Etcher: Provide a way for users to bypass the Etcher system drive protection layer

[jviotti]

There might be advanced users that really know what they're doing.

We could either:

• Document the use of an environment variable, like ETCHER_ADVANCED_MODE=1. Advanced users will feel confortable doing so, and the feature will be nicely isolated from newbies.
• Provide a checkbox in the drive selector modal saying something like "Advanced usage" with a big warning that will make system drives appear on the modal.

[msupon]

I like the env var option, and I appreciate the distro without the check in it.

booted off the drive and it worked perfectly.

[jviotti]

Sounds good. Possible names for the environment variable:

• ETCHER_ADVANCED_MODE
• ETCHER_UNSAFE_MODE
• ETCHER_RUN_UNSAFE

I personally like the second one.

[alexandrosm]

@jviotti how about an option in the settings?

[jviotti]

@alexandrosm Yeah, I think that'd work even better. Propagating env vars from the main process to the renderer process is a pain, so I'm all for a more simplistic option.

[alexandrosm]

maybe with a red "dangerous" label next to it, and a warning modal when the user wants to enable it?

[jviotti]

I personally think the dangerous label is enough, and a warning modal is just annoying, but maybe that's just me. @taahirisaacs?

[alexandrosm]

they'll only see it once anyway, not a big deal, and want to make sure
someone doesn't blow out their hard drive and blame etcher

_Alexandros Marinos_

Founder & CEO, Resin.io

[phone]

@alexandrosm

On Wed, Jun 22, 2016 at 7:44 AM, Juan Cruz Viotti [email protected]
wrote:

I personally think the dangerous label is enough, and a warning modal is
just annoying, but maybe that's just me. @taahirisaacs
https://github.com/taahirisaacs?

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[jviotti]

[jmsaltzman]

I found this thread looking for details on this setting, and while "Allow writing system drive [DANGEROUS]" or other text for this setting would be more correct, this text, as-is, is too hilarious to ever change!!

"Unsafe mode" is mysterious, but the "Dangerous" makes it delicious as well!

It's like a red button with a label next to it saying "DO NOT PRESS THIS BUTTON."

[lurch]

https://github.com/balena-io/etcher/blob/master/lib/gui/app/pages/settings/templates/settings.tpl.html#L63
:slightly_smiling_face: :fire: