On 01/08/2015 11:18 AM, James Bishop wrote: > I apologise if this is not the appropriate list for the following > issue, but... > > Is it possible to upgrade the Linux kernel on a kickstart CD? > > I've changed the vmlinuz and initrd.img files in the isolinux > directory from the distro's ISO image; so kernel > 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.i686 now boots from a DVD, and loads the > appropriate modules and firmware from the stage 1 initrd.img. > > However, anaconda (13.21.229) exits abnormally with a DBusException > (org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply); possibly because NetworkManager > is unable to launch the wpa_supplicant. > > Anaconda appears to be choking during initialisation: > > anaconda.id = instClass.installDataClass(anaconda, extraModules, > opts.display_mode, anaconda.backend) > File "/usr/lib/anaconda/instdata.py", line 324, in __init__ > self.reset() > File "/usr/lib/anaconda/instdata.py", line 64, in reset > self.network = network.Network() > File "/usr/lib/anaconda/network.py", line 308, in __init__ > self.update() > File "/usr/lib/anaconda/network.py", line 326, in update > devhash = isys.getDeviceProperties(dev=none) > File "/usr/lib/anaconda/isys.py", line 375, in getDeviceProperties > bus = dbus.SystemBus() > File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/dbus/_dbus.py", line 202, in > __new__ > private=private() > File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/dbus/_dbus.py", line 108, in > __new__ > bus = BusConnection.__new__(subclass, bus_type, mainloop=mainloop) > File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/dbus/bus.py", line 125, in > __new__ > bus = cls._new_for_bus(address_or_type, mainloop=mainloop) > dbus.exceptions.DBusException: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply: Did > not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application > did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the > reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken. > install exited abnormally [1/1] > The system will be rebooted when you press Ctrl-C or Ctrl-Alt-Delete. > > The shell prompt is available on tty2; and so I can see the syslog, > which has repeated messages at its tail end: > > INFO NetworkManager: <info> Trying to start the supplicant > > So, something needs to be changed somewhere (kernel recompilation? > missing module? wpa_supplicant / NM upgrade? stage 2 install.img?) > which is where I'm stuck. Do I need to hack Wifi NIC related lines out > of anaconda? > > The reason that I'd like the final kernel version to be running during > the install, is that it's needed to compile the low-level driver for a > FIPS-140 crypto coprocessor. The target system will be an off-line > certification authority system, and will certainly not need Wifi (in > fact the hardening procedure foresees removal of most network hardware > drivers). > > I know I could do everything in three stages (initial install - > software upgrade - crypto driver install); but being able to do > everything in one go would simplify business continuity / bare metal > recovery. > > In the meantime, I'm very happy to have learned something about > anaconda / kickstart and so on, which will be very useful in future. > > If there's a quick fix to the above issues, I'd be happy to hear it. > > Thanks in advance > James Bishop Sounds like the "Rolling media" announced in: http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-announce/2014-December/020807.html could be useful to you, although judging by the kernel version you mentioned, it looks like you're looking for CentOS 6 updates. Unfortunately, it appears the rolling media is only available for CentOS 7 at the moment. Did you update modules.dep and modules.alias in the stage1 image? -Greg