31.5. Package Selection
Warning
You can use a kickstart file to install every available package by specifying
@Everything or simply * in the %packages section. Red Hat does not support this type of installation.
Moreover, using a kickstart file in this way will introduce package and file conflicts onto the installed system. Packages known to cause such problems are assigned to the
@Conflicts group. If you specify @Everything in a kickstart file, be sure to exclude @Conflicts or the installation will fail:
@Everything -@Conflicts
Note that Red Hat does not support the use of
@Everything in a kickstart file, even if you exclude @Conflicts.
Use the
%packages command to begin a kickstart file section that lists the packages you would like to install (this is for installations only, as package selection during upgrades is not supported).
Packages can be specified by group or by individual package name, including with globs using the asterisk. The installation program defines several groups that contain related packages. Refer to the
variant/repodata/comps-*.xml file on the first Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD-ROM for a list of groups. Each group has an id, user visibility value, name, description, and package list. In the package list, the packages marked as mandatory are always installed if the group is selected, the packages marked default are selected by default if the group is selected, and the packages marked optional must be specifically selected even if the group is selected to be installed.
Available groups vary slightly between different variants of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, but include:
- Administration Tools
- Authoring and Publishing
- Development Libraries
- Development Tools
- DNS Name Server
- Eclipse
- Editors
- Engineering and Scientific
- FTP Server
- GNOME Desktop Environment
- GNOME Software Development
- Games and Entertainment
- Graphical Internet
- Graphics
- Java Development
- KDE (K Desktop Environment)
- KDE Software Development
- Legacy Network Server
- Legacy Software Development
- Legacy Software Support
- Mail Server
- Misc
- Multimedia
- MySQL Database
- Network Servers
- News Server
- Office/Productivity
- OpenFabrics Enterprise Distribution
- PostgreSQL Database
- Printing Support
- Server Configuration Tools
- Sound and Video
- System Tools
- Text-based Internet
- Web Server
- Windows File Server
- Windows PV Drivers
- X Software Development
- X Window System
In most cases, it is only necessary to list the desired groups and not individual packages. Note that the
Core and Base groups are always selected by default, so it is not necessary to specify them in the %packages section.
Here is an example
%packages selection:
%packages @ X Window System @ GNOME Desktop Environment @ Graphical Internet @ Sound and Video dhcp
As you can see, groups are specified, one to a line, starting with an
@ symbol, a space, and then the full group name as given in the comps.xml file. Groups can also be specified using the id for the group, such as gnome-desktop. Specify individual packages with no additional characters (the dhcp line in the example above is an individual package).
You can also specify which packages not to install from the default package list:
-autofs
The following options are available for the
%packages option:
--nobase- Do not install the @Base group. Use this option if you are trying to create a very small system.
--resolvedeps- The --resolvedeps option has been deprecated. Dependencies are resolved automatically every time now.
--ignoredeps- The --ignoredeps option has been deprecated. Dependencies are resolved automatically every time now.
--ignoremissing- Ignore the missing packages and groups instead of halting the installation to ask if the installation should be aborted or continued. For example:
%packages --ignoremissing
