Using variables in kickstart file

[Chris Edillon]

Ed Brown wrote:
> Gabrie wrote:
>> So, if I get this right.... I can use /proc/cmdline to read the
>> command line that kickstart has been called from and use the output in
>> the kickstart file (network section)?
> 
> No, you can't just use variables in the network line.
> 
> And I don't believe that you will be able to insert or include or modify 
> the network line parameters during %pre.  Yes, this works for packages 
> and partitioning, but I think it's too late for network parameters.  Now 
> I could be wrong, maybe that is not true for dhcp or cd-based installs.  
> (You haven't said what your install method is, though you mentioned a 
> dhcp server in passing.)
> 

as chip mentioned, this technique does work and is rather useful.
i believe the only things that cannot be pulled in via %include
are the line in the kickstart file which specifies either install
or upgrade, the %packages line (but package lists can be %included),
the %pre section, and the %post line (not sure if %post script
text can be included or not).  at some point or another i've used
%include for almost every kickstart command as well as package
lists or partial package lists (e.g. use %pre to determine machine
architecture and install specific packages based on this).

the install/upgrade lines or information in them cannot be created
in a %pre script because anaconda has to locate the second stage
image based on this information, and %pre runs after the second
stage image has been loaded so it can take advantage of all the
extra tools located there (sed, awk, perl, etc.).

chris