A.1. Node XML Tags

• <kickstart>

  Wraps an XML node file.

• <description>

  Text description of what this node does.

• <copyright>

  Text description of the copyright associated with this node file.

• <changelog>

  Text description of the changes made to this node file. Generally a "Log" CVS directive.

• <package>

  Specifies a single RPM package. Includes only the RPM name, not its version or release number.

  type

  Optional. Value is "meta". Used to describe RedHat meta packages.

  Example: <package type="meta">gnome-desktop</package>.

  disable

  Optional. If this value is non-zero, the RPM will not be installed.

  Example: <package disable="1">emacs</package>.

  arch

  Optional. This value can be "i386" or "x86_64". If "arch" matches the architecture of the host that is being installed, then the package will be installed, otherwise the package will be skipped. For example, if the value is "i386" and if the x86_64 version of Rocks is being installed on a host, then the package will be skipped. Or said another way, the package will only be installed on i386 hosts.

  Example: <package arch="i386">nasm</package>.

  os

  Optional. Value is "linux" or "sunos". If this is specified, then the package will only be installed on the specified OS. For example, if "linux" is specified, then the package will only be installed on Linux hosts (and the package will not be installed on Solaris hosts).

  Example: <package os="linux">.

• <eval>

  Replaced with the output of the script specified between these tags. The script is run on the host generating the kickstart file (generally the frontend).

  shell

  Optional. Specifies the script interpreter to use. Default "sh".

  Example: <eval shell="/bin/bash">.

  Example: <eval shell="/opt/rocks/bin/python">.

  mode

  Optional. Value is "quote" or "xml". If value is "quote", XML characters are escaped in the shell output. Default is "quote".

  Example: <eval mode="xml">.

  Example: <eval shell="/bin/bash" mode='xml'>.

• <post>

  Wraps a post section. Configuration is generally carried out in post sections, making this a popular tag. The commands specified here correspond to an RPM post section, and they are executed on the client machine (not on the frontend, in contrast to the <eval> tag).

  arch

  Optional. This value can be "i386" or "x86_64". If "arch" matches the architecture of the host that is being installed, then this post section will be run, otherwise the post section will be skipped.

  Example: <post arch="i386">.

  os

  Optional. Value is "linux" or "sunos". If this is specified, then the post section will only be run during the installation of the specified OS. For example, if "linux" is specified, then the post section will be run when a Linux host is installed, but the post section will not be run when a Solaris host is installed.

  Example: <post os="linux">.

  cond

  Optional. If the value of the "cond" is true, then this post section will be executed. Values can be Rocks attributes or generic python expressions.

  Example: <post cond="submit_host">.

  If the "submit_host" Rocks attribute is set to "true" for this host, then the post section will be executed, otherwise, this post section will be skipped.

  Example: <post cond="not ssh_use_dns">.

  If the "ssh_use_dns" Rocks attribute is set to "false" for this host, then the post section will be executed (because of the python "not" operator).

  interpreter

  Optional. Specifies the script interpreter to use. Default "/bin/bash".

  Example: <post interpreter="/opt/rocks/bin/python">.

  arg

  Optional. Value can be "--nochroot". The "--nochroot" value means run this post section in the context of the installer, not in the context of the installing machine. The installer runs on a ramdisk on an installing machine, so if this argument is supplied, then the post section has access to the ramdisk file system as well as the mounted file systems for the installing node.

  Example: <post arg="--nochroot">.

• <pre>

  Wraps the pre section commands. All pre sections run before package installation, in contrast to commands from the post section. All pre sections are run in the context of the installation environment, that is, the root file system is a ramdisk.

• <file>

  Wraps the contents of a file.

  name

  Required. Specifies the name of this file, a full path.

  Example: <file name="/etc/auto.master">.

  mode

  Optional. Value is "append". If "append" is specified, the contents are appended to the end of an existing file. A record of the change is kept in a RCS repository in the same directory as the file.

  Example: <file name="/etc/man.config" mode="append">.

  owner

  Optional. The "user.group" that owns this file. Can be specified either as names "root.root" or numbers (guids) "0.0".

  Example: <file name="/var/www/html/index.html" owner="root.apache">.

  perms

  Optional. The permissions of this file. The value of this argument is passed to the "chmod" command, and accepts the same format.

  Example: <file name="/etc/ssh/ssh_host_key.pub" perms="0444">.

  vars

  Optional. Value is "literal" or "expanded". If "literal" no variable or backtick expansion is done on the contents of the file. If value is "expanded", standard shell variable expansion is performed, as well as running commands quoted with backticks. Default is "literal".

  Example: <file name="/etc/motd" mode="append" vars="expanded">.

  expr

  Optional. Specifies a command whose output is placed in the file.

  Example: <file name="/etc/dhcpd.conf" expr="/opt/rocks/bin/rocks report host dhcpd"/>.

  os

  Optional. Value is "linux" or "sunos". If this is specified, then the file will only be created (or appended to ) run during the installation of the specified OS.

  Example: <file name="/etc/postfix/main.cf" mode="append" os="sunos">.