[et-mgmt-tools] Cobbler rename

[Michael DeHaan]

Chris Sarginson - Technical Support wrote:
> Hi Guys,
>
> I've just used the cobbler (distro) rename feature for the first time, 
> and have picked up a couple of things about it that could be handled 
> better IMVHO
>
> Although it renames *most* files/links it leaves the symlink in 
> /var/www/cobbler/links/ and the folder /var/www/cobbler/ks_mirror/ 
> with the original name - I appreciate that this is more of a "vanity" 
> request than a functionality one, having (what are essentially) 
> randomly named folders following the rename is not a great solution.

Thanks for the feedback.

The reason cobbler doesn't rename the source directories is twofold.  

(A) Renaming the folders could break other users who are referencing the 
kickstart tree directly through Apache (outside of Cobbler).
(B) Also in some cases, cobbler will not own the mirrored location, for 
instance, the tree may be stored on NFS.

However, it's /probably/ safe to assume if the directory starts with 
/var/www/cobbler (or more specifically, self.settings.webroot), it's 
changeable.

We would of course want to ensure that the directory we were moving it 
to was not taken.

>
> This has all come about as I have had need to update the installer 
> used for Centos 5 and RHEL 5 to use Update 1 due to the inclusion of 
> additional network drivers that are included in this, and rather than 
> mess around recreating all my profiles for RHEL/Centos I decided to 
> move the Centos/RHEL 5.0 and then put the 5.1 import in its place.
>
> Have I been clear about what I meant here?  Is there any chance of 
> this behaviour being adjusted?  I don't currently *get* python, so if 
> anybody could point me in the direction of some good resources for 
> learning they would be gratefully received.   
Yes, it's changeable.  I think it's reasonable to assume if the 
directory is in ks_mirror we can do renames. 

As for Python, there's some introductory info here...
http://www.python.org/doc/
http://www.diveintopython.org/

Reading Cobbler's source is also a pretty good start.

I'll file a RFE ticket in Trac (https://fedorahosted.org/cobbler) this 
so we can keep track of the idea.

--Michael