Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 4 Install

[Jared Middleton]

Question:

The supplied "Package Management Tool" for RHEL 4 does not seem to provide the same level of granularity in choosing packages to install as did earlier versions, like RHL 7.3. Is the only workaround to install more than desired and then run a post-install script to remove (rpm -e) unwanted packages?

Background:

I'm experimenting with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 on a spare machine, to test functionality, get familiar with new/default packages like CUPS vs LPRng(LPD), etc. Ultimately, I have four production RHL 7.3 servers to upgrade to RHEL 4.0, and want them configured mostly the same. I'm looking at using the "kickstart" utility for doing the actual live installs.

I've used the GUI Package Management Tool to customize the install "packages" as much as possible (both during and after the installation), but can't seem to find the 'native' way to fine-tune the setup as desired, taking into account package dependencies. RHEL provides less tweakability (via the standard tool) than older RHL versions. It allows you to toggle on/off optional "package groups", and within these groups toggle on/off SOME related component packages. But, other packages are not visible anywhere and simply get installed regardless of how relevant they are.

My machines are all server-class, rack-mounted, SCSI, hardware RAID, NOT desktop/laptops, i.e. no sound card, IDE drives, PCMCIA, IR, Bluetooth, OpenOffice, etc.

FYI: I do install a barebones X-Windows(GNOME) UI simply because I like a Web Browser, the ability to view PDFs, and some GUI admin tools are helpful on occasion. However, I boot in run-level 3 (text mode).

I know I can stop services and/or uninstall packages afterwards -- and if I have to write a post-install script to do this, I will - but I'm hoping there's a way to avoid installing unwanted things in the first place... so that "kickstart" can do it all.

Examples of packages and daemon/services I don't think are necessary here:

Package Service Description
============== ============== =========================================
apmd apmd Advanced Power Mgmt - mostly for laptops
pcmcia-cs pcmcia PCMCIA card support - mostly for laptops
irda-utils irda Infrared, wireless support
isdn4k-utils isdn utilities for configuring ISDN
ypbind ypbind Network Information Service (NIS) daemon
yp-tools --- Network Information Service (NIS) client
hdparm --- Linux ATA/IDE device driver subsystem
dmraid --- Device-mapper RAID tool and library, ATA
mdadm mdmpd multipath device monitor (software RAID)
mdadm mdmonitor software RAID monitoring and management
netdump netdump remote kernel crash dump logging
NetworkManager NetworkManager network link manager, wireless support
nscd nscd name service cache daemon
lvm2 --- logical volume management tools
rmt --- remote magtape protocol module
bluez-hcidump --- Bluetooth HCI protocol analyser
bluez-bluefw --- Bluetooth firmware loader
bluez-libs --- Bluetooth libraries
bluez-utils bluetooth Bluetooth utilities
gnome-speech --- GNOME Text to Speech
festival --- A speech synthesis system

The last two get installed because of other gnome "dependencies"... Argh!

[Stuart Browne]

The anaconda installation routine should give you the selection to be able to select individual packages, with finer granuality than the sub-group selection you're seeing.

If you can't find that, it doesn't really matter, as you want to do a KS install anyway.

In the KS configuration, under %packages, you can simply:

-apmd
-hdparm
-yp-tools

etc. etc.

This removes the packages from the installation set.

[Jared Middleton]

Okay, I did a little more homework...

The RedHat/base/comps.xml file (on the first install CD) provides some insight into how packages are grouped for the Package Tool, but it doesn't fully explain why some things are grouped the way they are or how one can manage things as desired.

The following packages get installed, but are not even listed in the XML file:
* lvm2 (Userland logical volume management tools)
* nscd (a Name Service Caching Daemon)
* rmt (access to remote tape devices)

There is a package group called "core" which is included only under the "base" package group. Both groups appear to be mandatory and flagged as not visible to the user. I'm guessing core is defined separately so it can be referenced standalone in a Kickstart file?

I don't have IDE drives or software RAID, but since dmraid, hdparm, mdadm, netdump appear to be a mandatory core packages, I guess it's best to just leave them be?

There is a package group called "compat-arch-support" listed under the System menu category in the xml. It's flagged as user visible (and biarchonly, whatever that means?); however, this group does not show in the tool at run-time. It contains about 200 packages (libraries, etc.), some of which get installed, some don't. I'm not sure what controls this?

The xml file lists these Meta Groups:
* Workstation Common
* Server
* GNOME <- simply includes gnome-desktop
* KDE <- simply includes kde-desktop
* Miscellaneous Included Packages <- optional installs like kernel-smp, iptables

The above Meta Groups do not display in the tool. The old RHL 7.3 installer had a choice between Server or Workstation setup, but the RHEL 4 installer does not. I guess these are for use in Kickstart files only?

There is a package sub-group called "Dialup Networking Support" which gets included into several package groups, i.e. "base", "kde-desktop", and the meta groups "workstation-common" and "server". The dialup group is not user-visible. What is the proper Kickstart way to remove a sub-group? Can you 'minus' a group, or would you need to explicitly remove all 6 of it's component packages, and if so, would this removal need to be done more than once and where in the file?

Some sub-groups (e.g. "xfce-desktop" and "xfce-software-development") are included elsewhere, but they themselves are never defined - not sure what point these serve.

Since my server does not have sound, I tried to remove the package "festival" (under System/System Tools...Details) using the GUI Package Add/Remove tool post-install; however, it indicated a dependency from package "gnome-speech" - which is not even listed in the xml file - Nevertheless, somehow, gnome-speech-0.3.5-4.EL.1 got installed. How can one prevent a package install from Kickstart when it is not referenced in the xml file? Does gnome-speech get secretly auto-installed from the web because of festival, sounds like a catch-22?

[Stuart Browne]

As I said, you can use:

-packagename

in the %packages section to not install something. Please note however that you have to negate out all the packages of which depend on it as well, as the installer automatically 'calulating dependancies'.

As for Software RAID etc., you can -them out too.