5.6. anaconda

Bug Fixes

BZ#690058

Prior to this update, the noprobe argument in a kickstart file was not passed to the last known codepath. Consequently, the noprobe request was not properly honored by Anaconda. This update improves the code so that the argument is passed to the last known codepath. As a result, device drivers are loaded according to the device command in the kickstart file.

BZ#691794

Previously, an improper device file that provided access to an array as a whole was used to initialize the boot loader in a Device Mapper Multipath (DM-Multipath) environment. Consequently, the system was not bootable. Anaconda has been modified to enumerate all drives in an array and initialize the boot loader on each of them. As a result, the system now boots as expected.

BZ#723404

When performing a minimal installation from media without the use of a network, network devices did not have a working default network configuration. Consequently, bringing a network device up after reboot using the ifup command failed. This update sets the value of BOOTPROTO to dhcp in default network device configuration files. As a result, network devices can be activated successfully using the ifup command after reboot in the scenario described.

BZ#727136

When Anaconda places a PowerPC Reference Platform (PReP) boot partition on a different drive to the root partition, the system cannot boot. This update forces the PReP boot partition to be on the same drive as the root partition. As a result, the system boots as expected.

BZ#734128

Due to a regression, when installing on systems with pre-existing mirrored Logical Volumes (LV), the installer failed to properly detect the Logical Volume Management configuration containing mirrored logical volumes. Consequently, a mirrored logical volume created before installation was not shown and could not be used in kickstart. The code to handle mirrored logical volumes has been updated to make use of the udev information that changed due to a previous bug fix. As a result, mirrored logical volumes are correctly detected by the installer.

BZ#736457

On IBM System z architectures, z/VM guests with only one CPU allocated failed to read the Conversational Monitor System (CMS) configuration file used by the installation environment. Consequently, users of z/VM guests with a single CPU had to either pass all installation environment configuration values on the kernel boot line or supply the information at the interactive prompts as the installation environment booted up. This update improves the code to detect the number of guests after mounting the /proc file. As a result, guests with one CPU can bring the boot device online so the CMS configuration file can be read and automated installations proceed as expected.

BZ#738577

The repo commands in kickstart generated by Anaconda contained base installation repository information but they should contain only additional repositories added either by the repo kickstart command or in the graphical user interface (GUI). Consequently, in media installations, the repo command generated for installation caused a failure when the kickstart file was used. With this update, Anaconda now generates repo commands only for additional repositories. As a result, kickstart will not fail for media installations.

BZ#740870

Manual installation on to BIOS RAID devices of level 0 or level 1 produced an Intel Media Storage Manager (IMSM) metadata read error in the installer. Consequently, users were not able to install to such devices. With this update, Anaconda properly detects BIOS RAID level 0 and level 1 IMSM metadata. As a result, users are able to install to these devices.

BZ#746495

The LiveCD environment was missing a legacy symlink to the devkit-disks utility. Consequently, the call that modified automounter behavior was never properly executed. The code has been updated to call the proper non-legacy binary. As a result, USB devices used during installation are no longer automounted.

BZ#747219

The console tty1 was put under control of Anaconda, but was not returned when Anaconda exited. Consequently, init did not have permission to modify tty1's settings to enable Ctrl+C functionality when Anaconda exited, which resulted in Ctrl+C not working when the installer prompted the user to press the Ctrl+C or Ctrl+Alt+Delete key combination after Anaconda terminated unexpectedly. A code returning tty1 control back to init was added to Anaconda. As a result, Ctrl+C now works as expected if the user is prompted to press it when Anaconda crashes.

BZ#750126

The Bash version used in the buildinstall script had a bug that influenced parsing of the =~ operator. This operator is used to check for the architecture when including files. Consequently, some binaries which provide the grub command were present on x86_64 versions of the installer, but were missing from i686 media. The Bash code has been modified to prevent this bug. As a result, the binaries are now also present on i686 media and users can now use the grub command from installation media as expected.

BZ#750417

Due to bad ordering in the unmounting sequence, the dynamic linker failed to link libraries, which caused the mdadm utility not to work and exit with the status code of 127. This update fixes the ordering in the unmounting sequence and as a result, the dynamic linker and mdadm now work correctly.

