This is a known issue where installs don't have the groups marked as installed.

So we should be doing what here?

Builds with RHEL-6 and RHEL-7 in Brew, with Rawhide in koji http://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/taskinfo?taskID=6793807

(In reply to Chris Lumens from comment #3)
> So we should be doing what here?

My assumption was that nothing is calling down into yum's selectEnvironment/selectGroup APIs ... if that's not true then the only thing I can think of is some weird path problem.

Acking 7.1

Can we get some clarification why this was assigned to subscription-manager?

I reassigned it to subscription-manager since that component owns software delivery to RHEL post-install.  The error is due to no groups file landing on the system after installation, meaning no package is providing group data that we use during installation (the xml files from repodata/ in the tree).

Either this information needs to be packaged and provided in RHEL by some component that's not anaconda or it needs to be handled by the subscription-management process on the system _somehow_, but I don't know what that would entail.

Subscription manager allows you to register, view your subscriptions, consume them, and generate redhat.repo once you do. I am quite certain we are not the correct component for this. 

Can anyone suggest where this gets fixed?

After discussion with Cliff Perry, assigning to rel-eng component. Sounds like something needs to land in the ISO. Does not appear related to subscription-manager.

Looks like an installation issue -> reassigning to anaconda.

Round and round the bug goes.  We all seem to know what information is missing, but we can't agree on how it should get on to the system.

Anaconda invokes yum to install packages to the target system.  Packages deliver the files that end up on the end user's system.  There is a very short list of files that anaconda writes or modifies on the target system based on input during installation (e.g., /etc/fstab).  This list is intentionally kept short so that the concept of "packages install files" reigns supreme.

If these group files need to get on to the target system, how should that happen in RHEL?  For a comparison, I looked at what Fedora does:

On a Fedora install, anaconda makes no special effort to copy over the repodata.  The fedora-release package installs the appropriate yum repo configuration files and the first time yum is invoked, it knows where to find the repodata and caches it if needed.  The first run of a "yum list groups" command on a new Fedora install will take a little longer because it is caching that information.

Now, we go back to RHEL.  There are no yum repo files that get installed by the redhat-release package.  Instead, yum repo information is controlled through registration of a subscription and subscription management plugin in yum.  So if you're wondering why I initially handed it over to subscription-manager, that's why.  "Opening up" of yum repos on an installed RHEL system is in the scope of what subscription-manager would be doing.

But there is a larger question here....do we consider unavailability of this information for users a real bug?  The bug is caused by registration not being completed.  If that happened, yum would work just as a user would expect it to work.  The request here appears to be to have RHEL carry a copy of that repodata even before a system is registered.  But the only thing that gains is the ability of the user to look at what is available in a particular repo.  And the only repodata we could copy over for users is what is on the install media, which may or may not match their complete subscription.

In conclusion, I say either:

1) The yum subscription manager plugin should all repodata caching without having a system registered.

-or-

2) This bug be closed as NOTABUG with an explanation to the customer that the real fix is to register your RHEL system.

*should allow repodata caching

David,

Even after registering the system to Subscription Manager, the information given is wrong. See below output.

[root@newrhel7 ~]# yum grouplist
Loaded plugins: langpacks, product-id, subscription-manager
This system is not registered to Red Hat Subscription Management. You can use subscription-manager to register.
There are no enabled repos.
 Run "yum repolist all" to see the repos you have.
 You can enable repos with yum-config-manager --enable <repo>

[root@newrhel7 ~]#  yum groups mark convert
Loaded plugins: langpacks, product-id, subscription-manager
This system is not registered to Red Hat Subscription Management. You can use subscription-manager to register.
There are no enabled repos.
 Run "yum repolist all" to see the repos you have.
 You can enable repos with yum-config-manager --enable <repo>

[root@newrhel7 ~]# subscription-manager register --autosubscribe
Username: <username>
Password: <**************>
The system has been registered with ID: 9b0dec38-5dfa-4629-abec-9bb861148f8d 
Installed Product Current Status:
Product Name: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server
Status:       Subscribed

