I'm putting together a feature enhancement patch for livecd-tools, that will basically just allow multiple instances of --config on the command line, and then build something that is the same as if one --config option was used on a kickstart file that is the appended contents of the multiple specified kickstarts.
This came about because I was considering the biggest differences between the VirOS livecd generation tool I'm working on for myself, and livecd-creator. non-root was the top thing, but the 2nd biggest thing was just my whole dna/virus/gene/trait metaphor. I.e. building livecds with a mix and match collection of traits, from a library of preexisting stuff.
And then I realized that just implementing the above, brings that type of methodology to livecd-creator. Yes, of course you can do this manually with cat appending or kickstart including. But I think the implementation is so simple, and the functionality useful enough, that its worth doing.
The next thing after that, which would be a bit tougher, is the idea of passing variables to the kickstart files. Maybe already the post scripts can pull in environment variables (haven't tried it), but I think it'd be better if you could specify some variables/define-macros on the command-line, and more or less have them sed-replaced in the kickstart.
To give an idea of kind of where I'm aiming, something like this-
livecd-creator \ --config=fedora-livecd-desktop.ks \ --config=emacs-and-friends.ks \ --config=add_user_in_liveinit.ks \ --define=LIVEUSER=guest
The result would be that instead of the current user that gets autologged in being named 'fedora', it would be named 'guest'.
Anyway, the define bit may be tricky, but I'll try to get together a simple patch for the multiple kickstarts in the next couple days.
As the subject line says- comments requested.
-dmc
I would love to be able to have one kickstart file work in cobbler/koan for machine and bare metal configuration as well as livecd-creator to create cds. So... if the syntax could be comparable that would be great. I would understand I would have to have different stores of replacements, but some synergy of template/macro/substitution would be great.
-- bk
Douglas McClendon wrote:
I'm putting together a feature enhancement patch for livecd-tools, that will basically just allow multiple instances of --config on the command line, and then build something that is the same as if one --config option was used on a kickstart file that is the appended contents of the multiple specified kickstarts.
This came about because I was considering the biggest differences between the VirOS livecd generation tool I'm working on for myself, and livecd-creator. non-root was the top thing, but the 2nd biggest thing was just my whole dna/virus/gene/trait metaphor. I.e. building livecds with a mix and match collection of traits, from a library of preexisting stuff.
And then I realized that just implementing the above, brings that type of methodology to livecd-creator. Yes, of course you can do this manually with cat appending or kickstart including. But I think the implementation is so simple, and the functionality useful enough, that its worth doing.
The next thing after that, which would be a bit tougher, is the idea of passing variables to the kickstart files. Maybe already the post scripts can pull in environment variables (haven't tried it), but I think it'd be better if you could specify some variables/define-macros on the command-line, and more or less have them sed-replaced in the kickstart.
To give an idea of kind of where I'm aiming, something like this-
livecd-creator \ --config=fedora-livecd-desktop.ks \ --config=emacs-and-friends.ks \ --config=add_user_in_liveinit.ks \ --define=LIVEUSER=guest
The result would be that instead of the current user that gets autologged in being named 'fedora', it would be named 'guest'.
Anyway, the define bit may be tricky, but I'll try to get together a simple patch for the multiple kickstarts in the next couple days.
As the subject line says- comments requested.
-dmc
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Bryan Kearney wrote:
I would love to be able to have one kickstart file work in cobbler/koan for machine and bare metal configuration as well as livecd-creator to create cds. So... if the syntax could be comparable that would be great. I would understand I would have to have different stores of replacements, but some synergy of template/macro/substitution would be great.
I agree. I probably won't tackle the template/macro/substitution anytime real soon, as it does sound like something that might be best planned out across all the tools.
Here is a random idea to put on the table, which I'm sure has probably been discussed before elsewhere-
How about something like a 'ksdefine' directive in kickstart, that gets applied to everything in the kickstart? Then the livecd-creator commandline example I gave, basically just becomes the ability to specify a single line of kickstart directive on the commandline (perhaps multiple times).
Then even have it so that on the kernel commandline you could do something like
"ks=http://bla/foo.ks ksdefine=ADDUSER=guest ksdefine=..."
Anyway, those are just the examples that come to mind. I've looked at cobbler/koan, but never actually used it. Perhaps you can describe some simple examples of how you think the syntax could work across both tools.
-dmc
livecd-creator \ --config=fedora-livecd-desktop.ks \ --config=emacs-and-friends.ks \ --config=add_user_in_liveinit.ks \ --define=LIVEUSER=guest
The result would be that instead of the current user that gets autologged in being named 'fedora', it would be named 'guest'.
On Sat, 2008-01-26 at 01:42 -0600, Douglas McClendon wrote:
I'm putting together a feature enhancement patch for livecd-tools, that will basically just allow multiple instances of --config on the command line, and then build something that is the same as if one --config option was used on a kickstart file that is the appended contents of the multiple specified kickstarts.
What's the advantage of this over having one config that you use which % include's the ones you want? The latter leads to an ability to provide a single config (via ksflatten) which is what you used and makes things reproducible without requiring lots of magic command line args... :-)
Jeremy
Jeremy Katz wrote:
On Sat, 2008-01-26 at 01:42 -0600, Douglas McClendon wrote:
I'm putting together a feature enhancement patch for livecd-tools, that will basically just allow multiple instances of --config on the command line, and then build something that is the same as if one --config option was used on a kickstart file that is the appended contents of the multiple specified kickstarts.
What's the advantage of this over having one config that you use which % include's the ones you want? The latter leads to an ability to provide a single config (via ksflatten) which is what you used and makes things reproducible without requiring lots of magic command line args... :-)
I can only refer you to the original post. I'm incapable of clarifying or justifying beyond what I originally said. You disagree with my assessment. Thanks for the feedback (no sarcasm).
-dmc
livecd@lists.fedoraproject.org
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Bryan Kearney -
Douglas McClendon -
Jeremy Katz