BZ#750710

There was no check to see if the file descriptors passed as stdout and stderr were distinct. Consequently, if the stdout and stderr descriptors were the same, using them both for writing resulted in overwriting and the log file not containing all of the lines expected. With this update, if the stdout and stderr descriptors are the same then only one of them is used for both stdin and stderr. As a result, the log file contains all lines from both stdout and stderr.

BZ#753108

When installing on a system with more than one disk with a PowerPC Reference Platform (PReP) partition present, the PReP partitions that should be left untouched were updated. This update corrects the problem so that PReP partitions other than the one used during installation are left untouched. As a result, old PReP partitions do not get updated.

BZ#754031

The kernel command line /proc/cmdline ends with \n but the installer only checked for \0. Consequently, the devel argument was not detected when it was the last argument on the command line and the installation failed. This update improves the code to also check for \n. As a result, the devel argument is correctly parsed and installation proceeds as expected.

BZ#756608

Network installations on IBM System z check the nameserver address provided using the ping command. Environments restricting ICMP ECHO packets will cause this test to fail, halting the installation and asking the user whether or not the provided nameserver address is valid. Consequently, automated installations using kickstart will stop if this test fails. With this update, in the event that the ping test fails, the nslookup command is used to validate the provided nameserver address. If the nslookup test succeeds then kickstart will continue with the installation. As a result, automated network installations on IBM System z in non-interactive mode will complete as expected in the scenario described.

BZ#760250

When configuring a system with multiple active network interfaces and the ksdevice = link command was present, the link specification was not used consistently for device activation and device configuration. Consequently, other network devices having link status were sometimes misconfigured using the settings targeted to the device activated by the installer. With this update, the code has been improved and now refers to the same device with link specification both in case of device activation and device configuration. As a result, when multiple devices with link status are present during installation, ksdevice = link specification of the device to be activated and used by the installer does not cause misconfiguration of another device having link status.

BZ#766902

When configuring the network using the Anaconda GUI hostname screen, the keyboard shortcut for the Configure Network button was missing. This update adds the C keyboard shortcut. Network configuration can now be invoked using the Alt+C keyboard shortcut.

BZ#767727

The Ext2FS class in Anaconda has a maximum file size attribute correctly set to 8 TB, but Ext3FS and Ext4FS inherited this value without overriding it. Consequently, when attempting to create an ext3 or ext4 file system of a size greater than 8Tb the installer would not allow it. With this update, the installer's upper bound for new ext3 and ext4 filesystem size has been adjusted from 8Tb to 16TB. As a result, the installer now allows creation of ext3 and ext4 filesystems up to 16TB.

BZ#769145

The Anaconda dhcptimeout boot option was not working. NetworkManager used a DHCP transaction timeout of 45 seconds without the possibility of configuring a different value. Consequently, in certain cases NetworkManager failed to obtain a network address. NetworkManager has been extended to read the timeout parameter from a DHCP configuration file and use that instead of the default value. Anaconda has been updated to write out the dhcptimeout value to the interface configuration file used for installation. As a result, the boot option dhcptimeout works and NetworkManager now waits to obtain an address for the duration of the DHCP transaction period as specified in the DHCP client configuration file.

BZ#783245

Prior to this update, USB3 modules were not in the Anaconda install image. Consequently, USB3 devices were not detected by Anaconda during installation. This update adds the USB3 modules to the install image and USB3 devices are now detected during installation.

BZ#783841

When the kickstart clearpart command or the installer's automatic partitioning options to clear old data from the system's disks were used with complex storage devices such as logical volumes and software RAID, LVM tools caused the installation process to become unresponsive due to a deadlock. Consequently, the installer failed when trying to remove old metadata from complex storage devices. This update changes the LVM commands in the udev rules packaged with the installer to use a less restrictive method of locking and the installer was changed to explicitly remove partitions from a disk instead of simply creating a new partition table on top of the old contents when it initializes a disk. As a result, LVM no longer hangs in the scenario described.

BZ#785400

The /usr/lib/anaconda/textw/netconfig_text.py file tried to import a module from the wrong location. Consequently, Anaconda failed to start and the following error message was generated:

No module named textw.netconfig_text

The code has been corrected and the error no longer occurs in the scenario described.

