Re: [SLUG] RH kickstart

[Del <del@nospam.babel.com.au>]

Charlie Brady wrote:
> 
> On Fri, 3 Dec 1999, Saliya Wimalaratne wrote:
> 
> > I'm looking for a way to get the RedHat kickstart file onto a CD. Of
> > course, I want the kickstart installer to read this file _from_ the CD...
> > any ideas ?
> 
> Yep. I'm looking at doing something similar myself. I can't speak for
> RH6.1 because the code has all changed, but with RH6 and earlier you'll
> need to add code into the install binary which runs out of the RAM disk,
> and either stick the kickstart file into the ramdisk (initrd.img) and get
> the installer to look for it there, or get the installer to mount the
> CDROM (all possible CDROMs of course) and then grab it from there.
> Sticking the kickstart file into the ramdisk will be easier to get
> working, but then the kickstart file which is actually used is very well
> hidden - inside the boot image on hidden bits of the CDROM, and then
> inside initrd inside that image.
> 
> Let me know if you find anything easier.

My understanding is that if you take the boot.img file off the CDROM, 
dd it to a floppy, modify the syslinux.cfg file thereon to read something
like:

default ks
prompt 1
timeout 15
label ks
  kernel vmlinuz
  append ks=floppy initrd=initrd.img network

... then add a ks.cfg file to the floppy, recreate the boot.img file
from the floppy using dd, then re-burn the CD using the new boot.img file,
it should all work.  The ElTorito boot spec says the boot.img file looks
and works just like a floppy disk, so you can mount it and copy the
kickstart file off it just like a floppy disk.

What you might consider instead is making the syslinux.cfg file read

...
  append ks initrd=initrd.img network

instead, and put your kickstart file on your bootp server.  This saves
you having to re-burn your CD each time the ks.cfg file changes.

----+------------------------+--------------------------
Del | mailto:del@nospam.babel.co.nz | Christchurch, New Zealand
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