F38 proposal: Remove initial-setup from KDE Spin & Kinoite (Self-Contained Change proposal)

[Ben Cotton]

https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/KDERemoveInitialSetup

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 ==

We currently don't use the initial-setup application in the main KDE
Spin and Kinoite installation ISOs as everything gets configured at
installation time via Anaconda. We thus want to remove this package
from the installation ISOs while keeping it where we currently need it
(pre-installed disk images, etc.). Note that an "initial setup" app is
still needed to enable OEM-style installations
(https://askubuntu.com/questions/1386806/what-is-oem-installation-regarding-l...)
of the KDE Spin/Kinoite (like Fedora Workstation/Silverblue) so we're
planning on introducing a more KDE native application as a replacement
once it is ready, but that may not not happen as part of this change.

== Owner ==
* Name: [[User:Siosm| Timothée Ravier]], [[User:Ngompa| Neal Gompa]]
* Email: [e-mail], [e-mail]

== Detailed Description ==

We'll remove the initial-setup package from the KDE Spin & Fedora
Kinoite. This will fix a bug that is only visible on Kinoite (where
the user gets a warning on first boot because / is read only) and will
let us work on replacing it by another more KDE native application
instead.

OEM installations are installations where only the minimum is
configured by the vendor (hardware provider) and everything else is
done by the user on first boot. This is the default experience on
Fedora Workstation and other major operating systems. See also:
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1386806/what-is-oem-installation-regarding-l....

Note that this is not about removing Anaconda as an installer or from
the Live ISO, but removing initial-setup. For Fedora Kinoite where we
don't have a Live ISO but a separate installer ISO that includes
Anaconda, this will effectively also remove Anaconda from the final
system.

See also the discussion in https://pagure.io/fedora-kde/SIG/issue/243
for potential alternatives.

== Feedback ==

None so far.

== Benefit to Fedora ==

* Smaller image
* One less UX bug on Kinoite
* Work in the direction of OEM installations for the KDE based variants

== Scope ==
* Proposal owners:
** Remove the packages and test the change. Work on packaging
alternatives and potential integration.
** OpenQA tests to update if we successfully enable the OEM installation mode.
* 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 Objectives: N/A

== Upgrade/compatibility impact ==

Only impacts the first boot after installation. Should not impact updates.

== How To Test ==

Once the change has landed in Rawhide, downloading the ISO and
performing an installation should behave the same as currently. If we
successfully have a replacement then folks will be able to test OEM
installations.

== User Experience ==

No change initially. If we successfully have a replacement then we can
enable OEM installations.

== Dependencies ==

N/A

== Contingency Plan ==

* Contingency mechanism: (What to do?  Who will do it?) Revert the change.
* Contingency deadline: Anytime, probably before Beta
* Blocks release? No

== Documentation ==
N/A

== Release Notes ==
N/A. If we add OEM installation support then we can mention that.

[Kevin Kofler]

> We currently don't use the initial-setup application in the main KDE
> Spin and Kinoite installation ISOs as everything gets configured at
> installation time via Anaconda. We thus want to remove this package
> from the installation ISOs while keeping it where we currently need it
> (pre-installed disk images, etc.). Note that an "initial setup" app is
> still needed to enable OEM-style installations
> (https://askubuntu.com/questions/1386806/what-is-oem-installation-regarding-l...)
> of the KDE Spin/Kinoite (like Fedora Workstation/Silverblue) so we're
> planning on introducing a more KDE native application as a replacement
> once it is ready, but that may not not happen as part of this change.

How about Calamares in a dont-chroot: true configuration?

Kevin Kofler

[Timothée Ravier]

We'll need to investigate this option. I've added it in https://pagure.io/fedora-kde/SIG/issue/243

[Kamil Paral]

On Mon, Nov 14, 2022 at 10:34 PM Ben Cotton  wrote:
> We currently don't use the initial-setup application in the main KDE
> Spin and Kinoite installation ISOs as everything gets configured at
> installation time via Anaconda.

While that's true, wouldn't it make sense to adjust Anaconda to require a
regular admin user created during installation? Because currently you
either need to set root password or create a regular admin user in
Anaconda, and if you only set up root, you're offered to create the regular
user in the initial-setup. If you drop initial-setup, that workflow is not
possible anymore. According to our recent conversation in the kde list, it
seems you'd like to make sure a regular admin user gets created every time.
I think it would make sense to configure Anaconda this way at the same time
as initial-setup is dropped.

[Timothée Ravier]

Good point. We'll have to do that indeed.

[Zbigniew Jędrzejewski-Szmek]

> == Summary ==
>
> We currently don't use the initial-setup application in the main KDE
> Spin and Kinoite installation ISOs as everything gets configured at
> installation time via Anaconda. We thus want to remove this package
> from the installation ISOs while keeping it where we currently need it
> (pre-installed disk images, etc.). Note that an "initial setup" app is
> still needed to enable OEM-style installations
> (https://askubuntu.com/questions/1386806/what-is-oem-installation-regarding-l...)
> of the KDE Spin/Kinoite (like Fedora Workstation/Silverblue) so we're
> planning on introducing a more KDE native application as a replacement
> once it is ready, but that may not not happen as part of this change.

For clarity, please add a sentence at the beginning of this text that
explains what initial-setup is and what it does.

Zbyszek

[Timothée Ravier]

Thanks, updated