Too long and unhelpful notification for ".local" domains
Affects | Status | Importance | Assigned to | Milestone | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
avahi (Ubuntu) |
Confirmed
|
Undecided
|
Unassigned |
Bug Description
Binary package hint: avahi-daemon
When I connect to my home router, I get a notification about avahi being unable to use a ".local" domain. This bug is about fixing the message so that it is clearer and shorter. I was instructed to report such a bug on the ayatana mailing list, so perhaps a bit of discussion with them may be useful if the problem is unclear.
The current message, at least, its Italian translation that I see every day, is definitely too long, I had to see it a tenth of times to be able to read the whole of it in the short delay of a notification. Moreover, even if I think I can be considered an expert in using linux, I did not understand at all the meaning of the message, and I had to google for it just to get what the point is. The topic is a bit technical for the average user. Even if knowing that avahi is "a dns service for the local network" I still have no clue of what it is actually used for, so I do not know what are the consequences of the notification (e.g. will my printer work, and this thing is connected with apple perhaps, so will my ipod work - if I had one :)).
A short message like "The avahi service is disabled, look here for more info" would be good, but links can't be put in the notification. So I personally can't propose a good solution. Perhaps the message should not be shown at all, but rather it should be "embedded" in applications when they try to use avahi and fail (e.g. "avahi is disabled because your network has a .local domain, click here to know more", which is possible inside of an application.
In any case, the current message is too long to be read; this is the easily understandable part of this bug.
tags: | added: ayatana usability |
tags: | added: lucid |
Changed in avahi (Ubuntu): | |
status: | New → Confirmed |
Furthermore, what the hell does this error mean? It doesn't seem to affect network connectivity, but I sometimes see this message when connecting to free wifi hotspots. This bug seems to be the only result when I Google the error message.