Bug 1945779

Summary: Kickstart `ignoredisk` command hides USB CD-ROM installation media
Product: [Fedora] Fedora Reporter: David Barr <dafydd>
Component: anacondaAssignee: Vendula Poncova <vponcova>
Status: CLOSED EOL QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance <extras-qa>
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: unspecified    
Version: 34CC: anaconda-maint-list, andreas.luik, jonathan, kellin, vanmeeuwen+fedora, vponcova, wwoods
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Hardware: x86_64   
OS: Linux   
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Last Closed: 2022-06-08 06:29:08 UTC Type: Bug
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Description Flags
The ks file where I first noticed the problem.
none
The ks file where I started with a minimum command set and worked up.
none
TGZ of all log files. none

Description David Barr 2021-04-01 23:01:25 UTC 
Description of Problem:
After adding a kickstart file to an ISO, burning that ISO to a USB flash
drive, and booting from that flash drive, the installer will not find
the local "Installation Source" on the USB flash drive unless the
kickstart file has a minimum `network --activate` command in it. This is
in opposition to the Kickstart documentation at

https://docs.centos.org/en-US/8-docs/advanced-install/assembly_kickstart-commands-and-options-reference/#kickstart-commands-for-network-configuration_kickstart-commands-and-options-reference

which says the `network` command is optional.


Version Release number of selected component (if applicable):
CentOS-8.3.2011-x86_64-dvd1.iso and whatever installer version is
included in that ISO.


How reproducable:
Every time.


Steps to reproduce:
1. Start with an existing kickstart file. Remove all external `repo`
commands. Comment out the `network` command or set the command to
`network --no-activate`.
2. Create a custom ISO with that kickstart included.
3. Boot from the resulting USB flash drive into the installer.
4. Note that the INSTALLATION SOURCE page of the INSTALLATION SUMMARY
does not show an auto-detected local Installation Source.


Actual Results:
The installer fails to find the installation media on the USB flash
drive.


Expected results:
If cdrom is specified in the kickstart file, the installer should find
the installation media on the boot device in all cases, with no other
dependencies.


Additional info:
For context, this process started when I got tired of the tedium of
creating a custom filesystem layout for my systems. I'm fine with using
the graphical installer to do installations; I just want to preload my
preferred filesystem layout. And if I was going to use a kickstart file,
I'll go to the effort to pre-configure the timezone, root password, create
an admin user, etc. I didn't want to preconfigure the network settings
because those would be different for each host. I just wanted to preconfigure
the settings that would be common to every installation, and use the graphical
installer for the system-specific items. Similarly, I didn't care about adding
external repositories because the first thing I do once I have a system up and
running is a `dnf update`, so I can watch the update go by.

My working notes are at

https://github.com/dafydd2277/systemAdmin/issues/1

You can find an ISO build automation script in

https://github.com/dafydd2277/systemAdmin/kickstart/centos8

because I've been doing this over and over.
Comment 1 David Barr 2021-04-11 16:26:53 UTC 
Created attachment 1771191 [details]
The ks file where I first noticed the problem.
Comment 2 David Barr 2021-04-11 16:27:34 UTC 
Created attachment 1771192 [details]
The ks file where I started with a minimum command set and worked up.
Comment 3 David Barr 2021-04-11 16:31:11 UTC 
I got a reply on the kickstart-list that caused me to try
replicating the problem from the bottom up. That is, start with
a minimum kickstart command set and see if I still saw the
problem. I started with this command set.

```
cdrom
graphical
logging --level=info
```

I worked up to the attached `ks.cfg.bottomUp` and couldn't recreate
the problem. So, my starting/failing kickstart file and the bottomUp
kickstart file are attached, and I'm still trying to narrow the
parameters of my problem.
Comment 4 David Barr 2021-04-12 03:23:42 UTC 
Turns out the `network` command is covering for the `ignoredisk` command.
My second attachment is `ks.cfg.bottomUp`. Here are some diffs.

This failed. Note the `ignoredisk`.

```
[root@bravo ~]# diff ks.cfg.bottomUp ks.cfg
2d1
< #install # Deprecated
7d5
< logging --level=info
19a18,21
> # Partition clearing information
> zerombr
> ignoredisk --only-use=sda
> clearpart --initlabel --drives=sda --all
```


This succeeds. Note the `ignoredisk` is commented.

```
[root@bravo ~]# diff ks.cfg.bottomUp ks.cfg
2d1
< #install # Deprecated
7d5
< logging --level=info
19a18,21
> # Partition clearing information
> zerombr
> #ignoredisk --only-use=sda
> clearpart --initlabel --drives=sda --all
```


This succeeds with the `ignoredisk` uncommented and a `network`
command added.

```
[root@bravo ~]# diff ks.cfg.bottomUp ks.cfg
2d1
< #install # Deprecated
7d5
< logging --level=info
14a13
> network  --bootproto=dhcp --device=link --onboot=off --noipv6
19a19,22
> # Partition clearing information
> zerombr
> ignoredisk --only-use=sda
> clearpart --initlabel --drives=sda --all
```
Comment 5 Vendula Poncova 2021-04-12 10:53:19 UTC 
Please, attach all files with installation logs, especially the file named syslog. You can find them during the installation in /tmp or on the installed system in /var/log/anaconda/.
Comment 6 David Barr 2021-04-13 04:21:06 UTC 
Created attachment 1771495 [details]
TGZ of all log files.
Comment 7 David Barr 2021-04-13 04:22:17 UTC 
Uncompressed, the syslog file was 2.2MB and timed out the uploader
twice. So, I compressed all of the logs to 1.2MB and sent the TGZ.
Comment 8 Vendula Poncova 2021-04-13 11:41:16 UTC 
The installer fails to find the USB CD-ROM drive, because the `ignoredisk --only-use=` kickstart command hides it.

As a workaround, you can use the `harddrive` command instead of the `cdrom` command. For example:

harddrive --partition=sdb --dir=/

where sdb is the name of the USB device, or specify the USB device with a label:

harddrive --partition=LABEL=CentOS-8-3-2011-x86_64-dvd --dir=/

It is a known issue that we would like to fix soon.
Comment 9 Ben Cotton 2022-05-12 16:56:01 UTC 
This message is a reminder that Fedora Linux 34 is nearing its end of life.
Fedora will stop maintaining and issuing updates for Fedora Linux 34 on 2022-06-07.
It is Fedora's policy to close all bug reports from releases that are no longer
maintained. At that time this bug will be closed as EOL if it remains open with a
'version' of '34'.

Package Maintainer: If you wish for this bug to remain open because you
plan to fix it in a currently maintained version, change the 'version' 
to a later Fedora Linux version.

Thank you for reporting this issue and we are sorry that we were not 
able to fix it before Fedora Linux 34 is end of life. If you would still like 
to see this bug fixed and are able to reproduce it against a later version 
of Fedora Linux, you are encouraged to change the 'version' to a later version
prior to this bug being closed.
Comment 10 Ben Cotton 2022-06-08 06:29:08 UTC 
Fedora Linux 34 entered end-of-life (EOL) status on 2022-06-07.

Fedora Linux 34 is no longer maintained, which means that it
will not receive any further security or bug fix updates. As a result we
are closing this bug.

If you can reproduce this bug against a currently maintained version of
Fedora please feel free to reopen this bug against that version. If you
are unable to reopen this bug, please file a new report against the
current release.

Thank you for reporting this bug and we are sorry it could not be fixed.