%include syntax and usage

Wed Sep 13 17:00:34 UTC 2006

Anaconda and kickstart aren't exactly known for their vast amounts of
documentation.  

I had to figure out 80% of what we do in our builds via trial and error.
What I found to be the most useful was to put sleep 999999999 statements
in the %pre and %post everywhere I wanted to try something different,
then go to the Alt-F2 terminal bash prompt and poke around and try stuff
manually.  Once I got it to work manually, I would then incorporate it
into the mainstream kickstart build that we use globally.

All that said, I realize most people don't get to spend weeks fine
tuning the kickstart process for their environment.  If the usefulness
and numbers of servers you need to build justify it, then jump in and
hack away.  If on the other hand, you are building a few dozen servers
or less, it probably won't be worth it to go through the extensive
process I did.

This list is a great place to get help and ideas.  Very rarely do I see
a problem that someone on the list hasn't resolved, or can't point you
to a solution.  It might not be the exact solution you want (such as the
one I gave you), but you can usually get something done that will
accomplish what you need.

The other solution that I am aware of, that could help you is server
side generated kickstart files.  This is going to be much more complex,
and requires a cgi on the server to accept the request and generate the
kickstart file, either on the fly or after a subsequent reboot, but this
is another solution I have seen deployed successfully.

Chip 

-----Original Message-----
From: kickstart-list-bounces at redhat.com
[mailto:kickstart-list-bounces at redhat.com] On Behalf Of Robert Denton
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 9:42 AM
To: Discussion list about Kickstart
Subject: Re: %include syntax and usage

Hi Chip, thanks for the response!!  I didn't mean to disparage your
comment at all.  I appreciate any and all suggestions. I understand that
the size of even the largest kickstart config file is trivial compared
to the overall build but I was hoping to keep it short and neat anyway.
Are you aware of any thorough documentation discussing the include
directive?  I cannot even find that, other than a few missives here and
there that state the syntax is:

%include /path/to/file

the /path/to/file is apparently a little trickier than it looks.

Robert Denton
Network Administrator
Headsprout
800.401.5062 x1305
www.headsprout.com

On Sep 13, 2006, at 12:35 PM, Shabazian, Chip wrote:

> Sorry, you didn't explain WHY you were doing it, you just asked for a 
> solution.
>
> My kickstart file also has a very large exclusion list, that is used 
> for all kickstarts.  I then include some packages back into the build 
> for certain builds based on the decisioning logic that is in the %pre.
>
> Yes, this is all stored in the kickstart file, but it allows me to use

> one kickstart file to build thousands of distributed servers a year 
> with differing requirements.  At the end of the day, if the kickstart 
> file is huge, it's still very small compared to the number of packages

> you will have to transfer across the wire, and it should have no 
> impact on how long it takes to build a box.
>
> Chip
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: kickstart-list-bounces at redhat.com
> [mailto:kickstart-list-bounces at redhat.com] On Behalf Of Robert Denton
> Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 9:07 AM
> To: Discussion list about Kickstart
> Subject: Re: %include syntax and usage
>
> Hm..  But if you build the list dynamically in the %pre section, isn't
> this still in the kickstart config file?  I am trying to separate out
> the packages because I have a long list of packages and package
> exclusions.
>
> Robert Denton
> Network Administrator
> Headsprout
> 800.401.5062 x1305
> www.headsprout.com
>
> On Sep 13, 2006, at 12:02 PM, Shabazian, Chip wrote:
>
>>
>> The way I do this is to create the file I want, along with the
>> decisioning logic in %pre.
>>
>> Example
>>
>> if xxxxx ; then
>> cat << EOF >> /tmp/pkg2include
>> pkg1
>> pkg2
>> etc
>> EOF
>>
>> Then in the %packages, I use
>> %include /tmp/pkg2include
>>
>> I think I ran into problems when the file doesn't exist, so I added:
>> touch /tmp/pkg2include
>> at the end of the %pre so the file was there, even if it was empty.
>>
>> Chip
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: kickstart-list-bounces at redhat.com
>> [mailto:kickstart-list-bounces at redhat.com] On Behalf Of Robert Denton
>> Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 8:40 AM
>> To: kickstart-list at redhat.com
>> Subject: %include syntax and usage
>>
>> Hello all,
>>
>> I am hoping someone can help me with this.  I am trying to  
>> separate my
>> %packages list into a different file using the %include directive.
>> I am
>> finding that no matter what I try, the install aborts due to not  
>> being
>
>> able to see the packages file.  Hhere si the set up:
>>
>> I build the linux computers via http, typing this at the boot prompt:
>>
>> linux ks=http://10.10.10.52/ks.cfg
>>
>> This points the install to the kickstart config which is located here
>> on my webserver:
>>
>> /var/build/linux/ks.cfg
>>
>> Also in that directory is 'packages'
>>
>> /var/build/linux/packages
>>
>> In the kickstart file I have tried all of these and none have worked:
>>
>> %include packages
>> %include ./packages
>> %include /var/build/linux/packages
>> %include http://10.10.10.52/packages
>>
>> Could someone give me some pointers on the syntax?  Thanks!
>>
>>
>> Robert Denton
>> Network Administrator
>> Headsprout
>> 800.401.5062 x1305
>> www.headsprout.com
>>
>>
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>
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