Last week when I was doing another Linux FC6 installation, I came across a very peculiar bug. I have never seen one like this since I started playing with Linux. In the middle of the installation the Anaconda installer just popped up an error message that is shown in the adjoining picture (Excuse the picture quality as it is taken directly from the monitor using a digital camera). Funnily enough I was using a DVD based installation so it should not have asked for a disc in the first place.

Then I thought that maybe it is because the installer is not able to read some files off the disc. I removed it, cleaned it thoroughly and inserted it again. Still no luck. It gave me an Wrong CDROM error message the next time around. I had to cancel the installation and restart the process entirely. Which meant a rework of around 1 hour because I had heavily customised my Fedora installation with a lot of tools and products to test and work with.

Normally it should not be a big problem though. However the installer needs to improve a lot in the sense that it should recognise whether the user is using a DVD or set of CD-ROMs to install. That should not be a tough thing to do. When I start the installation, regardless of whether it is DVD based or CD based, depending on what I choose, it tells me which CDs I need. Well why should I be told that if I am using a DVD for installation? Not only is this annoying, it also does not appear professional.

Secondly, about the error I just mentioned earlier; it would certainly help if the installer could catch the exception and give out a better message giving the user correct information about the actual error rather than such a misleading and obviously incorrect message.