[root@newrhel7 ~]# yum grouplist
Loaded plugins: langpacks, product-id, subscription-manager
There is no installed groups file.
Maybe run: yum groups mark convert (see man yum)
rhel-7-server-eus-rpms                                                                                                                | 2.5 kB  00:00:00     
rhel-7-server-htb-rpms                                                                                                                | 3.4 kB  00:00:00     
rhel-7-server-rpms                                                                                                                    | 3.7 kB  00:00:00     
rhel-7-server-rt-beta-rpms                                                                                                            | 3.3 kB  00:00:00     
rhel-7-server-rt-htb-rpms                                                                                                             | 3.1 kB  00:00:00     
rhel-7-server-rt-rpms                                                                                                                 | 2.5 kB  00:00:00     
rhel-ha-for-rhel-7-server-htb-rpms                                                                                                    | 3.3 kB  00:00:00     
rhel-ha-for-rhel-7-server-rpms                                                                                                        | 3.7 kB  00:00:00     
rhel-lb-for-rhel-7-server-htb-rpms                                                                                                    | 3.4 kB  00:00:00     
rhel-rs-for-rhel-7-server-htb-rpms                                                                                                    | 3.3 kB  00:00:00     
rhel-rs-for-rhel-7-server-rpms                                                                                                        | 3.7 kB  00:00:00     
rhel-sap-for-rhel-7-server-rpms                                                                                                       | 3.5 kB  00:00:00     
(1/12): rhel-7-server-rt-htb-rpms/x86_64/primary_db                                                                                   |  24 kB  00:00:01     
(2/12): rhel-7-server-eus-rpms/7Server/x86_64/primary_db                                                                              | 1.2 kB  00:00:01     
(3/12): rhel-7-server-rt-beta-rpms/x86_64/primary_db                                                                                  |  11 kB  00:00:01     
(4/12): rhel-7-server-rt-rpms/7Server/x86_64/primary_db                                                                               | 1.2 kB  00:00:00     
(5/12): rhel-ha-for-rhel-7-server-htb-rpms/x86_64/primary_db                                                                          |  55 kB  00:00:01     
(6/12): rhel-ha-for-rhel-7-server-rpms/7Server/x86_64/primary_db                                                                      |  50 kB  00:00:01     
(7/12): rhel-lb-for-rhel-7-server-htb-rpms/x86_64/primary_db                                                                          | 1.2 kB  00:00:01     
(8/12): rhel-sap-for-rhel-7-server-rpms/7Server/x86_64/primary_db                                                                     | 9.9 kB  00:00:00     
(9/12): rhel-rs-for-rhel-7-server-htb-rpms/x86_64/primary_db                                                                          |  65 kB  00:00:01     
(10/12): rhel-rs-for-rhel-7-server-rpms/7Server/x86_64/primary_db                                                                     |  57 kB  00:00:01     
(11/12): rhel-7-server-htb-rpms/x86_64/primary_db                                                                                     | 7.1 MB  00:00:38     
(12/12): rhel-7-server-rpms/7Server/x86_64/primary_db                                                                                 | 9.6 MB  00:00:44     
(1/14): rhel-7-server-rt-beta-rpms/x86_64/group_gz                                                                                    |  540 B  00:00:01     
(2/14): rhel-7-server-rt-htb-rpms/x86_64/group_gz                                                                                     |  540 B  00:00:01     
(3/14): rhel-7-server-rpms/7Server/x86_64/group_gz                                                                                    | 133 kB  00:00:01     
(4/14): rhel-7-server-rpms/7Server/x86_64/updateinfo                                                                                  | 169 kB  00:00:01     
(5/14): rhel-7-server-htb-rpms/x86_64/group_gz                                                                                        | 106 kB  00:00:02     
(6/14): rhel-ha-for-rhel-7-server-rpms/7Server/x86_64/group_gz                                                                        | 3.4 kB  00:00:01     
(7/14): rhel-ha-for-rhel-7-server-rpms/7Server/x86_64/updateinfo                                                                      | 5.3 kB  00:00:01     
(8/14): rhel-ha-for-rhel-7-server-htb-rpms/x86_64/group_gz                                                                            | 3.4 kB  00:00:01     
(9/14): rhel-rs-for-rhel-7-server-htb-rpms/x86_64/group_gz                                                                            | 4.9 kB  00:00:01     
(10/14): rhel-rs-for-rhel-7-server-rpms/7Server/x86_64/updateinfo                                                                     | 5.4 kB  00:00:01     
(11/14): rhel-rs-for-rhel-7-server-rpms/7Server/x86_64/group_gz                                                                       | 4.9 kB  00:00:01     
(12/14): rhel-lb-for-rhel-7-server-htb-rpms/x86_64/group_gz                                                                           | 2.5 kB  00:00:02     
(13/14): rhel-sap-for-rhel-7-server-rpms/7Server/x86_64/group_gz                                                                      | 1.4 kB  00:00:01     
(14/14): rhel-sap-for-rhel-7-server-rpms/7Server/x86_64/updateinfo                                                                    | 2.8 kB  00:00:01     
Available environment groups:
   Minimal Install
   Infrastructure Server
   File and Print Server
   Basic Web Server
   Virtualization Host
   Server with GUI
Available Groups:
   Compatibility Libraries
   Console Internet Tools
   Development Tools
   Graphical Administration Tools
   Legacy UNIX Compatibility
   RT
   SAP
   Scientific Support
   Security Tools
   System Administration Tools
   System Management
Done

[root@newrhel7 ~]#  yum groups mark convert
Loaded plugins: langpacks, product-id, subscription-manager
There is no installed groups file.
Maybe run: yum groups mark convert (see man yum)
Converted old style groups to objects.

