[CentOS] Kickstart "Error setting up base repository"

Tue Jan 19 17:26:31 UTC 2021
Alex Kirk <akirk at corelight.com>

I recently built my first CentOS kickstart config on a CentOS 7 system; it
runs well, but the OS and its tools are old enough that it's causing pain
with the apps I want to run on top of said system, so I'm trying to port it
to CentOS 8.

I've taken the anaconda-ks.cfg file created from a successful manual
install (of both regular 8 and Stream), placed it on my DVD ISO, and
wrapped things back up like I was doing with CentOS 7. I'm successfully
beginning the installation, but running into "Error setting up base
repository" - despite having not touched either the filesystem structure of
the ISO, or the generated kickstart file that points at my repos.

Here is the relevant config:

#version=RHEL8
# Use graphical install
graphical

repo --name="AppStream"
--baseurl=file:///run/install/sources/mount-0000-cdrom/AppStream

%packages
@^minimal-environment
@development
kexec-tools

%end

# Keyboard layouts
keyboard --xlayouts='us'
# System language
lang en_US.UTF-8

# Network information
network  --hostname=localhost.localdomain

# Use CDROM installation media
cdrom

# Run the Setup Agent on first boot
firstboot --enable

ignoredisk --only-use=sda
autopart
# Partition clearing information
clearpart --none --initlabel

# System timezone
timezone America/New_York --isUtc

%addon com_redhat_kdump --enable --reserve-mb='auto'

%end

%anaconda
pwpolicy root --minlen=6 --minquality=1 --notstrict --nochanges --notempty
pwpolicy user --minlen=6 --minquality=1 --notstrict --nochanges --emptyok
pwpolicy luks --minlen=6 --minquality=1 --notstrict --nochanges --notempty
%end


When I switched over to a console to try to troubleshoot this, I noticed
that /run/install/sources/mount-0000-cdrom/AppStream didn't exist (the
"mount-0000-cdrom" directory is empty), but /run/install/repo/AppStream
does, and appears to have all the right information within it. I've tried
specifying that directory as the baseurl instead, and get no difference in
behavior.

The only other file I've touched is isolinux/isolinux.cfg on the DVD, with
the relevant line now being:

append initrd=initrd.img inst.ks=cdrom:/ks.cfg
inst.stage2=hd:LABEL=CentOS-Stream-8-x86_64-dvd quiet

What am I doing wrong here? This seems like basic config, but obviously
I've missed something...

-- 
Alex Kirk
Global Principal, Suricata
404-291-6588
akirk at corelight.com