[lug] kickstart, RH7.3/KRUD

[D. Stimits]

bof wrote:
> 
> D. Stimits wrote:
> 
> >I wanted to create a kickstart file based on my existing test install.
> >There is plenty of documentation if I create the file by hand, but I was
> >wondering if anyone here knows a way to extract a living RH 7.3 install
> >and to auto-generate a kickstart file?
> >
> 
> There should be in the /root directory a kickstart file
> "anaconda-ks.cfg" which, along with install.log, was created by RH
> during the installation.  You can hand edit it as needed and use it to
> duplicate your existing system. I don't think it will create the
> partitions unless you specifically edit it to do so.

The log file exists, but the cfg file does not (it crashed during the
X11 probe/testing, I should have said "don't test, set default runlevel
3", and then set up X11 later). The main reason I am thinking of
reinstalling is due to the X11 crash, I ended up writing the entire
XF86Config by hand, it looked like it was a mix of older XFree86 3.6 and
newer 4.2, apparently it was altering this when it crashed on me. So
what I need is to dump the current rpm package database and create a
kickstart. I guess I will use an editor and macros if needed.

> 
> >Slightly related, I can boot to windows and create a bootable floppy,
> >but I'm not sure if there is a way to do that without windows (assuming
> >I go with a floppy and not network). Creating a boot floppy via kernel
> >build does not seem to be the correct way. What would be a good
> >non-windows way to create the bootable floppy for kickstart?
> >
> 
> If your system will not boot from CD, you should be able to create boot
> floppies under Linux by using the appropriate image disk from the images
> directory on the RH CD (or from
> http://www.redhat.com/apps/support/updates.html) with the dd command.
> 
>     dd if=boot.img of=/dev/fd0 bs=1440k
> 
> Also you might want to know that you can use a kickstart file during
> installation from a CD. Boot from the Red Hat Linux CD-ROM and direct
> the installation to use the kickstart file on a vfat filesystem floppy
> by passing kernel parameters.
> 
> boot: linux ks=hd:fd0/ks.cfg

Much nicer, it sounds like the floppy itself doesn't have to be bootable
if I go this route (via CD), which I will.

> 
> See the Chapter 1 of the Customization Guide for a more detailed
> description of the Kickstart process along with lots of gory details
> about the kickstart file. It's at
> http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-7.3-Manual/custom-guide

The nice thing is that I got all the docs installed before the X11
probing brought it down, so I have it on the /usr/share/doc/ directory.

D. Stimits, stimits at idcomm.com