[lug] Linux install fest

[D. Stimits]

Scott Herod wrote:
> I've made bootable CD's by adding a 1440 boot-image to an ISO.  What I
> really would like to learn how to do is create a disk which I can insert
> into a box and have it install some set of RPMs, then configure various
> interfaces.  I've looked at kickstart conf. files but what else needs to
> exist in the ISO and are there requirements on the directory structure so
> that RPMs can be found?  I've not found any docs on anaconda (which I
> believe is the name of RedHat's installer).

Kickstart can do all of that, it has pre- and post-install scripting 
available. You can tell it to use perl, python, bash, or whatever is 
actually available. I have not done much of this, I created a kickstart 
disk for rebuilding my bridge if I ever want; it doesn't do everything, 
but it does create directories, set up special networking, machine name, 
adds users and groups, customizes /etc/skel/, turns off various 
services, turns on others, so on. Kickstart *is* anaconda in the sense 
that anaconda is what runs it, so using kickstart is not customizing 
anaconda, but it is taking advantage of an anaconda feature. To start a 
kickstart install during a normal install, you pass something like 
(going on old memory, might be off some) "ks=hd:fd0/ks.cfg" (there seem 
to be several variations of this). Perhaps the most important thing is 
that if you tell it to do anything at all that it does not understand, 
or use a package name that is not exact, or miss any feature/config that 
is required, it will not give much of any kind of [useful] error 
message, and fail.

In your case, I suspect what you need is a 1.44 MB floppy boot image 
that is altered only by passing the right "ks=" line. Docs are in 
/usr/share/doc/anaconda*/.

D. Stimits, stimits AT attbi.com