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Make services within a qube's settings easier to understand #6098

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icequbes1 opened this issue Oct 2, 2020 · 0 comments
Open

Make services within a qube's settings easier to understand #6098

icequbes1 opened this issue Oct 2, 2020 · 0 comments
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C: manager/widget P: default Priority: default. Default priority for new issues, to be replaced given sufficient information. ux User experience

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@icequbes1
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The problem you're addressing (if any)
There doesn't appear to be any concise documentation that explains the "Services" tab when configuring a qube's settings. Users may not know what it does or what it's for. I have only seen references to enabling or disabling a particular service depending on a task a user may be executing following along in other documentation.

Describe the solution you'd like

Updates to the User Interface that allows a user to make a more informed decision on services they'd like to enable, disable, or leave at the default. Also, a short description of the service and its default (based on the AppVM type) would allow the user to be more informed.

Where is the value to a user, and who might that user be?

Qubes OS gives exposes lots of control to the user. The Services tab is one such example. However, a user who does not investigate may only know "services can be controlled" without knowing much else. They may typically avoid this panel in the Settings simply because they are unaware of what capability it provides.

By providing simple improvements to this interface that quickly enables the user to make an informed decision over the configuration of their system would be beneficial and reduce optics that some users feel makes Qubes OS confusing or difficult to work with.

Describe alternatives you've considered

The best existing form of documentation that describes VM services is located in the qvm-service man page (https://dev.qubes-os.org/projects/core-admin-client/en/latest/manpages/qvm-service.html). It describes the list of services, and their default value depending on the type of AppVM. As an example of a discrepancy, it shows that qubes-yum-proxy is deprecated, yet the Settings/Services tab displays 5 such options related to "yum" or "updates" with no additional context which certainly would cause user confusion and likely remain an unused tab.

And while the Services tab does indicate "Unlisted services will follow default settings" there is no indication as to what those defaults are within the UI, or within Qubes website documentation that most users would read first.

A user who seeks more information about this tab likely will not come upon the qvm-service man page, unless they are already somewhat familiar with available CLI commands.

Additional context

Relevant documentation you've consulted

https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/qubes-service/

Related, non-duplicate issues

#3948, #4402 describe some enhancements to qvm-service but do not address User Interface and improving user interaction.

@icequbes1 icequbes1 added P: default Priority: default. Default priority for new issues, to be replaced given sufficient information. T: enhancement labels Oct 2, 2020
@andrewdavidwong andrewdavidwong added this to the TBD milestone Oct 3, 2020
@andrewdavidwong andrewdavidwong removed this from the Release TBD milestone Aug 13, 2023
@marmarta marmarta removed their assignment Mar 6, 2024
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Labels
C: manager/widget P: default Priority: default. Default priority for new issues, to be replaced given sufficient information. ux User experience
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