YaST2 Documentation

Table of Contents

Preface

1. What's Inside

2. Style Conventions

1. Introduction

2. YaST - The Big Picture

2.1. Overview

2.1.1. Access To The System

2.1.2. Reasonable Suggestions

2.1.3. Workflows

2.1.4. Modules And The YCP-Language

2.1.5. User Interface

2.1.6. Summary

2.2. YaST Architecture

2.2.1. The SCR (System Configuration Repository)

2.2.2. The UI (User Interface)

2.2.3. YaST Core Engine

2.2.4. External Programs

3. The YaST Language - YCP

3.1. The First YCP Program

3.1.1. YCP Source

3.1.2. The YCP compiler

3.1.3. Running YCP

3.2. YCP Data Types

3.2.1. Data Type void (nil)

3.2.2. Data Type symbol

3.2.3. Data Type boolean

3.2.4. Data Type integer

3.2.5. Data Type float

3.2.6. Data Type string

3.2.7. Data Type byteblock

3.2.8. Data Type list

3.2.9. Data Type map

3.2.10. Data Type path

3.2.11. Data Type term

3.2.12. Data Type any

3.3. More YCP types

3.3.1. Data Type block

3.4. YCP Type System

3.4.1. Data Type any And Type Checking

3.5. YCP Expression Evaluation

3.5.1. Evaluation Of Blocks

3.5.2. Evaluation Of Basic Data Types

3.6. YCP Operators

3.6.1. Comparison Operators

3.6.2. Boolean Operators

3.6.3. Bit Operators

3.6.4. Math Operators

3.6.5. Triple Operator

3.6.6. Operators Precedence

3.6.7. The bracket operator

3.6.7.1. Introduction

3.6.7.2. Access variant

3.6.7.2.1. Accessing lists

3.6.7.2.2. Accessing maps

3.6.7.2.3. Mixed map/list access

3.6.7.3. Assign variant

3.7. Data Type locale

3.8. YCP Program Structure

3.8.1. Comments

3.8.2. Variable Declaration

3.8.3. Variable Assignment

3.8.4. Conditional Branch

3.8.5. while() Loop

3.8.6. do..while() Loop

3.8.7. repeat..until() Loop

3.8.8. break Statement

3.8.9. continue Statement

3.8.10. return Statement

3.8.11. Function definition

3.8.12. Function declaration

3.8.13. include Statement

3.8.14. import Statement

3.8.15. Variable Scopes and blocks

3.8.16. Applying Expressions To Lists And Maps

3.8.16.1. foreach() Statement

3.8.16.2. listmap() Statement

3.8.16.3. maplist() Statement

3.8.16.4. mapmap() Statement

3.9. Controlling The User Interface

3.10. The YaST Wizard

4. Running y2base Stand-Alone

5. SCR Details

5.1. SCR Agents

5.2. SCR Tree

5.3. Accessing SCR

5.4. Using SCR From Within YCP

5.5. Using SCR From The Command Line

5.6. Useful SCR Agents

6. YaST Modules

6.1. YCP Modules Overview

6.2. True YCP Modules

6.2.1. Included Modules

6.2.2. True Modules (Imported Modules)

6.2.3. True Modules And Constructors

6.3. Some Rules

6.3.1. Usability

6.4. Module Layout

6.4.1. Module Skeleton

6.4.2. Module Example

7. YaST2 UI Layout and Events

7.1. YaST2 Layout

7.1.1. Summary: What's This All About?

7.1.2. Basics and Terms

7.1.2.1. The UI

7.1.2.2. Widgets

7.1.2.3. UI Independence and the libyui

7.1.2.4. The Nice Size

7.1.2.5. Initial Dialog Sizes

7.1.2.6. Full Screen Dialogs: `opt(`defaultsize)

7.1.3. Layout Building Blocks

7.1.3.1. Layout Boxes: HBox and VBox

7.1.3.2. Specifying Proportions: HWeight and VWeight

7.1.3.3. Rubber Bands: HStretch and VStretch

7.1.3.4. Making Common Widgets Stretchable: `opt(`hstretch) and `opt(`vstretch)

7.1.3.5. Spacings: HSpacing and VSpacing

