Description of problem: From the system-install-packages manual page: Any dependencies will be resolved using the system's configured repositories This is all very fine as a default, but it should also be possible to specify a directory and/or repository to use for dependency resolution, IMO. After all, you are installing packages outside of the normal repo config, so it should be possible to make the setup completely independent of it. Suggestion: Re-introduce the "--tree" option of the old (anaconda-based) system-install-packages. This would also resolve some compatibility problems I'm having with install scripts - they should support RHEL 4 and 5, but I'm not actually able to write them correctly, since the version 4 system-install-packages pretty much requires --tree, while the new one will choke on it, but not return an error status or anything. (And there is no easy way to test version number so that I can select options, either.) Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): 1.3.28-13.el5 How reproducible: Enough said, I think...
This request was evaluated by Red Hat Engineering for inclusion in a Red Hat Enterprise Linux maintenance release. Red Hat does not currently plan to provide this change in a Red Hat Enterprise Linux update release for currently deployed products. With the goal of minimizing risk of change for deployed systems, and in response to customer and partner requirements, Red Hat takes a conservative approach when evaluating enhancements for inclusion in maintenance updates for currently deployed products. The primary objectives of update releases are to enable new hardware platform support and to resolve critical defects. You could re-request this kind of feature in RHEL-6 or RHEL-7, as I don't believe we have anything like it with our newer tools.