BZ#788537

Prior to this update, kickstart repository entries did not use the global proxy setting. Consequently, on networks restricted to use a proxy installation would terminate unexpectedly when attempting to connect to additional repository entries in a kickstart file if no proxy had been explicitly specified. This update changes the code to use the global proxy if an additional repository has no proxy set for it. As a result, the global proxy setting will be used and installation will proceed as expected in the scenario described.

BZ#800388

The kickstart pre and post installation scripts had no information about the proxy being used by Anaconda. As a consequence, programs such as wget and curl would not work properly in a pre-installation and post-installation script on networks restricted to using a proxy. This update sets the PROXY, PROXY_USER, PROXY_PASSWORD environmental variables. As a result, pre and post installation scripts now have access to the proxy setting used by Anaconda.

BZ#802397

Using the --onbiosdisk=NUMBER option for the kickstart part command sometimes caused installation failures as Anaconda was not able to find the disk that matches the specified BIOS disk number. Users wishing to use BIOS disk numbering to control kickstart installations were not able to successfully install Red Hat Enterprise Linux. This update adjusts the comparison in Anaconda that matches the BIOS disk number to determine the Linux device name. As a result, users wishing to use BIOS disk numbering to control kickstart installations will now be able to successfully install Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

BZ#805910

Due to a regression, when running the system in Rescue mode with no or only uninitialized disks, the Anaconda storage subsystem did not check for the presence of a GUI before presenting the user with a list of options. Consequently, when the user selected continue the installer terminated unexpectedly with a traceback. This update adds a check for presence of the GUI and falls back to a TUI if there is none. As a result, the user is informed about the lack of usable disks in the scenario described.

BZ#823810

When using Anaconda with Qlogic qla4xxx devices in firmware boot mode and with iSCSI targets set up in BIOS (either enabled or disabled), the devices were exposed as iSCSI devices. But in this mode the devices cannot be handled with the iscsiadm and libiscsi tools used by the installer. Consequently, installation failed with a traceback during examination of storage devices by the installer. This update changes the installer to not try to manage iSCSI devices set up with qla4xxx firmware with iscsiadm or libiscsi. As a result, installation in an environment with iSCSI targets set up by qla4xxx devices in firmware mode finishes successfully.

Note

The firmware boot mode is turned on and off by the qla4xxx.ql4xdisablesysfsboot boot option. With this update, it is enabled by default.

Enhancements

BZ#500273

There was no support for binding of iSCSI connections to network interfaces, which is required for installations using multiple iSCSI connections to a target on a single subnet for Device Mapper Multipath (DM-Multipath) connectivity. Consequently, DM-Multipath connectivity could not be used on a single subnet as all devices used the default network interface. With this update, the Bind targets to network interfaces option has been added to the “Advanced Storage Options” dialog box. When turned on, targets discovered specifically for all active network interfaces are available for selection and login. For kickstart installations a new iscsi --iface option can be used to specify network interface to which a target should be bound. Once interface binding is used, all iSCSI connections have to be bound, that is to say the --iface option has to be specified for all iscsi commands in kickstart. Network devices required for iSCSI connections can be activated either using kickstart network command with the --activate option or in the graphical user interface (GUI) using the Configure Network button from the “Advanced Storage Options” dialog (“Connect Automatically” has to be checked when configuring the device so that the device is also activated in the installer). As a result, it is now possible to configure and use DM-Multipath connectivity for iSCSI devices using different network interfaces on a single subnet during installation.

BZ#625697

The curl command line tool was not in the install image file. Consequently, curl could not be used in the %pre section of kickstart. This update adds curl to the install image and curl can be used in the %pre section of kickstart.

BZ#660686

Support for installation using IP over InfiniBand (IPoIB) interfaces has been added. As a result, it is possible to install systems connected directly to an InfiniBand network using IPoIB network interfaces.

BZ#663647

Two new options were added to the kickstart volgroup command to specify initially unused space in megabytes or as a percentage of the total volume group size. These options are only valid for volume groups being created during installation. As a result, users can effectively reserve space in a new volume group for snapshots while still using the --grow option for logical volumes within the same volume group.

