Pointers to start new Express Disc development

[northridgegrp]

Currently I am working on the construction of a "build machine".

Current I have been concentrating on:

- preparing another computer to act as a second bench machine for testing ISO builds. My main bench machine holds
the "build machine", don't want to disturb that.
- the creation of a Kickstart file that contains a "minimal" F18 install (with out Amahi and mariadb).
- determining composition requirements to do "pungi builds".
- making tweak changes to the Kickstart file as required to keep pungi happy.

To date progress has been slow, however, today I managed to get some life out of pungi. I will be testing out the resulting CD ISO in the next couple of days (spring yard chores are calling today ). As I get a stable build pattern I will be updating the wiki article in WIP.

Sigh this is a real challenge. I have tried generating various iso's and keep running in to the same problem, the install Disc loads the o/s but when it gets to the point where it should be displaying something, blank screen with blinking cursor. Tried this on two different machines, one new and one old, same results.

So after consulting Dr. Google I found a bug posted on a Red Hat bug site. The current release of the anaconda installer has issues in the creation of install discs. There is a new version that has been in "testing" since February. The latest entries in the bug reported show no update on testing activity. However one person posted something about the "test" version. So I will be adding it to my local updates repo and see what happens next.

No one said this was going to be a simple task...

[cpg]

Yes, it can be a challenge. Not only that, it changes rapidly and only a few people (probably at Redhat) know exactly what's going on. Keep on at it ... we're getting close!

I may have a little bit of time to give it a shot. Are directions in the wiki up to the latest?

[northridgegrp]

Yes, it can be a challenge. Not only that, it changes rapidly and only a few people (probably at Redhat) know exactly what's going on. Keep on at it ... we're getting close!

I may have a little bit of time to give it a shot. Are directions in the wiki up to the latest?

No I haven't updated yet as I've been trying to get a least one successful build. If I can get a least one we would then have a decent use pattern.

[northridgegrp]

Great. We're getting close to a major transition in our API and Amahi 7 will be the first user for it.

Looking forward to test this out. I do have two machines to help build the ISOs.

BTW, testing of the ISOs can be done on a VM quickly and efficiently.
(your explanation suggests you are doing it in a real hardware, which may be more painful than a VM)

Current Status:

It turns out that the current production "Anaconda Installer" (this is embedded during the build process) has some sort of bug problems when doing new "installer" (not the same as a LiveCD build) builds. I found a recent bug report dating back in late March of this year posted by someone who had the same issue I was. One of the Red Hat developers that works with distribution builds posted a comment about a version of the Anaconda Installer that has been in "testing" since February of this year. I tried it and ran in to a "dependency hell situation" of which there does not appear to be any way out. I also did a trial LiveCD build and low and behold! The same Anaconda problems. I have subsequently posted a request for feedback from the Red Hat developer in an effort for some guidance. So far it looks like I will be attacking the problem from a different angle based on some guidance. This will involve rebuilding my build machine. My conversation with the RH developer is on-going.

History: From what I gather to date, the pungi build tool was functional in F17. Problems appeared in F18. So Red Hat must have done some sort of magic to their current build processes in order to keep things going, of course they are the only ones that know what to do at this point. It seems that they may not fix pungi until F19. Yikes for us. I also investigated the old revisor software that was used in the past. Unfortunately around F15/F16 revisor maintenance stopped. Very sad as it would have been an excellent resource for us now. I also tried out an on-line kickstart build service but unfortunately it does not allow for adding specific customizations we would need. I did however try out a simple build from this site, same anaconda installer issues.

Future: Red Hat is currently working on a project called Lorax where they will be trying to combine all of their build tools in to one tool suite. One of the tools is called "livemedia-creator", which I tried and it is obviously not ready for prime time yet also very little docs too. So something nice for the future.

Anyone in the Amahi Community out there currently do any "respin" or "install" disc builds on F18? Feel free to help out.

[cpg]

Thanks for the update. We will need the express CD soon, so we should try and rally for helping out on this project!

[northridgegrp]

Thanks for the update. We will need the express CD soon, so we should try and rally for helping out on this project!

I received some guidance from a Red Hat developer today, who has been doing successful builds with F18. So over the next few days I will be rebuilding my build box.

Keep your fingers crossed!

[cpg]

Thanks. Any news? I am ready now to start a test release with the Beta 1!

[northridgegrp]

Thanks. Any news? I am ready now to start a test release with the Beta 1!

No news. I am still trying to get a build that works.

[northridgegrp]

I have been in contact with a fellow who is part of a Fedora Spin Community and have been getting some guidance on how to do F18 spins.

1. Building spins in F18 are more complex that it appears. I was on this spin community github repo and downloaded the kickstart files they use. Whoa ho! I am reviewing their work at the moment. The fellow even sent me a sample pungi command line build sample they do, on this score I was not far off target.
2. Not only did the anaconda installer get an major overhaul ( bug in that still ) but also their kickstart world got an overhaul. It turns out some of the kickstart configs I was building were not close enough to do a build. How ever before I got by recent guidance I was looking at hand building an install disc. Which by the way is possible but not with out a lot of pain and work. I actually got a kickstart to "actually" work for me! Boy do I feel like a rank beginner! Very humbling experience this.
3. So over the next while I will be doing some prototyping work to see if I can get back on track with pungi builds.

Sorry this is taking so long, but with the anaconda bug and the overhaul changes to the kickstart stuff it has been a steep learning curve! Still this is very cool work and keeps the brain cells active.

PS: Congrats on making progress to Beta on A7!

[cpg]

Thanks for the update.

Not a minute too soon. I am almost ready to jump on this

Any recommendations for me to get started building the Amahi 7 iso?