Calamares now "fixed" in KDEneon. How about list of Calamares "wants?" Also, how to change the BTRFS subvolume names.

[oshunluvr]

FYI: The 0328 ISOs of both Kubuntu 24.04 and KDEneon have the two known Calamares issues fixed: namely the network.py crash and the BTRFS swap file crash.

Now that we are officially (and finally!) away from Ubiquity I thought it might be interesting to see what - is any - ideas were out there to improve the "Calamare" experience.

I'll go first, lol...


EDIT: Network issue still pops up in Kubuntu 24.04 03/38 release but not KDEneon?

[oshunluvr]

My Number 1: User input for BTRFS subvolume names.

If you have ever read my earlier posts about how to multi-boot many distros on a single BTRFS file system, you know that it requires subvolume name changes after installation - which frankly can be a PITA to get right. Too many places need edits for it to be easy. Even if you have separate BTRFS file systems with other installs, I find it helpful to have them using different subvolume names rather than all of them be "@"

My request: I would like to be able to change the default subvolume names - @, @home, @swap - at install time when it's easy.

Since Calamares sets the BTRFS subvolume names in a python file, it pretty easy to do it yourself. The file to edit is:

/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/calamares/modules/mount/main.py

Line 136 contains @ and @home and line 146 contains @swap in quotes. Simply edit the filenames inside the quotes before clicking on "Install Kubuntu" (or KDEneon).

Obviously, edit carefully!

[oshunluvr]

My number 2: Have the installer add the needed bios-boot partition when choosing GPT rather than making the user start partitioning all over.

Currently, if the user chooses manual partitioning and opts for GPT partitioning (a great idea), Calarames announces after you click continue that you need to have an 8GB "boot-bios" partition in order to use GPT to boot without EFI. This means the user has to go back and redo the entire partition table.

It would be better if Calamares automatically added the partition at the front of the partition table and reduced the partition set as "root" by the needed 8MB and notified you of the change.

OR

When the user selects GPT for a new partition table - have Calamares immediately create the bios-boot partition as partition 1 before the use continues.