[ipxe-devel] https does not work - but only on a single system

[Michael Brown]

On Thursday 09 May 2013 15:06:35 Ján ONDREJ (SAL) wrote:
>   I have an idea for displaying better error messages. Can ipxe try to
> convert error code to error message on ipxe homepage? If http network is
> available, can it try it? There are lots of errors in ipxe, which are
> confusing.

iPXE already gives you a URL (such as http://ipxe.org/022ae23c) which takes 
you to a page giving you a full description, a link to the precise line of 
code which generated that specific error, and a place where anyone can add 
notes describing causes and solutions for that specific problem.  Personally, I 
think that's about as clear as it could possibly get.

I don't think that attempting to use HTTP to retrieve error details would be a 
good idea:

- it won't work on networks that are not directly connected to the public 
Internet

- it omits most of the useful functionality of the existing error page (i.e. 
the "possible sources" links, any links to relevant documentation, and the 
"additional notes" editable text section)

- it introduces a possible failure into a failure path (i.e. we may fail to 
retrieve the error message).  This is almost always a bad idea; code that 
executes on a failure path should never itself be able to fail.

Michael