I'm about half way through writing a perl script to create a list of groups and packages that would recreate an existing install in either kickstart or via yum, and I encounter my own ignorance. To help me avoid RTFM, I entreat the following Enlightenment. When running yum -y -d 0 grouplist hidden groupname, one gets a results such as: Group: Editors Required Groups: Base Default Metapkgs: Emacs Optional Metapkgs: XEmacs Default Packages: vim-enhanced Optional Packages vim-X11 Required Groups I have no problem with -- this seems to say that in order to install the Editors group I have first (or simultaneously) install the Base group. Then things get esoteric. There are at least the following subcategories that appear: Mandatory Packages: Default Packages: Optional Packages: Default Metapkgs: Optional Metapkgs: So, what exactly do these mean? I'm assuming that Mandatory Packages are packages in the group that cannot "not" be installed if the group is installed (removed by means of a "-pkgname" in a kickstart file). I'm assuming that Default Packages are ones that are (in addition to the Mandatory packages) installed when yum installgroup groupname is run or @Groupname put in a KS file. It is my belief, then, that in order to determine what I need to use in a minimal group/package description I have to basically construct a list consisting of the union of all mandatory and default packages in all the installed groups, remove them from the list of all installed packages, and construct as final output the list of installed groups plus the remainder/modulus standalone packages. Plus any AI massaging one might care to do, e.g. add in -pkgnames to work down from installed groups as required, although in a lot of cases nobody will care. However, what the hell are Optional Packages: and Metapkgs in general? Do I need to worry about (or include) them? Is my general description above correct? Hear me, oh dieties of rpmness and packagification, as I burn this scented offering... rgb -- Robert G. Brown http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/ Duke University Dept. of Physics, Box 90305 Durham, N.C. 27708-0305 Phone: 1-919-660-2567 Fax: 919-660-2525 email:rgb@xxxxxxxxxxxx
