Hi, I have a few questions about Pungi:
* When running the text based Anaconda from the resulting ISO, all packages are selectable, not just those that are included in the custom dist. Is this a known limitation? Any other problems with the text based Anaconda, to watch out for?
* How can I create a CD that automatically uses a kickstart file? Revisor seems to support this, but we're using Pungi. I've found http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-buildsys-list/2007-June/msg00098.html, but perhaps there's a better way to do this?
* Where can I find documentation on the "special" Kickstart options that Pungi understands, are there any others than "repo"?
I also wonder if anyone has a minimal KS (but with X11) file to be used as a template.
Best regards, --- Peter Åstrand ThinLinc Chief Developer Cendio AB http://www.cendio.se Wallenbergs gata 4 583 30 Linköping Phone: +46-13-21 46 00
Peter Åstrand wrote:
Hi, I have a few questions about Pungi:
- When running the text based Anaconda from the resulting ISO, all packages are selectable, not just those that are included in the custom dist. Is this a known limitation? Any other problems with the text based Anaconda, to watch out for?
As far as I can see, anaconda uses comps to determine what groups to display. If you have some third party packages, create a third party repository with a comps.xml and pungi should write out a merged comps file.
- How can I create a CD that automatically uses a kickstart file? Revisor seems to support this, but we're using Pungi. I've found http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-buildsys-list/2007-June/msg00098.html, but perhaps there's a better way to do this?
Using pungi's different 'stages' that you can enable and disable, first compose a 'tree' -but not yet build an ISO, then copy in to that tree your ks.cfg and modify isolinux/isolinux.cfg to 'append ks'. Then run the final pungi stages.
- Where can I find documentation on the "special" Kickstart options that Pungi understands, are there any others than "repo"?
I also wonder if anyone has a minimal KS (but with X11) file to be used as a template.
A minimal ks with X11 seems to me like you need:
%packages --nobase @base-x %end
It'll pull in dependencies for @base-x, but not add the @core group.
Kind regards,
Jeroen van Meeuwen -kanarip
- When running the text based Anaconda from the resulting ISO, all packages are selectable, not just those that are included in the custom dist. Is this a known limitation? Any other problems with the text based Anaconda, to watch out for?
As far as I can see, anaconda uses comps to determine what groups to display. If you have some third party packages, create a third party repository with a comps.xml and pungi should write out a merged comps file.
I've verified that a comps file is indeed created (DESTDIR/VERSION/i386/os/repodata/NAME-VERSION-comps.xml), but it contains all packages, for example scribus, even though this RPM is not included.
Somehow, the GUI Anaconda seems to "hide" the packages that are not available, while the text based Anaconda doesn't.
- How can I create a CD that automatically uses a kickstart file? Revisor seems to support this, but we're using Pungi. I've found http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-buildsys-list/2007-June/msg00098.html, but perhaps there's a better way to do this?
Using pungi's different 'stages' that you can enable and disable, first compose a 'tree' -but not yet build an ISO, then copy in to that tree your ks.cfg and modify isolinux/isolinux.cfg to 'append ks'. Then run the final pungi stages.
Thanks. I wonder if this is the approach Revisor uses?
I also wonder if anyone has a minimal KS (but with X11) file to be used as a template.
A minimal ks with X11 seems to me like you need:
%packages --nobase @base-x %end
It seems anaconda-runtime is required as well.
Also, the resulting installer crashes when trying to install the bootloader. I guess I need to add Grub as well.
Rgds, --- Peter Åstrand ThinLinc Chief Developer Cendio AB http://www.cendio.se Wallenbergs gata 4 583 30 Linköping Phone: +46-13-21 46 00
On Wed, 21 Nov 2007 14:47:14 +0100 (CET) Peter Åstrand astrand@cendio.se wrote:
I've verified that a comps file is indeed created (DESTDIR/VERSION/i386/os/repodata/NAME-VERSION-comps.xml), but it contains all packages, for example scribus, even though this RPM is not included.
Somehow, the GUI Anaconda seems to "hide" the packages that are not available, while the text based Anaconda doesn't.
Hrm, sounds like maybe a bug in the Anaconda text mode.
%packages --nobase @base-x %end
It seems anaconda-runtime is required as well.
Also, the resulting installer crashes when trying to install the bootloader. I guess I need to add Grub as well.
Yeah, I haven't yet hardcoded a list of absolutely needed for compose packages.
# Compose Needs anaconda-runtime iscsi-initiator-utils memtest86+ vnc-server
is what I have listed in the config that made F8. Of course, I'm relying upon grub coming in from core group, and a few other things from other groups.
Peter Åstrand wrote:
- When running the text based Anaconda from the resulting ISO, all packages are selectable, not just those that are included in the custom dist. Is this a known limitation? Any other problems with the text based Anaconda, to watch out for?
