On Mon, 25 Oct 2004, Brian Long wrote: >I'd like some ideas on how folks on this list customize their install >base. We currently create a completely customized kickstart tree based >on RHEL 3 where we integrate third-party and internally-written RPMs. > >I'm thinking we should just use Red Hat's kickstart (comps.xml) as it >comes on the CD (each quarter) and bootstrap Red Carpet or RHN into the >mix to install all third-party and internal RPMs after the initial >kickstart. When considering deconstructing comps/comps.xml, I'd only modify the file: - if replacements to the RH-provided packages were required - to exploit the dependency hierarchy of the comps structure - certain multi-lingual issues (but this is kickstart-list, not interactive-install-list) In our [relatively homogenous] shop, all machines get the same base packagelist, and there's no replacement of, say, RedHat's Ximian collection with Red Carpet. What we *do* heavily customize are the specific additions and removals to get exactly the required packages. For example, gcc is in, but almost all of the -devel packages are out, which helps to keep the installed image nice and small. Pre-patch vs yum/up2date? Putting all the RPMs in RedHat/RPMS vs %post scripts? Both will work fine technically, so the decision then moves into softer areas such as time-to-deploy, maintainability etc. Once the packages are on though, we use a good deal of %post-invoked scripts to tweak about 30 different things; again what you do here will depend a lot on internal requirements. Cheers, Phil
