On 9/12/06, Menno Smits <menno-yum@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > In the new version, CTRL-C once during downloads causes a mirror switch; > twice in quick succession causes termination. A single CTRL-C at other > times should just quit as normal. Though I understand the reasons behind this, I don't think this is good behaviour, since it differs substantially from the expected behaviour of other CLI interfaces. In the user's mind, Ctrl-C means "please quit," not "please switch mirrors, this is taking too long." Even tools where ctrl-c doesn't quit the tool, it normally interrupts any existing actions and puts the tool into "awaiting user input" mode -- e.g. bc, ipython, etc -- they won't exit, but ctrl-c will interrupt any running processes and go back to interactive mode. I think that Ctrl-C should terminate yum and exit at all times, except when RPM transaction is being performed. Even then, it would be good to warn the user "Exiting in the middle of transaction will cause unexpected results, please do not interrupt." I say this because almost every user learns about "kill -9" the day after the learn about "rm" and "mkdir," and when an application quietly ignores user interrupts, it just triggers the "oh yeah, I'll show you!" mode, because most people will assume that something is broken. I know that RPM will capture all Ctrl-C's during the actual transaction, but it would be good to output a friendly message at the start of the transaction to warn the users that ctrl-c's or other attempts to interrupt the transaction will be ignored for their own good. During the download stage, though, I think Ctrl-C should exit, not switch mirrors. I know it would be harder to implement, but I think some other key combination should switch mirrors, not ctrl-c. One of the most important things about UI design is never to go against users' expectations. This is why the "brake" pedal always stops the car, and never means "switch to a faster gear." In the users' minds, "ctrl-c" means "stop and exit," and doing something else, even if clever, will be quite commonly perceived as "bad design." This is also one of the main complaints I hear about yum -- that you can only exit by killing it from another terminal. Just sharing my thoughts. Cheers, -- Konstantin Ryabitsev Montr?al, Qu?bec
