Kickstart

A more or less declarative language describing how a computer should be installed.

kickstart covers all options available in the Anaconda GUI or TUI - and more!
- there are quite a few options available only via kickstart
makes fully automatic unattended installations possible
partial kickstarts can be used to pre-configure installation options
- while the user manually configures the rest

Kickstart, all the way down

also used internally by Anaconda and Initial Setup
- the kickstart file is first loaded into an internal "tree" data structure
- then if you change a setting in the UI, it reflects in the kickstart data model
the installation is actually executed by running the execution methods for all kickstart commands
- effectively using the combining the data from the kickstart file, user input & defaults
at the end of the installation the resulting kickstart is written out and stored on the installed system

one per line
command followed by options - kinda like CLI utilities
some commands can be used multiple times
- part, repo, network, etc.
some commands only once
- last one wins if used multiple times
some commands can't be used at once
- for example autopart can't be used together with part, logvol, volgroup or raid

%pre defines scripts to run before the installation
%post defines scripts to run after the installation
- the --nochroot option can be used to run the script outside of the installation chroot
both %pre %post section need to by closed by the %end statement
common options for the %pre and %post statements:
- --interpreter - what interpreter to use to run the script (bash is used by default)
- --log - redirect stdout from the script to the given log file

you can use the %include statement to include additional kickstarts to your kickstarts

%include /path/to/file or %include <url>
this can be used to decompose kickstarts to multiple files or even to inject machine specific kickstart snippets
- and you can even include kickstart snippets generated by a %pre script during the installation...

the packages
you add packages, groups and an environment for installation
you can also prevent packages from being installed by prepending their name with a -
the %packages section needs to be closed by the %end statement

%packages
 @X Window System
 @GNOME Desktop Environment
 @Graphical Internet
 @Sound and Video
 dhcp
 python-doge
 vim
 -emacs
 %end

two actually
- the original input kickstart (if any)
- the output kickstart describing the actual installation process
- stored in /root as it might contain sensitive data
the output kickstart can be used the easily replicate the installation later
- to reinstall the machine
- to install more machines with same installation settings
- also to check how a machine was actually installed originally