kickstart vs. /etc/login.defs

[Michael Hennebry]

On Wed, 25 Jan 2012, Tim Mooney wrote:

> In regard to: Re: kickstart vs. /etc/login.defs, Michael Hennebry said 
> (at...:
>
>> On Wed, 25 Jan 2012, root at nachtmaus.us wrote:
>> 
>>> Firstly, for where to put the ks file, it would be easiest for you to 
>>> remaster the boot CD, and put the ks file into the root directory of the 
>>> CD, update the configuration for the CD's boot-loader to add something 
>>> like "ks=cdrom:/fc14.ks", and then burn the resulting (modified) file-tree 
>>> to a new CD disk
>
> For a one-off install, in the absence of a provisioning environment like
> cobbler, I personally think it's a lot easier to load the kickstart file
> over the network.  Just do something like
>
> - place your ks.cfg in a directory that is accessible via a URL
> - tell anaconda to load the ks.cfg from the URL
>
> 	ks=http://your.web.host.here/url/path/to/ks.cfg

I think I can do that.  I'm pretty sure that I can use my web site for it.
Right, Tim?

>>> To get around the too early/to late of %pre and %post, you may want to add 
>>> a custom RPM archive file to the CD, have it dump the files into the 
>>> being-created system, and run a command as part of its installation 
>>> procedure that causes the newly added files to be read. Then reference the 
>>> new RPM archive in the packages section of your ks file.
>
> I don't understand from the initial post what the actual goal is, so it's
> hard to know what to suggest here.  Unless I missed it, the original issue
> has something to do with uids in the 101-499 range, but I have no idea
> what the actual problem is.

By default, Fedora 16 has UID_MIN=GID_MIN=1000.
My Fedora 14 (EOL) has UID_MIN=GID=500.
These values are stored in /etc/login.defs .
I want to install (not uppgrade) Fedora 16 and retain the 500.
I have considered alternatives.
During %pre /etc does not yet exist,
so %pre is too early.
During %post there will already be fake users in the range 500..999,
so %post is too late.
Fedora claims that a kickstart file is the way to keep the 500.
Fedora was stingy with details.

> I will say that you can do a lot in %post using things like "wget" to
> fetch a remote tarball or zip and then using the contents of that archive
> to perform further actions.

-- 
Michael   hennebry at web.cs.ndsu.NoDak.edu
"On Monday, I'm gonna have to tell my kindergarten class,
whom I teach not to run with scissors,
that my fiance ran me through with a broadsword."  --  Lily