%include syntax and usage

[Chris Pattullo]

I think some important things to remember regarding this question are:

 1.) Anaconda (to the best of my knowledge) runs the kickstart script ON
THE SERVER TO BE INSTALLED. It seems that you (Robert) might be
confusing this with the idea that, by specifying the server the ks.cfg
resides on, you are also specifying the directory/server to operate out
of. It may be better to completely forget that the ks.cfg starts out on
another server and look at all references to commands and files in
kickstart relative to the server that's getting the install. Jesse
Keating explained this better in his post on 13 Sept.

 2.) With regards to the %pre/%post sections: remember that these are
literally just copied to a file, and run through bash (or whatever
interpreter you specify). Treat them exactly like
<insert_your_interpreter> scripts. And if you want to see what they look
like, in the middle of your %pre put a 'read'. Then alt-F2 to the
alternate console and look at the /tmp directory. Your script should
reside there as a separate file (can't remember the name). Also, if you
do a 'ps' with the right switches you should see that the installer has
actually called your interpreter and passed it the file under /tmp.

 3.) anything you can('t) do in the alt-F2 shell you can('t) do in
kickstart.


I believe the documentation for Kickstart (in this rare case) is fairly
accurate and complete. I think the problem is more with the fact that
the file you're trying to include simply isn't present on the system,
and there for it's rather difficult anaconda to 'include' it.

If you focus your efforts on ensuring that the file you're trying to
include actually makes it onto the server you may have more success.


Some other tips that might help:

 - remember that anaconda RE-reads the whole kickstart file after
executing the %pre section. So you can do whatever you want with
'include' files, or even the ks.cfg file itself during the pre section
and those files will be re-read afterwards including the changes you
made.
 - using 'read' instead of 'sleep <some_big_number>' may provide you
with a more stable test situation. You can navigate alt-F2 freely, and
when you wish to progress to the next 'read' you can do so by going back
to alt-F2 and pressing enter. I think that the 'read' only works during
the %pre section though so you may be left using 'sleep' during %post.
 - if you wish display something to the screen for whatever purpose,
explicitly redirect to /dev/tty0 (echo -n "Is this correct? (y/N) "
> /dev/tty0). If you don't you won't see anything.
 - an alternate method to explicitly declaring packages in the ks.cfg
file is putting them in the comps.xml file. You can make your own group,
including all the packages you wish, and even specify if it's a
'default' group, etc.


Hope this all helps.

-- 
Chris Pattullo
Developer, Software Engineering
ParaSun Technologies Inc.
<http://www.parasun.com>

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