Bug 795863

Summary:	RFE: hotkey alias for Alt+f2 to get to shell during install
Product:	[Fedora] Fedora	Reporter:	Peter Robinson <pbrobinson>
Component:	anaconda	Assignee:	Anaconda Maintenance Team <anaconda-maint-list>
Status:	CLOSED NOTABUG	QA Contact:	Fedora Extras Quality Assurance <extras-qa>
Severity:	unspecified	Docs Contact:
Priority:	unspecified
Version:	rawhide	CC:	anaconda-maint-list, g.kaviyarasu, jonathan, vanmeeuwen+fedora
Target Milestone:	---	Keywords:	Reopened
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Hardware:	Unspecified
OS:	Unspecified
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	Bug Fix
Doc Text:		Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:	2012-02-22 14:52:18 UTC	Type:	---
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:

Description Peter Robinson 2012-02-21 16:57:34 UTC

The anaconda installer for years has supported the ability to switch to a "ALT + F2" console for debug. It's very useful for debugging build issues.

One problem I run into on a daily basis when testing and debugging kickstart based installs is you get to a point where you need to see why something has gone wrong and you get get the prompt "The system will be rebooted when you press Ctrl-C or Ctrl-Alt-Delete.". From this point you can still switch to the Alt+f2 to do some useful debug if you're on a standard kdb environment.

The problem I have is that in a lot of virtual environments or when running the install over serial console it's impossible to send Alt+F2 to get to that shell (whether the install is running fine or at the aforementioned prompt) which makes it very hard to debug issues with installs. It would be nice if there was an alternate hotkey to be able to use in these environments to make debug a lot easier.

Comment 1 Brian Lane 2012-02-21 18:40:30 UTC

I don't think it is possible to do something like this over serial console. If you need more debugging information you should install via vnc and use a client that can send the extra key codes.

Comment 2 Peter Robinson 2012-02-21 19:15:43 UTC

what? you can't have a hot key other than Alt+F2 to bring up a shell. In PCI-DSS and other secure environments it's not always possible to just install via VNC because in some specifications and environments the network the build is done on is completely isolated and non routeable so to be able to remotely access a serial console is sometimes the only means of access until the install is complete and the server is running locked down.

What about in a VM console where you don't always have the ability to send alt+Fx keys.

Comment 3 Martin Sivák 2012-02-22 10:49:36 UTC

As far as I know, the hotkey is processed directly by kernel and anaconda has nothing to do with it.

There might be a possibility (at least in GUI) to map some hotkey to "execute chvt 2" from anaconda, which does the same thing. I am really not sure about the other modes though. This should be preferably solved on higher level eg. the tools used to do remote access.

VNC usually has a menu item sending C-A-Fx keystroke and if VM manager is missing this feature, it should probably become another RFE.

Serial console has no ability to switch VT (by design) so there is nothing we can do about it, except maybe enabling ssh access to command line for this purpose (which we already support).