A question about cobbler/codes.py and MS Windows support?

[Zack Perry]

Was browsing the cobbler codes to become more familiar with the software.  Looking at cobbler/codes.py, I spotted the following:

43  VALID_OS_VERSIONS = {
    44      "redhat"  : [ "rhel3", "rhel4", "rhel5", "rhel6", "fedora14", "fedora15", "fedora16", "fedora17", "fedora18", "rawhide", "generic24", "generic26", "virtio26", "other" ],
    45      "suse"    : [ "sles9", "sles10", "sles11", "opensuse11.2", "opensuse11.3", "opensuse11.4", "opensuse12.1", "opensuse12.2", "generic24", "generic26", "virtio26", "other" ],
    46      "debian"  : [ "lenny", "squeeze", "stable", "testing", "unstable", "generic24", "generic26", "other" ],
    47      "ubuntu"  : [ "hardy", "lucid", "maverick", "natty", "precise", "quantal" ],
    48      "generic" : [ "generic24", "generic26", "other" ],
    49      "windows" : [ "winxp", "win2k", "win2k3", "vista", "other" ],
    50      "unix"    : [ "solaris9", "solaris10", "other" ],
    51      "vmware"  : [ "esx4", "esxi4", "esxi5" ],
    52      "freebsd" : [ "7.3", "7.4", "8.1", "8.2", "8.3", "9.0", "9.1" ],
    53      "other"   : [ "msdos", "netware4", "netware5", "netware6", "generic", "other" ]
    54  }

That got me curious.  M$ Windows! Among the listed, how well cobbler supports them?  I have done some digging into both the current and old documentation but couldn't find much instructions.  Are these elements in the dictionary and lists TODOs or real? ;-)

Seriously, is there a place where I can find the status of support of each listed OS in the above dictionary? My own limited experience can only confirm that RHEL 6, Fedora 17, precise and quantal do work, with the last two demanding more work to use the current version 2.4.0, among other minor annoyances that I hope to be able to work on soon (under water due to work load again :-(

I would appreciate a pointer. So far, the best I could find is from the prolific Jörgen Maas's posts, e.g. http://www.mail-archive.com/[e-mail]/msg07265.html

Regards,

-- Zack

[James Cammarata]

> That got me curious.  M$ Windows! Among the listed, how well cobbler supports them?  I have done some digging into both the current and old documentation but couldn't find much instructions.  Are these elements in the dictionary and lists TODOs or real? ;-)

They are there to support that breed/os-version for images only,
cobbler does not support them as distros.
> Seriously, is there a place where I can find the status of support of each listed OS in the above dictionary? My own limited experience can only confirm that RHEL 6, Fedora 17, precise and quantal do work, with the last two demanding more work to use the current version 2.4.0, among other minor annoyances that I hope to be able to work on soon (under water due to work load again :-(
>
> I would appreciate a pointer. So far, the best I could find is from the prolific Jörgen Maas's posts, e.g. http://www.mail-archive.com/[e-mail]/msg07265.html

In 2.4.0, you will be able to get a list of supported
distros/os-versions by running the command "cobbler signature report".
That will be in the beta3 RPM, which I should get pushed out this
weekend. Looking at codes.py in the older versions is the only other
way to get that info.

[Mann, Owen]

Historically, Windows is unsupported, but can be made to work with a fair bit of effort. I've successfully built w2k3 servers by pulling together a couple of web pages and several utility programs. Not for the faint of heart. Starting with Vista, MS switched to an image-based installation, with which I have no experience.

Owen Mann, Interactive Data Real Time Services
60 Codman Hill Rd, Boxborough, MA 01719
978-795-3758 [e-mail]
“We have to remember that what we observe is not nature in itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning.” -Werner Heisenberg

-----Original Message-----
From: [e-mail] [mailto:[e-mail]] On Behalf Of James Cammarata
Sent: Friday, December 07, 2012 8:28 AM
To: cobbler mailing list
Subject: Re: [cobbler] A question about cobbler/codes.py and MS Windows support?
> That got me curious.  M$ Windows! Among the listed, how well cobbler 
> supports them?  I have done some digging into both the current and old 
> documentation but couldn't find much instructions.  Are these elements 
> in the dictionary and lists TODOs or real? ;-)

They are there to support that breed/os-version for images only, cobbler does not support them as distros.
> Seriously, is there a place where I can find the status of support of 
> each listed OS in the above dictionary? My own limited experience can 
> only confirm that RHEL 6, Fedora 17, precise and quantal do work, with 
> the last two demanding more work to use the current version 2.4.0, 
> among other minor annoyances that I hope to be able to work on soon 
> (under water due to work load again :-(
>
> I would appreciate a pointer. So far, the best I could find is from 
> the prolific Jörgen Maas's posts, e.g. 
> http://www.mail-archive.com/[e-mail]/msg07265.ht
> ml

In 2.4.0, you will be able to get a list of supported distros/os-versions by running the command "cobbler signature report".
That will be in the beta3 RPM, which I should get pushed out this weekend. Looking at codes.py in the older versions is the only other way to get that info.
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[Zack Perry]

[...]
> They are there to support that breed/os-version for images
> only, cobbler does not support them as distros.

I have found this after more digging into the mailing list archive 
during lunch break: http://www.mail-archive.com/[e-mail]/msg08139.html

It does look quite tempting ;-)  My search of the mailing list archive
shows a lot discussions, but few consensuses how to do such 
deployments optimally.

[...]
> In 2.4.0, you will be able to get a list of supported
> distros/os-versions by running the command "cobbler
> signature report". That will be in the beta3 RPM, which I should 
> get pushed out this weekend.

Great! To epel-testing?  I will upgrade. If I don't see it, then git pull origin && rpmbuild
> Looking at codes.py in the older versions is the only other
> way to get that info.

Regards,

-- Zack