7.1.3.6. Alignments: Left, Right, HCenter, Top, Bottom, VCenter, HVCenter

7.1.3.7. Compressing Excess Space: HSquash, VSquash, HVSquash

7.1.3.8. Optical Grouping: Frame

7.1.3.9. Grouping RadioButtons: RadioButtonGroup

7.1.3.10. The Esoterics: ReplacePoint

7.1.3.11. Obsolete: Split

7.1.4. Common Layout Techniques

7.1.4.1. Creating Widgets of Equal Size

7.1.4.2. Creating Widgets of Equal Size that don't Grow

7.1.4.3. Creating Widgets of Equal Size that don't Grow - with Spacings in between

7.1.4.4. Specifying the Size of Scrollable Widgets

7.1.5. Hints and Tips

7.1.5.1. Debugging Aids: The Log File

7.1.5.2. Keep it Simple - Do not Overcrowd Dialogs!

7.1.5.3. Always Keep Other UIs in Mind - What does it Look Like with NCurses?

7.1.5.4. Do not Neglect Mouseless Users - Always Provide Keyboard Shortcuts!

7.1.6. The Layout Algorithm - How the Layout Engine Works Internally

7.1.6.1. Primary and Secondary Dimensions

7.1.6.2. Calculating the Nice Size

7.1.6.2.1. Secondary Nice Size

7.1.6.2.2. Primary Nice Size

7.1.6.3. Setting the Size of a Layout - SetSize()

7.1.6.3.1. Running out of Space - the Pathological Cases

7.1.6.3.2. Centering in the Secondary Dimension

7.2. UI Events

7.2.1. Introduction

7.2.1.1. The YaST2 Event Model

7.2.1.1.1. Classic GUI Event Loops

7.2.1.1.2. The YaST2 Approach

7.2.1.1.3. Simplicity vs. Features

7.2.1.1.4. The notify Option

7.2.1.1.5. Downsides and Discussions

7.2.1.1.6. Design Alternatives

7.2.1.2. Event Delivery

7.2.1.2.1. Event Queues vs. One Single Pending Event

7.2.1.2.2. Event Reliability

7.2.1.2.3. Defensive Programming

7.2.2. Event-related UI Builtin Functions

7.2.3. Event Reference

7.2.3.1. Event Maps in General

7.2.3.2. Event Types

7.2.3.2.1. WidgetEvent

7.2.3.2.2. Activated WidgetEvent

7.2.3.2.3. ValueChanged WidgetEvent

7.2.3.2.4. SelectionChanged WidgetEvent

7.2.3.2.5. MenuEvent

7.2.3.2.6. TimeoutEvent

7.2.3.2.7. CancelEvent

7.2.3.2.8. KeyEvent

7.2.3.2.9. DebugEvent

8. Modules and Libraries

8.1. Using the package manager

8.1.1. Introduction

8.1.2. Implementation

8.1.3. Querying the package manager

8.1.3.1. Checking an installed package

8.1.3.2. Checking the installation sources

8.1.3.3. Deleting a package

8.1.3.4. Installing a package

8.1.3.5. Solving dependencies

8.1.3.6. Committing the changes

8.1.4. Example code

9. Installation Frameworks and Installation Process

9.1. Product Installation Control

9.1.1. Functionality

9.1.2. Implementation

9.1.3. Configuration

9.1.3.1. workflows

9.1.3.2. Proposals

9.1.3.3. Installation and Product Variables

9.1.3.4. Software

9.1.3.5. Partitioning

9.1.3.5.1. Algorithm for space allocation

9.1.3.5.2. Configuration Options

9.1.3.6. Hooks

9.2. Firstboot Configuration

9.2.1. Enabling Firstboot

9.2.2. Customizing YaST Firstboot

9.2.2.1. Customizing Messages

9.2.2.2. License Action

9.2.2.3. Release Notes

9.2.2.4. Customizing Workflow Components

9.2.3. Scripting

10. YaST Development And Tools

10.1. YaST2 Development Tools

10.1.1. Quick Start

10.1.2. What is it?

10.1.3. Migration

10.1.4. Translation (po) Modules)

10.1.5. create-spec: Automatic creation of the .spec file

