Anaconda/Changes

This page summarizes significant additions, removals, and behavior changes in anaconda from one version of Fedora to the next. It is not meant as an exhaustive list of all changes, nor does it discuss bug fixes unless those fixes are a serious change. If you see something weird (in a good or bad way) that is not explained below, please let us know so we can consider adding it to this page.

Fedora 13 to Fedora 14 (as of anaconda-14.19-1)

Kickstart Changes

• network --ipv6= and ipv6 values for network --gateway= are now supported.
• part --grow is no longer supported for partitions of fstype RAID. You must specify the final size you want to use.
• part --size is no longer required. If you do not specify a size, anaconda will assume the default.
• url --noverifyssl and repo --noverifyssl allow you to skip verification of the SSL cert check that causes some HTTPS installs to fail.
• Throughout kickstart, disks may now be referred to via /dev/disk/by-path, /dev/disk/by-label, and /dev/disk/by-uuid in addition to device node names. This is to mitigate the fact that device node names are unstable. Please see Anaconda/Kickstart.
• %packages, %pre, %post, and %traceback must now end with a %end token.
• Deprecated kickstart commands: interactive
• Removed kickstart commands: key.
• Removed kickstart options: bootloader --lba32, driverdisk --type, firewall --telnet, logvol --bytes-per-inode, partition --bytes-per-inode --start --end, raid --bytes-per-inode, xconfig --driver --depth --resolution --videoram, zfcp --scsiid --scsilun

For Users

• anaconda now uses a NetworkManager-based configuration UI for setting up network connections. For DVD/CD installs, using this dialog will result in the network configuration being applied to the installed system as well. Wireless connections are supported via this interface as well.
• If no directory is used in stage2=hd:, default to /images/install.img.
• If the basic devices selection is made, the filter UI will be skipped entirely.
• Just like with all other forms of installation, NFS installs will also search for updates.img and product.img. Please see Anaconda/Updates.
• Memory requirements have been increased due to changes in the size of the installation environment and us being more realistic about how much is required.
• Multipath and RAID support (especially in the filter and clear disks UIs) has been greatly improved.
• Remote logging is greatly improved. Please see Anaconda/Logging.
• s390 only: anaconda will offer to format previously unformatted DASD devices.
• Support for whole-disk formats has been improved.
• Telnet support has been removed. You can still use ssh to remotely access an installation.
• The livecd supports xdriver= just like the regular installer.
• With virtual machine installs it is now possible to have all logs produced during the installation forwarded to the host machine. See Remote logging via virtio.
• Removed command line options: rootPath, telnet, test, vesa

For Developers

• anaconda is now a proper Python module, installed under /usr/lib/python?.?/site-packages/pyanaconda. This means you can import it via "import pyanaconda.whatever", instead of using a sys.path hack. The source layout in git reflects the same layout in the installed package - everything that's part of the module is under pyanaconda/. This means your old custom scripts to build the updates might no longer produce a working image. The Makefiles and updates image scripts in scripts/ have been changed to do the right thing. Please see Anaconda/SourceOverview.
• "make check" uses pylint instead of pychecker now.
• There is no more InstData class. Its contents have either been moved into the Anaconda class, moved into other classes if appropriate, or removed entirely.
• There is very little in /usr/lib/anaconda-runtime anymore. Most things have moved to /usr/share/anaconda or /usr/libexec/anaconda.

Fedora 14 to Fedora 15 (as of anaconda-15.8-1)

Kickstart Changes

• $basearch and $releasever in kickstart repo commands will be substituted correctly.

For Users

• A new logpicker tool has been added to aid in collecting data for bug reports when a traceback does not occur.
• anaconda will not attempt to mount NTFS filesystems at any point during install or upgrade.
• anaconda will warn if there are no previous installations to be upgraded. This prevents the user from thinking an upgrade is proceeding when anaconda wants to do an install.
• btrfs is a fully supported filesystem.
• If the custom partitioning selection is made, the two panel clear disk UI will be skipped.
• install.img has been removed. Everything is now in the initrd. Related, the stage2= command line parameter has been deprecated. Please use repo= or method= and point it at the tree to install from, not the stage2 image to use.
• Memory requirements should be quite a bit lower due to the removal of lots of unneeded stuff from the installation environment.
• Network configuration logging has been improved and will be added to traceback reports in case of errors.
• ntpdate is now available in the install images.
• The following command line options have been removed: nousbstorage.
• The iSCSI login interface has been updated to be easier to use.
• The livecd will now warn if you do not have enough memory to install.
• The noeject command line parameter will prevent anaconda from ever attempting to eject a CD/DVD.
• The partition editor now has a select/deselect all button.
• The welcome screen is gone.
• Removed command line options: btrfs

For Rebuilders

• .buildstamp is now a .ini-style file, so any parsers or writers will need to change.
• EFI images will only be built for x86_64.
• If building a pre-release version of a distribution, make sure your tools pass --isbeta to buildinstall. anaconda now looks in the .buildstamp file for this information instead of relying on a built-in constant.
• scripts/mk-images and scripts/upd-instroot no longer create an install.img or move files around between /usr/bin and /bin. Files on the initrd now live where they do on the installed system.
• Split media is no longer a supported installation method. You'll need to use a single CD/DVD or a network source.