As far as I can see, anaconda uses comps to determine what groups to display. If you have some third party packages, create a third party repository with a comps.xml and pungi should write out a merged comps file.
I've verified that a comps file is indeed created (DESTDIR/VERSION/i386/os/repodata/NAME-VERSION-comps.xml), but it contains all packages, for example scribus, even though this RPM is not included.
Somehow, the GUI Anaconda seems to "hide" the packages that are not available, while the text based Anaconda doesn't.
That could very well be true; I haven't looked at how anaconda does the text interface all too well.
- How can I create a CD that automatically uses a kickstart file? Revisor seems to support this, but we're using Pungi. I've found http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-buildsys-list/2007-June/msg00098.html, but perhaps there's a better way to do this?
Using pungi's different 'stages' that you can enable and disable, first compose a 'tree' -but not yet build an ISO, then copy in to that tree your ks.cfg and modify isolinux/isolinux.cfg to 'append ks'. Then run the final pungi stages.
Thanks. I wonder if this is the approach Revisor uses?
Revisor doesn't have these stages you can run separately, although Revisor development is on it's way to fully enable modules to hook into different stages of the process.
Anyway what Revisor does is compose a tree, then inserts the kickstart file as /ks.cfg and modifies isolinux.cfg appending a "Install with kickstart" bootloader menu option. So, similar to what you would do with pungi but without the stages and manual changes.
I also wonder if anyone has a minimal KS (but with X11) file to be used as a template.
A minimal ks with X11 seems to me like you need:
%packages --nobase @base-x %end
It seems anaconda-runtime is required as well.
Also, the resulting installer crashes when trying to install the bootloader. I guess I need to add Grub as well.
Hmm, yes. I forgot; Revisor forcibly adds these required packages -regardless of whether you've selected them or not-, unless you override the variable in the configuration files.
Kind regards,
Jeroen van Meeuwen -kanarip
On Wed, 21 Nov 2007 11:40:15 +0100 (CET) Peter Åstrand astrand@cendio.se wrote:
- Where can I find documentation on the "special" Kickstart options
that Pungi understands, are there any others than "repo"?
Jeroen answered the other questions for me.
"repo" isn't a "special" kickstart option. It's used by anaconda to access additional repositories during install. The only "special" thing that pungi uses is a partition type of "iso" to indicate how large you want your isos to be.
- Where can I find documentation on the "special" Kickstart options
that Pungi understands, are there any others than "repo"?
Jeroen answered the other questions for me.
"repo" isn't a "special" kickstart option. It's used by anaconda to access additional repositories during install. The only "special" thing that pungi uses is a partition type of "iso" to indicate how large you want your isos to be.
Thanks! Is there any documentation on the Kickstart format? http://docs.fedoraproject.org/install-guide/f8/en_US/sn-automating-installat... is very brief. More specifically, I wonder:
* Why and when was %end introduced?
* Is it still required that %packages is at the end of the KS file?
* Why is "mouse" not allowed any longer?
Best regards, --- Peter Åstrand ThinLinc Chief Developer Cendio AB http://www.cendio.se Wallenbergs gata 4 583 30 Linköping Phone: +46-13-21 46 00
- Why and when was %end introduced?
python upgrade, at f7 you must not have it, in f8 python you need %end
F7 has Python 2.5.0 while F8 has Python 2.5.1. Is this what you are referring to? This seems very strange to me.
Or are you perhaps referring to pykickstart?
I have yet another question: I've found out about the %ksappend. How is this different from %include?
The lack of KS documentation is problematic. I've found /usr/share/doc/pykickstart-1.19/kickstart-docs.txt, but it only contains "Page AnacondaKickstart not found.". After some Googling, I found http://www.redhat.com/archives/kickstart-list/2007-September/msg00032.html which refers to http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/AnacondaKickstart, which doesn't exist any more. But http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Anaconda/Kickstart seems quite nice, and it explains %end, although %ksappend is still not documented.
The page above says "The %packages section should be closed with %end, though this is not yet required.". Is this true for F8?
Regards, --- Peter Åstrand ThinLinc Chief Developer Cendio AB http://www.cendio.se Wallenbergs gata 4 583 30 Linköping Phone: +46-13-21 46 00
On Fri, 2007-11-23 at 10:26 +0100, Peter Åstrand wrote:
- Why and when was %end introduced?
python upgrade, at f7 you must not have it, in f8 python you need %end
F7 has Python 2.5.0 while F8 has Python 2.5.1. Is this what you are referring to? This seems very strange to me.
Or are you perhaps referring to pykickstart?
It is pykickstart, not python in general.
