+++ This bug was initially created as a clone of Bug #1425589 +++

Description of problem:

Attempting to install Fedora 25 from a live image on a USB flash drive on a Lenovo Thinkpad T60.  Wayland can't handle the video card so trying the vnc install.  This fails, and running anaconda manually from a command line shows the problem is that the anaconda scripts expect Metacity to be available.

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

anaconda-25.20.8


How reproducible:

Every time

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Boot live image
2. Switch to console tty and log on
3. Run "anaconda --vnc"

Actual results:

VNC server starts (can remotely connect to it) but anaconda fails to start (so get blank screen and can't install system)

Expected results:

Anaconda starts as expected

Additional info:

--- Additional comment from Lior on 2017-02-21 21:17 CET ---



--- Additional comment from Lior on 2017-02-23 09:55:47 CET ---

I've now read the anaconda sources and it seems the choice of metacity is hard-coded (see the function doStartupX11Actions()).  On the other hand, metacity hasn't been a default OS component for a long time (since the transition from GNOME 2 to GNOME 3).

Given that, in my (uneducated) opinion it seems one of the following must be done:

1. Deprecate VNC installation.
2. Have the anaconda-core package depend on the metacity package.
3. Give anaconda a fallback when metacity is unavailable.

If I'm totally off the mark I apologize and would love an explanation.

--- Additional comment from Martin Kolman on 2017-02-23 10:42:55 CET ---

In general it is expected Anaconda will be started as a graphical application in the live environment via a desktop icon or via the liveinst script - using the anaconda command directly might or might not work. But I agree it should provide a better error message/warning in such a case.

As for Metacity missing - it's not needed for the expected use case (graphical installation from the live environment), so Metacity and its dependencies are not part of the live image, which can then be smaller.

I understand this sucks if the graphical environment does not work in your case, but there is a possible solution - the network installation image:
https://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/25/Workstation/x86_64/iso/Fedora-Workstation-netinst-x86_64-25-1.3.iso

The netinst image still uses X & Metacity and should have working VNC installation (as the network installation image is the expected usecase for it).
You can even tell it to boot directly to VNC installation via boot options:
http://anaconda-installer.readthedocs.io/en/latest/boot-options.html#inst-vnc

--- Additional comment from Lior on 2017-02-23 11:59:20 CET ---

Of course I started by trying VNC installation via boot options -- I only used the command directly in order to investigate the problem after the inst.vnc boot option didn't work.

Now this use case (appending inst.vnc to the boot options) is specifically suggested by the <A HREF="https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fedora/25/html/Installation_Guide/sect-vnc-installations-direct-mode.html">Fedora 25 Installation Guide</A>, so I don't think you can fairly dismiss it as "unexpected".

I'll try netinst, but I think that either the installation guide needs to be changed to conform to what the LiveCD can do, or the LiveCD needs to be changed so that procedures suggested by the installation guide actually work.

--- Additional comment from Lior on 2017-02-23 12:10:18 CET ---

For example, the installation guide can say at the beginning of Section 11 that VNC installation is only supported by the netinst image, not by the LiveCD.

--- Additional comment from Martin Kolman on 2017-02-24 10:59:55 CET ---

(In reply to Lior from comment #5)
> For example, the installation guide can say at the beginning of Section 11
> that VNC installation is only supported by the netinst image, not by the
> LiveCD.

Yes - that really looks like an omission in the docs. I'll clone this bug & assign it to the docs component so it can be fixed.