Bug 5499 - unhelpful message in tl-select-profile when no executable profiles are found.
Summary: unhelpful message in tl-select-profile when no executable profiles are found.
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: ThinLinc
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Misc (show other bugs)
Version: 4.3.0
Hardware: PC Unknown
: P2 Normal
Target Milestone: 4.19.0
Assignee: Frida Flodin
URL:
Keywords: relnotes, samuel_tester
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2015-04-22 08:53 CEST by Henrik Andersson
Modified: 2025-06-16 14:04 CEST (History)
7 users (show)

See Also:
Acceptance Criteria:
MUST: * It must be clear for an admin that the most common issue is that the system lacks a desktop environment. * There must be a message targeting end-users, to let them know that the issue is not on their end. * There must be information to the administrator to let them know what step to take next. SHOULD: * The message should be searchable in the TAG. * Profile problems should be reported in the log and reflect specific issues


Attachments

Description Henrik Andersson cendio 2015-04-22 08:53:28 CEST
When no profiles are found the user is presented with the following message.

  No executable profiles could be found on this system.
  Please contact your system administrator, or check
  http://www.cendio.com/resources/docs/platforms for notes
  relating to your distribution.

The message targets both the end-user with no knowledge about the
infrastructure and the system administrator. 

The problem here is that there might be several causes to this problem some of them are not straight forward. Especially if this is a POC and system administrator is new to ThinLinc and its functionality.
Comment 1 Samuel Mannehed cendio 2017-02-22 14:47:55 CET
Moving from 'MediumPrio' to '---' for discussion.
Comment 7 Samuel Mannehed cendio 2024-11-05 16:33:57 CET
A platform specific note under "General" was added for this:

https://www.cendio.com/thinlinc/docs/platforms/general/
Comment 13 Hannes cendio 2025-05-19 11:06:36 CEST
> MUST
> * It must be clear for an admin that the most common issue is that the system
> lacks a desktop environment.
Yes, the updated text clearly states this as a possible cause.

> * There must be a message targeting end-users, to let them know that the issue 
> is not on their end.
Yes.

> * There must be information to the administrator to let them know what step to
> take next.
Yes, we now link to an updated chapter in TAG

> SHOULD
> * The message should be searchable in the TAG.
Yes.
Comment 19 Hannes cendio 2025-05-21 16:27:15 CEST
Resolving again after feedback by mail.
Comment 22 Samuel Mannehed cendio 2025-05-22 12:55:25 CEST
Looks good! The new generic error message is a big improvement compared to the last one. Even if we didn't add any more fancy logic to this, I think new users are now much more likely to understand what's wrong.

I noticed that a release note was missing, so I added one. Otherwise, the code looks good.

Build 4074 was used on a minimal Ubuntu 24.04 without any desktops installed.
Comment 23 Samuel Mannehed cendio 2025-06-03 16:59:50 CEST
After internal discussions, we decided to revise the 4 different error messages a bit. The main aspects we want to change are as follows:

 * We want unique and eye-catching headings for the different errors. The title might be the only thing a lazy user reads.
 * Start the text with the problem, and move ThinLinc-specific details about profiles further down.
 * Include more helpful next steps such as recommendations for installing desktops.
 * Log information in tlsetup.log and xinit.log (for tl-select-profile).

Note that this applies to changes made in many of the related bugs, for coordination these changes are gathered under this bug.
Comment 33 Tobias cendio 2025-06-05 07:48:24 CEST
The profile chooser error page has had its texts for different scenarios updated such that they follow a general structure of

(1) problem statement, including a more salient and problem-oriented header
(2) recommended problem solutions
(3) link to external information

Also, the problems encountered in the profile chooser are now logged in the xinit.log.
Comment 34 Tobias cendio 2025-06-05 07:48:38 CEST
Tested adding a bold delimiter "Recommended next step" between the problem statement and the next step recommendations. While it did look pretty good and gave the pages a more structured look, it did feel a bit excessive since the texts are ultimately quite short.

Moreover, it grew the size of the window even further, which was quite noticeable for the scenario with most content, i.e. when we print the list of desktops. We likely want to be format-wise consistent across the different scenarios.
Comment 69 Samuel Mannehed cendio 2025-06-09 15:00:59 CEST
(In reply to Samuel Mannehed from comment #23)
> After internal discussions, we decided to revise the 4 different error
> messages a bit. The main aspects we want to change are as follows:
> 
>  * We want unique and eye-catching headings for the different errors. The
> title might be the only thing a lazy user reads.
>  * Start the text with the problem, and move ThinLinc-specific details about
> profiles further down.
>  * Include more helpful next steps such as recommendations for installing
> desktops.
>  * Log information in tlsetup.log and xinit.log (for tl-select-profile).
> 
> Note that this applies to changes made in many of the related bugs, for
> coordination these changes are gathered under this bug.

This has now been addressed. Details about profiles were not included in the interface. Such details were moved to the TAG where a new chapter was created for the profile stuff.

Clear recommended solutions were added along with logging.

Tested tl-setup in both GUI mode and text mode, and the profile chooser on Fedora 41:

* No desktops installed
* Only wayland desktops installed
* Unsupported desktop installed
* Supported desktop installed, but all profiles inactivated.
Comment 70 Samuel Mannehed cendio 2025-06-09 15:34:10 CEST
Here's a link to the new profile-chapter:

https://www.cendio.com/resources/docs/tag-devel/html/profiles.html

Note that the links in tl-setup/tl-select-profile doesn't work until we release the 4.19.0 TAG on the web, since they link to the real non-devel version of the TAG.
Comment 71 Madeleine cendio 2025-06-16 13:49:36 CEST
Tested server build 4099 on RHEL9 and Ubuntu 22.04 and verified that the error messages appears as expected. It looks good! I find the messages informative, without being misleading, and that it's obvious that things are misconfigured rather than broken.

The new profile-chapter looks good, and it's helpful that you also mention the session log xinit.log. On RHEL9, I tried creating a fake profile with a dummy .desktop file to bypass the new error messages, just to get a look at the error in xinit.log.

I like the format of the error messages with a short suggested solution and a link to the ThinLinc profiles chapter. One thought: it might be worth referencing or in some way tying together the Common issues section in the new chapter with the more general Troubleshooting ThinLinc chapter.
Comment 72 Madeleine cendio 2025-06-16 14:04:25 CEST
Ignore the last bit about the reference, I was looking at the old version of the Troubleshooting chapter. I see now that it’s been updated with a reference in the new TAG

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