Red Hat Bugzilla – Bug 119427
floppy disk configuration key
Last modified: 2007-11-30 17:10:39 EST
From Bugzilla Helper: User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.4.2) Gecko/20040308 Description of problem: For those of us who never install/upgrade over a working system (I use a second OS disk for a new installation, and have a seperate data (/home) disk too), or who have had a disk crash :- how about an option to save/restore the basic installation options selected onto a floppy - such that when I do my next install, I can click an option in Anaconda 'load config from floppy', and that will contain all the basic selections I made last time, so I don't need to go through the RPM list again (this take ages and mistakes can easilly be made). To create the config file (eg. anaconda_install.conf), first you would need to save the config options (keyboard, time zone, language, screen options...) from within the Anaconda installation (at the end, like making the rescue boot floppy, or maybe it should be kept in /etc ?). Then you could also have a run-time application (or simple script) that updates the list of RPM's installed - as a user may have changed this since the original installation. All this can be done to a local file, and then the user can copy it to a floppy, ready for the next time they install. In the next installation, at the start, there could be an option to read the config file from the floppy... thus avoiding having to spend a lot of time going through the exact configuration you want (especially RPM's). Of course, you should still go through all the config screens, but the last config you used should be pre-selected... If RPM's have changed, you could highlight them. I currently have 720 RPM's installed, and having to go through the list of all of them is a real pain, and then when the OS is installed, double checking the list against my old list is another real pain. I really hope you can see the benefits of this for installing, and what if someone is doing multiple machines, like in a lab ? Thanks, John. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): How reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. install a new system Actual Results: I'm very fustrated Expected Results: I should have been relaxed and happy Additional info:
/root/anaconda-ks.cfg?
Yes, this is the intended use of /root/anaconda-ks.cfg
OK, I see that now. How whould I have known this, other than through this bug report ? Could you add a screen/info in the install process to tell people about this feature (maybe just a one liner, with a URL reference). Thanks, John.
I have a complaint about kickstart / the install CD's for FC1.0: After the help you gave me, I thought I try and take a look at kickstart to get a feel for what it would do for my next installation. So I made the kickstart file, coppied it to a floppy, and re-booted from the FC1.0 ISO CD 1. Into the install process I went, so through the option screens I went to see what was pre-selected... I got to the end of the option screen, to the one: we are ready to install, if you continue your disks will be formatted... but I exited the install process, ie. I did not do the install, I'd just looked through the options. But, on re-booting the machine, what did I find ? The partition tables had been re-written and a new boot loader installed. Which ment that my machine was f**k'd (sorry for the language). So my point is - I thought I was safe in going through the install options pages, as long as I did not proceed with the installation, but this was not the case. Whatever options have been selected, either directly or through kickstart - it should not have written to the disks until I went through into the actual install process. I hope you can change this. Thanks, John.