Bug 698850

Summary:	system-config-kickstart ignores yum's repo config
Product:	[Fedora] Fedora	Reporter:	i.goyret
Component:	system-config-kickstart	Assignee:	Chris Lumens <clumens>
Status:	CLOSED WONTFIX	QA Contact:	Fedora Extras Quality Assurance <extras-qa>
Severity:	high	Docs Contact:
Priority:	unspecified
Version:	14	CC:	clumens, i.goyret
Target Milestone:	---	Keywords:	Reopened
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	i686
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	Bug Fix
Doc Text:		Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:	2011-04-22 19:13:21 UTC	Type:	---
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:

Description i.goyret 2011-04-22 01:06:52 UTC

Description of problem:

system-config-kickstart ignores yum's repo config and requires that the standard repos are enabled.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):

system-config-kickstart-2.8.6.1-1.fc14.noarch


How reproducible:

  Always.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Disable the standard repos.
2. Configure yum to use a local mirror (eg, rsync'd from one of the main mirrors).
3. Run system-config-kickstart. It will fail to find the local repos.
  
Actual results:

   system-config-kickstart hangs for about a minute with a non-closable
   window stating "Retrieving package information". Then, if you click
   on "Package Selection", it reports "Package selection is disabled
   due to problems downloading package information."

Expected results:

   It should allow using alternative repos. For example, in my case,
   the standard repos are not accessible (no internet access).

   The package retrieval process could use some improvement so there
   is _some_ indication of what the problem might be (eg, a log, etc).

Additional info:

   The attached patch corrects the problem for me. It is not a
   proper fix though.

Comment 1 Chris Lumens 2011-04-22 02:20:54 UTC

The only way to guarantee that you have the standard package set available - which is basically required for an installation - is to force you to have the standard repos available.  You're in a bit of a corner case so continue to use your patch, but I'm not going to make changes for just a corner case.

Comment 2 i.goyret 2011-04-22 18:05:15 UTC

I understand what you say, but all I need is a command line option that
disables that odd behavior of ignoring yum's configuration and accept
the configured repos.

If the user knows those repos are good (which, btw, are also known
to be used for new installations), there is no real reason to stop
him from using them. Besides, by ignoring yum's configuration, you
are making this tool so much harder and slower to use (not everyone
has gigabit connectivity to the standard repos).

All I ask is for a command line option that disables this undesirable
behavior.

What I do know is that this is most definitely a bug: ignoring configuration
is *always* a bug.

Comment 3 Chris Lumens 2011-04-22 19:13:21 UTC

More options leads to yet more untested code paths that will themselves have bugs.  Considering you are the first person to complain about this problem in the four+ years since s-c-ks starting using yum in this fashion, that only reinforces my understanding that you are describing a corner case.

Comment 4 i.goyret 2011-04-22 23:48:03 UTC

Wow. I didn't know there was an statute of limitations on bugs.

I first noticed this problem with FC5. I didn't try any of the intermediate
versions until now with F14, which even after 4+ years, STILL SUFFERS FROM
THE SAME BASIC BUG!

At the very least, you should not call it a "corner case" when you are
blatantly ignoring yum's configuration. Ignoring configuration is *ALWAYS*
a bug, not a corner case. So please, do not claim this is not a bug
because it very much _is_.

Changed the state to something closer to reality than the quite incorrect
"not a bug" status.