested with different hardware or software configurations, indicate them.  The more specific you can be, the better the community testing can be.
-Remember that you are writing this how to for interested testers to use to check out your change implementation - documenting what you do for testing is OK, but it's much better to document what *I* can do to test your change.
-A good "how to test" should answer these four questions:
-. What special hardware / data / etc. is needed (if any)?
+`cockpit-files` is available in the Fedora repositories.
-. How do I prepare my system to test this change? What packages
-need to be installed, config files edited, etc.?
-. What specific actions do I perform to check that the change is
-working like it's supposed to?
-. What are the expected results of those actions?
--->
 <!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
 == User Experience ==
-<!-- If this change proposal is noticeable by users, how will their experiences change as a result?
- This section partially overlaps with the Benefit to Fedora section above. This section should be primarily about the User Experience, written in a way that does not assume deep technical knowledge. More detailed technical description should be left for the Benefit to Fedora section.
+Replacing `cockpit-navigator` with `cockpit-files` leads to a visual change within Cockpit the `Navigator` menu entry will be replaced with a new `File browser` menu entry under Tools.
- Describe what Users will see or notice, for example:
+The UI of `cockpit-files` is different from `cockpit-navigator` but offers the same functionality with the exception symlink creation. `cockpit-files` like Cockpit uses PatternFly as UI toolkit making the user experience more consistent.
-  - Packages are compressed more efficiently, making downloads and upgrades faster by 10%.
-  - Kerberos tickets can be renewed automatically. Users will now have to authenticate less and become more productive. Credential management improvements mean a user can start their work day with a single sign on and not have to pause for reauthentication during their entire day.
- - Libreoffice is one of the most commonly installed applications on Fedora and it is now available by default to help users "hit the ground running".
- - Green has been scientifically proven to be the most relaxing color. The move to a default background color of green with green text will result in Fedora users being the most relaxed users of any operating system.
--->
 == Dependencies ==

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