On Sat, Jul 30, 2011 at 4:14 PM, Jack Allen <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Hello: > > I have installed sl6 and have the anaconda-ks.cfg file which has all > the packages that were installed originally. I had to add a few more via yum > later to get things setup the way I wanted it. Now I would like to copy the > anaconda-ks.cfg file and add the additional packages so it can be used to > setup another system just like this one during the install. > > So the question is how can I determine what is currently installed > based on package names and/or groups with plus and/or minus certain packages > to be able to update the kickstart file? > > Thanks: > > Jack Allen This is actually one of the more problematic configuration issues for our favorite upstream vendor. The only working GUI for this is "system-config-kickstart", which tends to re-arrange source configuration files and replace their comments, and which does not understand the concept of multiple '%post' scripts even though this works quite well if manually added to ks.cfg files. This is coupled with the confusing and difficult to read "comps.xml" files which provide a highly organized set of dependencies and packages so that selecting a group will provide mandatory packages and recommended and optional ones, but which cannot therefore be reverse engineered because the package may be mandatory for multiple "groups", optional for multiple "groups", or brought in by dependencies in entirely distinct "groups". And the "groups" of the RPM labeling may have nothing to do with the "groups" of configuration categories in the relevant comps.xml. So don't use it. Go through a test install once, of whichever approximate configuration you consider reasonable, to get a rough list of packages. Install any relevant add-ons, being cautions to enable third-praty repositories as needed,, and tack on any packages you feel you need. Then get a package list with: rpm -qa --qf '%{name}.%{arch}\n' | sort Use *that* that as the list of packages to install in your kiclstart files, and run a second test run to assure that you get what you asked for. Provide any necessary exclusions, to help avoid So the simple answer is "don't bother trying to figore out the groupings". Just use the actual list of installed components from a similar host. This especailly helps avoid NetworkManager, which is useful for laptops and perhaps some VPN setups, but has no use and is actively destabilizing to servers.