10.1.6. Overview of Paths

10.1.7. Toplevel make Targets in Detail

10.1.7.1. make package-local

10.1.7.2. make package

10.1.7.3. make check-tagversion

10.1.7.4. make check-up-to-date

10.1.7.5. make checkin-stable

10.1.7.6. make stable

10.2. YaST2 Logging

10.2.1. Introduction

10.2.2. Quick start

10.2.3. Logging levels

10.2.4. Logging functions

10.2.5. Additional functions

10.2.5.1. Setting the logfile name

10.2.5.2. Universal logging functions:

10.2.6. Components

10.2.7. Logfiles

10.2.8. Log entries

10.2.9. Logging control

10.2.10. Environment control

10.3. Coding In YCP

10.3.1. Coding Rules

10.3.1.1. The file header

10.3.1.2. Indendation

10.3.1.3. Whitespace

10.3.1.4. Naming of variables

10.3.1.5. Naming of functions

10.3.1.6. Blocks and Braces

10.3.1.7. if-then-else, while, etc.

10.3.1.8. Comments

10.3.1.9. Other habits

10.3.2. Examples of bad code

10.4. Check YCP Syntax

10.4.1. Quick Start

10.4.2. Why this Document?

10.4.3. Header Comment Checks

10.4.4. Filename Check

10.4.5. Author / Maintainer Entry Check

10.4.6. CVS Id: Marker Check

10.4.7. Translatable Messages Checks

10.4.7.1. textdomain Check

10.4.8. RichText / HTML Sanity Check

10.4.8.1. Completeness of <p> / </p> Paragraph Tags

10.4.8.2. Text Before, After, Between Paragraphs

10.4.8.3. No More Than One Paragraph per Message

10.4.8.4. Excess Forced Line Breaks <br> after Paragraphs

10.4.9. Widget / UI Function Parameter Checks

10.4.9.1. Keyboard Shortcut Check

10.4.9.2. Translatable Messages Check

10.4.10. Standardized Lib Function Checks

10.4.10.1. Duplicate Definitions of Wizard Lib Functions

10.4.10.2. Definitions and Usage of Obsolete Functions

10.4.10.3. Usage of Predefined Messages

10.4.11. Alternative Variable Declarations

10.4.12. Checking YCP Examples

10.4.13. check_ycp and Emacs

10.4.14. Extending check_ycp

10.4.14.1. Adding new Widgets / UI Functions

10.4.14.2. Other Extensions

10.5. The YaST2 Macro Recorder

10.5.1. Introduction

10.5.2. Quick Start

10.5.3. Purpose

10.5.4. What it is not

10.5.5. Quirks and Limitations

10.5.6. Anatomy of a Macro

1. YCP Reference

2. User Interface Reference

1. Event-related UI Builtin Functions

UI::UserInput - Waits for user input and returns a widget ID.

UI::PollInput - Checks for pending user input. Does not wait. Returns a widget ID or nil if no input is available.

UI::TimeoutUserInput - Waits for user input and returns a widget ID. Returns ID `timeout if no input is available for timeout milliseconds.

UI::WaitForEvent - Waits for user input and returns an event map. Returns ID `timeout if no input is available for timeout milliseconds.

2. UI builtin commands

UI::SetModulename - Sets Module Name

UI::GetModulename - Gets the name of a Module

UI::SetLanguage - Sets the language of the UI

UI::GetProductName - Gets Product Name

UI::SetProductName - Sets Product Name

UI::SetConsoleFont - Sets Console Font

UI::SetKeyboard - Sets Keyboard

UI::GetLanguage - Gets Language

UI::UserInput - User Input

UI::PollInput - Poll Input

UI::TimeoutUserInput - User Input with Timeout

UI::WaitForEvent - Waits for Event

UI::OpenDialog - Opens a new dialog.