[root@newrhel7 ~]# yum grouplist installed
Loaded plugins: langpacks, product-id, subscription-manager
Installed groups:
   Legacy UNIX Compatibility
   System Administration Tools
Done

The package groups installed were as follows.

%packages
@base
@core
%end

But it shows only two Package groups installed. All the repodata was refreshed by RHSM!

James, 

I updated the system, still it shows the problem, so I think it won't be anaconda.  Even after updating the RHEL7 machine to latest, I get bad results.

[root@newrhel7 ~]# yum update -y

[root@newrhel7 ~]# yum grouplist installed
Loaded plugins: langpacks, product-id, subscription-manager
Installed groups:
   Legacy UNIX Compatibility
   System Administration Tools
Done

[root@newrhel7 ~]#  yum groups mark convert
Loaded plugins: langpacks, product-id, subscription-manager
Converted old style groups to objects.

[root@newrhel7 ~]# yum grouplist installed
Loaded plugins: langpacks, product-id, subscription-manager
Installed groups:
   Legacy UNIX Compatibility
   Security Tools
   System Administration Tools
Done
[root@newrhel7 ~]# 

Still Base and Core are missing. it should display correct groups installed.

For RHEL7, there are *comps.xml in the repodata on the cdn, and repomd.xml references it.

A 'yum groups list' or 'yum groups summary' downloads and caches it correctly
to /var/yum/cache...

yum seems to load it without issue, and extract group info.


I don't really understand what's broken?

Is the goal to have yum group info available immediately after install? Before
any content repos have been subscribed to?  And the issue doing that is that the groups info is from the repo metadata? Which yum does not have yet because it has no repos subscribed and configured?


That would make sense, but I also wouldn't really consider it a bug at this point.

(In reply to Adrian Likins from comment #16)
> For RHEL7, there are *comps.xml in the repodata on the cdn, and repomd.xml
> references it.
> 
> A 'yum groups list' or 'yum groups summary' downloads and caches it correctly
> to /var/yum/cache...
> 
> yum seems to load it without issue, and extract group info.
> 
> 
> I don't really understand what's broken?

(In reply to Adrian Likins from comment #17)
> Is the goal to have yum group info available immediately after install?
> Before
> any content repos have been subscribed to?  And the issue doing that is that
> the groups info is from the repo metadata? Which yum does not have yet
> because it has no repos subscribed and configured?
> 
> 
> That would make sense, but I also wouldn't really consider it a bug at this
> point.

Adrian, no the system is not showing many groups as installed that were actually selected during the installation, even after subscription and running 'yum groups mark convert'.

deferring to rhel-7.3.0 due to schedule and severity

> 
> In conclusion, I say either:
> 
> 1) The yum subscription manager plugin should all repodata caching without
> having a system registered.
> 
> -or-
> 
> 2) This bug be closed as NOTABUG with an explanation to the customer that
> the real fix is to register your RHEL system.

I tend to agree.

But for 1)

 a) It would require CDN/RCM changes to allow non-authed access to the CDN

 b) Something would have to configure the repos. Currently, a freshly installed
    RHEL machine has no idea what repos it could use. It's not until after 
    RHSM registration and attachement that the client has enough info to build
    a redhat.repo that points to the cdn.

    One potential approach would be to include a default redhat.repo or equilivent that pointed to the CDN (with no auth or ssl client certs). If the CDN allows unauthed access to the repo metadata, yum etc could get the groups info post-install. 

   But currently, there is a pretty complicated mapping between a systems 'redhat-release-*' and what content it could/should use, often depending on particular SKU's or combos and per-org and per-consumer overrides. So the static default redhat.repo would be something of an approximation. It
would likely be close enough for base RHEL to get reasonable group info though.


So I lean towards NOTABUG.

I know that it was discussed earlier in the bug, but instead of pulling from the CDN, wouldn't it be simpler to to have a "default" fall-back comps for generic RHEL installed on hosts if they're not subscribed to a live source? (This may have been unworkable for whatever reason, but I didn't see that discussion). I suspect that the hosts needing to talk to the CDN to do this, even if they're not registered, would present a challenge to clients.

See also bug 1266625