I have yet another question: I've found out about the %ksappend. How is this different from %include?
ksappend takes a url and is a one-shot. %include allows for some nesting and is generally more flexible. Realistically, we should probably deprecate the use of %ksappend in favor of %include
The lack of KS documentation is problematic. I've found /usr/share/doc/pykickstart-1.19/kickstart-docs.txt, but it only contains "Page AnacondaKickstart not found.". After some Googling, I found http://www.redhat.com/archives/kickstart-list/2007-September/msg00032.html which refers to http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/AnacondaKickstart, which doesn't exist any more. But http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Anaconda/Kickstart seems quite nice, and it explains %end, although %ksappend is still not documented.
That's the right page. Unfortunately, the pages got moved around without a heads-up to some package maintainers, so our automated grabbing of the docs into the packages failed :(
The page above says "The %packages section should be closed with %end, though this is not yet required.". Is this true for F8?
Yes. And realistically, it'll be a while before it's required just due to the fact that there's a lot of legacy to support. But using it is an incredibly good idea and it allows you to do some cool things such as config inheritance. For example, you can have one kickstart config with all of your site default configs. Then, you can have a machine specific config which %include's the default ks.cfg. Without %end, you can only really do %post, %packages, etc in one of the configs -- with it, you can easily have any of them in both and have consistent parsing of the state.
Jeremy
Peter Åstrand wrote:
- Where can I find documentation on the "special" Kickstart options
that Pungi understands, are there any others than "repo"?
Jeroen answered the other questions for me.
"repo" isn't a "special" kickstart option. It's used by anaconda to access additional repositories during install. The only "special" thing that pungi uses is a partition type of "iso" to indicate how large you want your isos to be.
Thanks! Is there any documentation on the Kickstart format? http://docs.fedoraproject.org/install-guide/f8/en_US/sn-automating-installat... is very brief. More specifically, I wonder:
- Why and when was %end introduced?
I don't know why but I do know when: in the middle of the Fedora release cycle breaking anaconda because it appended %end (until it got to 1.19).
- Is it still required that %packages is at the end of the KS file?
"The end" here is relative. %pre and %post can come after %packages still, it is merely that all the other statements, such as partitioning and install/upgrade or text/graphical, etc... are in the beginning.
Maybe a better way to put it is to imagine the kickstart split in two sections: one must come first and holds all the answers to the different stages of the installation process, the other -that must be last- holds %pre, %post and %packages.
- Why is "mouse" not allowed any longer?
I'm not sure what you mean by 'mouse'.
Kind regards,
Jeroen van Meeuwen -kanarip
On Fri, 23 Nov 2007, Jeroen van Meeuwen wrote:
- Is it still required that %packages is at the end of the KS file?
"The end" here is relative. %pre and %post can come after %packages still, it is merely that all the other statements, such as partitioning and install/upgrade or text/graphical, etc... are in the beginning.
Maybe a better way to put it is to imagine the kickstart split in two sections: one must come first and holds all the answers to the different stages of the installation process, the other -that must be last- holds %pre, %post and %packages.
Thanks, seems consistent with my experience as well.
- Why is "mouse" not allowed any longer?
I'm not sure what you mean by 'mouse'.
A "mouse" item was earlier allowed. See for example http://wideopen.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-6.1-Manual/ref-guide/s1-kickstart...:
"To define the type of mouse your system has, you must use the mouse keyword. "
Regards, --- Peter Åstrand ThinLinc Chief Developer Cendio AB http://www.cendio.se Wallenbergs gata 4 583 30 Linköping Phone: +46-13-21 46 00
Peter Åstrand wrote:
- Why is "mouse" not allowed any longer?
I'm not sure what you mean by 'mouse'.
A "mouse" item was earlier allowed. See for example http://wideopen.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-6.1-Manual/ref-guide/s1-kickstart...:
Really though, documentation comes from upstream... Not a copy of a Red Hat 6.1 Manual (that had been EOL since ~2000).
Take a look at:
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-5-manual/en-US/RHEL510/In...
instead.
Kind regards,
Jeroen van Meeuwen -kanarip
On Fri, 23 Nov 2007, Jeroen van Meeuwen wrote:
A "mouse" item was earlier allowed. See for example http://wideopen.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-6.1-Manual/ref-guide/s1-kickstart...:
Really though, documentation comes from upstream... Not a copy of a Red Hat 6.1 Manual (that had been EOL since ~2000).
Yes, I know, I was just a little bit lazy and gave an URL to one of the first Google hits. Perhaps RH has a copy available as well, but redhat.com is quite slow to use, IMHO.
Take a look at:
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-5-manual/en-US/RHEL510/In...
This page confirms that the mouse keyword is deprecated, but doesn't explain why.
Regards, --- Peter Åstrand ThinLinc Chief Developer Cendio AB http://www.cendio.se Wallenbergs gata 4 583 30 Linköping Phone: +46-13-21 46 00
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