Description of problem: We have a custom distro based on RHEL4 U3. The install image can produce several different kickstarts so the set of packages is a superset of what is needed on any one kickstart. We are finding that anaconda is installing more RPMs than are in the package list (e.g. ftp and nfs-utils). These RPMs do not provide deps for anything (they may be removed with rpm -e after install). Worse, one RPM it's adding actually conflicts with a legitimate RPM - we roll several RPMs with the same files as redhat-release but anaconda insists on installing redhat-release and one other of these RPMs in addition to the one in the package list, causing a conflict (and indeterminacy as to which files are actually installed - depends on which order anaconda picks). How reproducible: Every time. Steps to Reproduce: Install our custom distro (we can provide if you'd like to test). Actual results: Difference in the package list from the kickstart file versus what was actually installed. Also rpm -Va shows a conflict on /etc/redhat-release Basically, just want to know if this is a known problem, if you have any suggestions, etc.
By default, we install the contents of the base and core groups. An argument (--nobase) was added to stop installing @base in an update release of RHEL4, but there's no way to disable installation of the @core set of packages as those are considered required to have a "valid" installation