detecting i386 or x86_64 in kickstart

[Michael DeHaan]

Jason Edgecombe wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I would like to have a unified kickstart file for both my i386 and 
> x86_64 installs. So I have two questions:
>
> 1. Is there some way to detect whether the processor is 32/64 bit in a 
> %pre script?
> 2. Will the 32-bt installer install the 64bit rpms if I point it at a 
> 64bit install tree?
>
> Thanks,
> Jason
>
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I'm not sure about the pre detection thing (I'm sure it's doable), but 
you really do have to specify different trees.

What I do, and I apologize if this feels like advocacy (it kind of is), 
is I use the same kickstart template with cobbler 
(http://cobbler.et.redhat.com) and just add the line "url 
--url=TEMPLATE::tree" in the kickstart so each kickstart uses a 
different tree.    Basically most of the kickstart lines remain the same 
and I only need to trade out the tree parameter depending on which 
kickstart profile is using it. 

# first, add the distro, "foo" might really be RHEL4, so name appropriately
cobbler distro add --name="fooi386" --kernel=blah --initrd=blah
cobbler distro add --name="foox86_64" --kernel=blah --initrd=blah
# now add two profiles, each using the same kickstart, but template in a 
different tree parameter
cobbler profile add --name="fooi386profile" --distro="fooi386" 
--ksmeta="tree=http://myserver/path/to/tree" --kickstart=/path/to/kickstart
cobbler profile add --name="foox86_64profile" --distro ="foox86_64" 
--ksmeta="tree=http://myserver/path/to/other/tree" 
--kickstart=/path/to/kickstart
# now specify what systems use what profile, by MAC address
cobbler system add --name="AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF" --profile="fooi386profile"
cobbler system add --name="DD:EE:AA:DD::BE:EF" --profile="foox86_64profile"
# by default, use i386
cobbler system add --name="default" --profile="fooi386profile"
# apply the changes
cobbler sync

See the manpages at http://cobbler.et.redhat.com for more info, or ask 
on et-mgmt-tools at redhat.com

If you do need to do an "if" area in the kickstart in pre or post, you 
can set another template parameter using the "--ksmeta" and then write 
an "if" statement in the kickstart as if it was a shell script.

If that doesn't quite make sense hopefully I can clarify.

--Michael