UI::OpenDialog - Opens a Dialog with options

UI::CloseDialog() - Closes an open dialog

UI::ChangeWidget - Changes widget contents

UI::QueryWidget - Queries Widget contents

UI::ReplaceWidget -

UI::WizardCommand - Runs a wizard command

UI::SetFocus - Sets Focus to the specified widget

UI::BusyCursor - Sets the mouse cursor to the busy cursor

UI::RedrawScreen - Redraws the screen

UI::NormalCursor - Sets the mouse cursor to the normal cursor

UI::MakeScreenShot - Makes Screen Shot

UI::DumpWidgetTree - Debugging function

UI::RecordMacro - Records Macro into a file

UI::StopRecordingMacro - Stops recording macro

UI::PlayMacro - Plays a recorded macro

UI::FakeUserInput - Fakes User Input

UI::Glyph - Returns a special character ( a 'glyph' )

UI::GetDisplayInfo - Gets Display Info

UI::RecalcLayout - Recalculates Layout

UI::PostponeShortcutCheck - Postpones Shortcut Check

UI::CheckShortcuts - Performs an explicit shortcut check after postponing shortcut checks.

UI::WidgetExists - Checks whether or not a widget with the given ID currently exists

UI::RunPkgSelection - Initializes and run the PackageSelector widget

UI::AskForExistingDirectory - Opens a directory selection box and prompt the user for an existing directory.

UI::AskForExistingFile - Opens a file selection box and prompt the user for an existing file.

UI::AskForSaveFileName - Opens a file selection box and prompt the user for a file to save data to.

UI::SetFunctionKeys - Sets the ( default ) function keys for a number of buttons.

UI::WFM/SCR - callback

UI::Recode - Recodes encoding of string from or to "UTF-8" encoding.

3. Standard (mandatory) widgets

AAA_All-Widgets - Generic options for all widgets

ReplacePoint - Pseudo widget to replace parts of a dialog

Empty - Stretchable space for layout

HSpacing - Fixed size empty space for layout

Left - Layout alignment

MinWidth - Layout minimum size

MarginBox - Margins around one child widget

Frame - Frame with label

HSquash - Layout aid: Minimize widget to its nice size

HWeight - Control relative size of layouts

HBox - Generic layout: Arrange widgets horizontally or vertically

Label - Simple static text

RichText - Static text with HTML-like formatting

LogView - scrollable log lines like "tail -f"

PushButton - Perform action on click

MenuButton - Button with popup menu

CheckBox - Clickable on/off toggle button

RadioButton - Clickable on/off toggle button for radio boxes

RadioButtonGroup - Radio box - select one of many radio buttons

TextEntry - Input field

MultiLineEdit - multiple line text edit field

SelectionBox - Scrollable list selection

MultiSelectionBox - Selection box that allows selecton of multiple items

ComboBox - drop-down list selection (optionally editable)

Tree - Scrollable tree selection

Table - Multicolumn table widget

ProgressBar - Graphical progress indicator

Image - Pixmap image

IntField - Numeric limited range input field

PackageSelector - Complete software package selection

PkgSpecial - Package selection special - DON'T USE IT

4. Special (optional) widgets

HasSpecialWidget - Checks for support of a special widget type.

BarGraph - Horizontal bar graph (optional widget)

ColoredLabel - Simple static text with specified background and foreground color

DownloadProgress - Self-polling file growth progress indicator (optional widget)

DumbTab - Simplistic tab widget that behaves like push buttons

VMultiProgressMeter - Progress bar with multiple segments (optional widget)

Slider - Numeric limited range input (optional widget)

PartitionSplitter - Hard disk partition splitter tool (optional widget)

Date - Date input field

Time - Time input field

Wizard - Wizard frame - not for general use, use the Wizard:: module instead!

3. Reference of Interface to YaST2 Package Manager

4. Frameworks Reference

5. YaST2 Library Reference

1. UI Richtext

2. ChangeLog