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Public release of the Anaconda Web UI preview image

Summary

The work on Web UI for the Anaconda installer has advanced enough so that it is possible to create and publish self contained preview images.

Owner


Current status

Detailed Description

Even though still very simple the new Anaconda Web UI is now far enough to support a simple installation workflow from a self-contained image while demonstrating all the main aspects of the new UI, such as:

  • flexible Wizard layout
  • responsive PatternFly components
  • new style built-in help
  • local and remote access to the Web UI

For this we will create a self-contained boot.iso style image with a built-in tar-payload (so that the image can work even without network access) based on the latest Anaconda upstream code.

It is not yet possible to switch to a different installation source as we don't have the source selection screen implemented in the Web UI yet - so the built-in tar payload will always be used for now.

We aim to have the image available for download just after the F37 release (so that the tar-payload can contain final F37 release content) and then updated automatically in regular intervals.

That way the rather active Web UI development of the Web UI will be reflected in the up-to-date installation image, as well as any feedback and community PRs.

Feedback

Benefit to Fedora

The Anaconda Web UI will provide modern responsive user interface based on a well known and widely used toolkit (PatternFly) and backed by proven Cockpit tooling.

The screen layout is based on latest UX design guidelines as well as usability testing of the new interface and extensive mockup work.

There are improvements in developer experience as well due to the more modern & more mainstream UI technology chosen and powerful Cockpit test tooling (rich unit-test as well as pixel-test framework). The stateless property of the Web UI allows almost live-coding style of UI development. This should make it easier to work on the Anaconda Web UI for not only the Anaconda team, addon developer but also for any interested contributors.

Remote Web UI access should also provide a much better experience than the slow and inefficient VNC based remote GUI installation support Anaconda has today. Due to no need for local rendering remotely driven GUI installations on a constrained hardware with minimal installation images should become possible.


Scope

  • Proposal owners:

The Anaconda team will setup and maintain an automated Web UI preview image creation pipeline, with the image being available via a web server on the Fedora infrastructure.

It will be a preview image only, not an official Fedora deliverable and it will not influence Fedora release criteria in any way.

  • Other developers:

Other developers and Fedora users are welcome to try the image once it is released and to provide feedback.

  • Policies and guidelines: N/A (not needed for this Change)
  • Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change)
  • Alignment with Objectives:

Upgrade/compatibility impact

How To Test

Download the Anaconda Web UI preview image and boot it on VM or hardware that contains no important data.

Install using the Web UI locally, alternatively try using the Web UI remotely.

The installed OS should be functional but its testing or any issues with it are currently out of scope for the Anaconda Web UI preview image.

To provide feedback use one of the Anaconda team communication channels:


User Experience

Should be improved compared to the current GTK interface.

Dependencies

Contingency Plan

  • Contingency mechanism: If we hit some blocking technical issues, the image will be published later.
  • 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

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