BZ#671230

The GPT disk label is now used for disks of size 2.2 TB and larger. As a result, Anaconda now allows installation to disks of size 2.2 TB and larger, but the installed system will not always boot properly on non-EFI systems. Disks of size 2.2 TB and larger may be used during the installation process, but only as data disks; they should not be used as bootable disks.

BZ#705328

When an interface configuration file is created by a configuration application such as Anaconda, NetworkManager generates the Universally Unique IDentifier (UUID) by hashing the existing configuration file name. Consequently, the same UUID was generated on multiple installed systems for a given network device name. With this update, a random UUID is generated by Anaconda for NetworkManager so that it does not have to generate the connection UUID by hashing the configuration file name. As a result, each network connection of all installed systems has different UUID.

BZ#735791

When IPv6 support is set to be disabled by the installer using the noipv6 boot option, or the network --nopipv6 kickstart command, or by using the “Configure TCP/IP” screen of the loader Text User Interface (TUI), and no network device is configured for IPv6 during installation, the IPv6 kernel modules on the installed system will now be disabled.

BZ#735857

The ability to configure a VLAN discovery option for Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) devices added during installation using Anaconda's graphical user interface was required. All FCoE devices created in Anaconda installer were configured to perform VLAN discovery using the fcoemon daemon by setting the AUTO_VLAN value of its configuration file to yes. A new “Use auto vlan” checkbox was added to the “Advanced Storage Options” dialog, which is invoked by the Add Advanced Target button in “Advanced Storage Devices” screen. As a result, when adding FCoE device in Anaconda, it is now possible to configure the VLAN discovery option of the device using “Use auto vlan” checkbox in “Advanced Storage Options” dialog. The value of AUTO_VLAN option of FCoE device configuration file /etc/fcoe/cfg-device is set accordingly.

BZ#737097

The lsscsi and sg3_utils were not present in the install image. Consequently, maintenance of Data Integrity Field (DIF) disks was not possible. This update adds the lsscsi and sg3_utils to the install image and now utilities to maintain DIF disks can be used during the installation.

BZ#743784

Anaconda creates FCoE configuration files under the /etc/fcoe/ directory using biosdevname, which is the new style interface naming scheme, for all the available Ethernet interfaces for FCoE BFS. However, it did not add the ifname kernel command line argument for FCoE interface that stays offline after discovering FCoE targets during installation. Because of this, during subsequent reboot the system tried to find the old style ethX interface name in /etc/fcoe/, which does not match the file created by Anaconda using biosdevname. Therefore, due to the missing FCoE config file, FCoE interface is never created on this interface. Consequently, during FCoE BFS installation, when an Ethernet interface went offline after discovering the targets, FCoE links did not come up after reboot. This update adds dracut ip parameters for all FCoE interfaces including those that went offline during installation. As a result, FCoE interfaces disconnected during installation will be activated after reboot.

BZ#744129

Installations with the swap --recommended command in kickstart created a swap file of size 2 GB plus the installed RAM size regardless of the amount of RAM installed. Consequently, machines with a large amount of RAM had huge swap files prolonging the time before the oom_kill syscall was invoked even in malfunctioning cases. In this update, swap size calculations for swap --recommended were changed to meet the values recommended in the documentation https://access.redhat.com/site/solutions/15244 and the --hibernation option was added for the swap kickstart command and as the default in GUI/TUI installations. As a result, machines with a lot of RAM have a reasonable swap size now if swap --recommended is used. However, hibernation might not work with this configuration. If users want to use hibernation they should use swap --hibernation.

BZ#755147

If there are multiple Ethernet interfaces configured for FCoE boot, by default, only the primary interface is turned on and the other interfaces are not configured. This update sets the value ONBOOT=yes in the ifcfg configuration file during installation for all network interfaces used by FCoE. As a result, all network devices used for installation to FCoE storage devices are activated automatically after reboot.

BZ#770486

This update adds the Netcat (nc) networking utility to the install environment. Users can now use the nc program in Rescue mode.

BZ#773545

The virt-what shell script has been added to the install image. Users can now use the virt-what tool in kickstart.

BZ#784327

Firmware files were loaded only from RPM files in $prefix/lib/firmware paths on a Driver Update Disk (DUD). This update adds the $prefix/lib/firmware/updates directory to the path to be searched for firmware. RPM files containing firmware updates can now have firmware files in %prefix/lib/firmware/updates.