[Fedora-spins] Packaging & installation

[David Lehman]

On Fri, 2012-02-24 at 16:55 -0500, Bill Nottingham wrote:
> Prompted by David Lehman's patch set, I wanted to discuss how we're
> building what we're installing in Fedora and RHEL, and how we might need to
> represent that both in the media and in the UI.
> 
> What we've got now exposed at the lowest level (yum/kickstart) and supported
> as first-level objects throughout the system:
> 1. packages
> 2. groups (of packages)
> 3. repos (which contain group lists, and packages)
> 
> What we additionally expose only in anaconda, and lose post-install:
> 4. tasks in install classes (lists of groups)

This should go away, whatever else we do.

> 
> What we expose in Fedora:
> 5. spins (live ISO via kickstart file)
> 6. 'the install DVD' (a package set via a kickstart file)
> 
> What we expose in RHEL:
> 7. variants (essentially, a spin that's a package set instead of a live ISO)
> 8. add-ons (repos, with groups, that apply to specific variants)
> 
> All of these use the comps file, which is a list of groups.
> 
> Now, as we rework anaconda's UI (and backend, per dlehman's patches), we
> need to make sure not to break everything horribly.
> 
> In Fedora, spins and the install DVD are driven off of kickstart files. This
> was done because it's the only thing pungi and livecd-creator supports, and
> because each spin/install DVD is a distinct object that can have its own
> kickstart. Anaconda doesn't need to worry about separately consuming them,
> as there's only one repo to ever pull from, and the spins are live images.
> 
> In RHEL, variants and add-ons are driven off of a different set of files,
> for assorted historical reasons. Kickstart files don't directly work here
> because they don't allow you to define intermediate objects (add-ons) that
> are presented in the installer. Anaconda processes variants and add-ons via
> code that reads .treeinfo.
> 
> PROPOSAL GIVEN THE NEW UI
> 
> For reference, the proposed new UI is at:
> 	http://linuxgrrl.com/fedora-ux/Projects/Anaconda/Live%20Prototypes/07-software.svg
> 
> As you'll notice, it contains something that looks like a spin or variant on
> the left, and things that could be considered 'add-ons' on the right. These
> apply to the choices on the left.
> 
> This would seem to fit nicely into the variants + add-ons model that RHEL
> uses. However, there are a couple of problems:
> 
> - The code that parses the variants/add-on information and creates the
>   appropriate .treeinfo bits does not exist in Fedora
> 
> This is obviously a simple matter of not-so-simple code.
> 
> - It requires creating a separate set of metadata (the variants file) that
>   does not currently exist.
> 
> This is relatively trivial.
> 
> - It can cause skew between the live and not-live spins if this variants file
>   falls out of sync with the kickstarts in spin-kickstarts.
> 
> This is ugly - how can we get these to use a single set of data?
> Unfortunately, kickstart's %packages model doesn't give us an easy way to
> define a variant and its add-ons in a kickstart file. Ideas?

In theory, what we need is two new meta-group types: variant (aka spin)
and addon. Each is a set of groups. You can only have one variant
selected or installed at any given time. Each variant defines a set of
addons, of which any number may be selected/installed. Regular groups
and packages are only exposed via kickstart, if at all.

Once we have the groups set up and accompanying kickstart support, the
spins should end up being exactly the same package set as you'd get by
choosing the same variant+addons in the anaconda software selection ui.
The addition of meta-packages and/or kickstart script snippets (perhaps
per variant?) could bridge the gap so that the spins end up identical to
the corresponding anaconda variant/addon selections.

How does this fit with your proposal and your concerns?

Dave