svlug-redhat_rpm_dependency_map_anaconda_kickstart_etc

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Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2002 02:17:58 -0800
From: Karen Shaeffer <shaeffer@neuralscape.com>
To: svlug@svlug.org
Subject: Re: [svlug] seeking a snake trainer

On Sun, Mar 17, 2002 at 11:37:20AM -0500, Brian Coyle wrote:
> 
> On Sunday 17 March 2002 07:02, Ira Abramov wrote:
> > I'm trying to create a single-CD one-shot installation of a RedHat 7.2
> > subset. basically I thought I'd get rid of 650 megs of RPMs, edit
> > "comps" to reflect the changes, generate the hdlist files and be on my
> > merry way.
> 
> Rather than fiddle with anaconda, why not create a custom kickstart?
> 
> http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/KickStart-HOWTO.html
> 

My impression is that anaconda, used in text mode, is very buggy--if you do
anything out of the ordinary. Using KickStart would probably save you
from dealing with a number of bugs you haven't bumped into yet. OTOH,
I think someone ought to fix anaconda to be more responsive to folks who
think out of the box. I'm certain lots of folks would be interested in it.

It's especially bad at attempting to do minimal installs. You can get all
kinds of unexpected behavior from anaconda in this case, including crashes.

An additional anaconda improvement would be to enable case by case use of
the "--nodeps" option and a case by case decision for each dependency
conflict that is detected. Currently anaconda just makes modifications to
your package selections without asking you what you want to do. And there
are some packages that you simply are not permitted to omit... Then it's an
all or nothing choice for the "--nodeps" option. It's f#%*ing braindead.

IMHO, the Red Hat rpm dependency scheme is not optimal for folks who want to
think out of the box. There is a listing of these dependencies for 7.2
available at:

ftp://people.redhat.com/jbj


I gleaned that from the rpm-list archives.

<quote>
Yup, I'm looking for suggestions on how to organize the displayed
packages more intelligently.
  
So at
        ftp://people.redhat.com/jbj
there's a copy of a graphwiz src.rpm (we can't ship in the distro
ATM because the so-called "open source" license for graphwiz has
a lot of complicated "wherefor"s, sigh, IANAL).
  
The generated dependencies are in
        redhat-7.2-dependencies.dot
can be siplayed by doing
        dotty redhat-7.2-dependencies.dot
  
FWIW, the file is generated by a hacked up version of
rpmsort in rpm CVS.
</quote>


===

Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 18:56:37 +0200 (IST)
From: Ira Abramov <lists-svlug@ira.abramov.org>
Cc: make bzlilo <svlug@svlug.org>
Subject: Re: [svlug] seeking a snake trainer

On Sun, 17 Mar 2002, Brian Coyle wrote:

> Rather than fiddle with anaconda, why not create a custom kickstart?
>
> http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/KickStart-HOWTO.html

ungh! the more I try the less sense it makes....

I managed to cut down the installation to less than a CD (enough to add
our RPMS and then some) with basic X and libraries and tools we need. it
will install the system unattended. however if I burn the ks.cfg on the
cd itself and and ks=cdrom in the kernel commandline (or ks=cdrom: as I
saw at another place) the installation gets stuck claiming it can't find
the file, nor even recognise a RedHat CD in any of my CDrom drives
(there's only one... and it works otherwise).

so how do I create a one-shot CD with kickstart? the howtos are too old
and not very helpful. I need a CD I can stick in the drive, turn on the
box, go drink coffee and have an installed system 10 minutes later. I
have done this once with a set of very elegant in-house scripts, but
that was for another employer, and I'd like to take a shot at kickstart
or existing tools before defaulting to a new development project from
scratch...

anyone???
===
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 11:08:22 -0800
From: Rafael Skodlar <raffi@linwin.com>
To: svlug@svlug.org
Subject: Re: [svlug] seeking a snake trainer

On Mon, Mar 18, 2002 at 06:56:37PM +0200, Ira Abramov wrote:
> On Sun, 17 Mar 2002, Brian Coyle wrote:
> 
> > Rather than fiddle with anaconda, why not create a custom kickstart?
> >
> > http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/KickStart-HOWTO.html
> 
> ungh! the more I try the less sense it makes....
> 
> I managed to cut down the installation to less than a CD (enough to add
> our RPMS and then some) with basic X and libraries and tools we need. it
> will install the system unattended. however if I burn the ks.cfg on the
> cd itself and and ks=cdrom in the kernel commandline (or ks=cdrom: as I
> saw at another place) the installation gets stuck claiming it can't find
> the file, nor even recognise a RedHat CD in any of my CDrom drives
> (there's only one... and it works otherwise).
> 
> so how do I create a one-shot CD with kickstart? the howtos are too old
> and not very helpful. I need a CD I can stick in the drive, turn on the
> box, go drink coffee and have an installed system 10 minutes later. I
> have done this once with a set of very elegant in-house scripts, but
> that was for another employer, and I'd like to take a shot at kickstart
> or existing tools before defaulting to a new development project from
> scratch...
> 
> anyone???

I'll just repeat what has been mentioned on this list some time back:
Mondo backup and install tool http://www.microwerks.net/~hugo

I prefer doing it ower the network so I haven't tried it but you might be
able to create a CD from a clean hard drive installation for cloning. You
can tailor your configuration to include what you really need instead of
selecting from poor choice in silly Redhat's installation sections.

===
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 11:09:06 -0800
From: Steve M Bibayoff <smb23@csufresno.edu>
To: <svlug@svlug.org>
Subject: Re: [svlug] seeking a snake trainer

Ira Abramov <lists-svlug@ira.abramov.org> wrote:
> however if I burn the ks.cfg  on the
> cd itself and and ks=cdrom in the kernel commandline (or ks=cdrom: 
> as I
> saw at another place) the installation gets stuck claiming it 
> can't find
> the file,

This has been broken for a while. There is a patch to fix this at the 
Red Hat site or put it into to the initrd in the boot.img file then 
point to it that way.

> so how do I create a one-shot CD with kickstart? the howtos are 
> too old
> and not very helpful

You may want to subscibe to the RH kickstart and/or Anaconda lists. 
I've done this many times before and these list very indispensable.

===

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