Notes on Package Ordering

Installation CD Sets require the RPMs to be split over different media, and the way we figure out what RPMs should end up on what disc basically goes as follows:

1. A few packages really, really need to be on disc #1. Think of kernel, firmware and iscsi related packages. We force them to end up on disc #1, manually.
2. We select the group @core, and @base to be on disc #1 as well. These groups of packages are always installed and the more likely the packages in these groups are to be installed, the greater the need to have them on one of the first discs.
3. These packages in the @core and @base groups have a few dependencies of course, that need to be resolved before we finally have a list of packages to end up on disc #1 (rest assured, this all is supposed to fit on disc #1 still).
4. Now we add other groups, such as @gnome-desktop, @text-internet and finally, also @office.
5. Same dependency resolving (we're somewhere on disc #3 now).
6. Finally, we add groups such as @gnome-development.

So, where can this go wrong?

First of all, the order in which we select groups needs to match with the groups anaconda selects during the so-called "pre-selected package set" dialog during the installation (you remember, the screen where you choose "Office and Productivity", or "Server", and you select the "Customize now" or "Customize later" radio button).

This order in which anaconda selects groups differs between releases, and Revisor does not always keep up with that -my mistake, I know. This often results in very distinctive symptoms; the installer will require all discs.

Then there's the occasional "package foo ends up on disc #7" but is selected by anaconda separately, and the installer requires disc #1, disc #2 and disc #7. Again, relatively easy and distinctive symptoms.

In addition, there's a small problem or incompatibilty between how anaconda selects packages and how revisor (or anaconda-runtime for that matter) orders them; If package "foo" is in comps.xml, and the group it's belonging to is selected (in the installation procedure), another package called "foosomething" might get selected (but is not on the same disc since Revisor or anaconda-runtime's package ordering only select "foo").

So, if you encounter problems regarding the package ordering, try to determine what the cause is using these symptoms. The latter two have the same symptoms, and the information the Revisor developers need when that happens is the /root/install.log file after the installation completed.