Changes between SLES10 SP3 and SLES11

This is a brief overview of the new features (not the fixed bugs) in autoyast between SLES10 SP3 and SLES11 There are more features in other yast modules like the bootloader that affect the autoinstallation but are not listed here. This list only contains the changes of the autoyast itself.

• [func] max calculation for LVM less restrictive
• [func] added to the signature handling section: <import_gpg_key config:type="boolean">true</import_gpg_key> to import gpg keys to the RPM database.
• [compat] Deprecated: <is_lvm_vg config:type="boolean"> <is_evms_vg config:type="boolean"> is replaced by <type config:type="symbol"> look here for documentation. Autoyast still understands the old synatx of is_*_vg but that compatibility code might be removed in later versions.
• [func] signature-handling added to UI
• [func] reuse partition button in the partitioning dialog added
[func] an experimental imaging feature was added. Instead of installing via RPM, you can provide an image script that is doing the installation:


    <software>
    <image>
        <script_location>http://10.10.0.162/image.sh</script_location>
    </image>

the image.sh script looks like this:

#!/bin/sh
wget -O - http://10.10.0.162/image.tgz 2>/dev/null| tar xfvz - -C /mnt

The image.tgz was created with the yast2 module "installation into a directory"
• [func] <partition_type> should not be needed anymore. Autoyast tries to find it out by itself with the partition_nr and max. primaries.
• [compat] DTD files removed. Use the RNC/RNG files now.
• [func] ayast_setup client added to the autoyast2 RPM
• [func] device guessing code enhanced so no <device> is needed at all on many machines even with multiple harddisks
• [compat] partition cloning changed when linux is in between two windows partitions (#239708)
• [func] the <ask> feature can execute scripts now (documentation and an example)
• [func] each add-on can have it's own signature-handling section, including accept/reject rules for single keys (documentation).
• [func] UI added for the <ask> directive
• [func] commandline interface for opening files added: yast2 autoyast file filename=/tmp/my.xml
• [func] <keep_install_network config:type="boolean"> in the <networking> section can be used to keep the network config that was used during installation. So no further network configuration in the autoyast profile is needed then.
  Of course that makes only sense if you installed via network.
• [func] copy the via pre-script modified profile to the installed system too (#328837)
• [func] autoyast profile location can be specified relative to the installation source like this autoyast=relurl:///my.xml (feature #302973).
  That will always look at the root of the installation source.
  For rules.xml it's autoyast=relurl:/// then
• [func] autoyast scripts can be specified relative to the autoyast profile location like this <location>relurl:///pre-script.sh</location> (feature #302973).
• [func] complete iSCSI support added (feature #302973)
• [func] the <general><mode> section has three new keys:
  <final_reboot config:type="boolean">
  <final_halt config:type="boolean">
  <forceboot config:type="boolean">
  To halt or reboot the machine at the end of the installation (after the end of the second stage).
  openSUSE uses the kexec feature and does not reboot anymore between stage1 and stage2. With <forceboot...> you can force a reboot after stage1.
• [func] profiles can be stored encrypted now. Autoyast will ask for a password when it reads an encrypted profile (feature #301194)
• [func] added command line option to jump directly into a module in the UI for debugging (feature #5997)
• [func] <rerun_on_error config:type="boolean"> added to scripts execution of <ask>-dialogs to keep them open until the answers passes the parsing of a script. So you can parse the answer of an <ask>-question for sanity and use <feedback> to report errors.
• [compat] the "path" for an ask-question can be in a list now to change multiple elements in the profile. The single path element is deprecated from now on (compatibility code added)
• [func] the script of an ask-dialog can create a file (/tmp/next_dialog) now, to tell autoyast which dialog to raise next. A value of -1 terminates the ask-dialog sequence. A missing next_dialog file will raise the next dialog in the sequence. So you can react to the answer of the ask-question by changing the dialog-sequence.
• [func] <device> autodetection for RAID added (bnc#367734)
• [func] back button for ask dialogs added (feature #303397)
• [compat] since the base pattern in SLES 11 got shrinked to an extreme, autoyast will pull the autoyast2-installation RPM into the list of packages to install, so it's not possible to do an autoinstallation without having autoyast in stage 2.
• [func] an add-on in the profile can have <ask_on_error config:type="boolean"> now, so autoyast can ask to make the add-on available instead of a timed out error. That's useful when your add-on is on another CD/DVD.
• [compat] execution of the <pxe> section moved from the beginning to the end of stage1 (bnc#390107)
• [compat] in case of hardware probing problems, the error popup times out now instead of blocking
• [func] a missing partitioning section leads to the partitioning proposal that a manual installation would do (feature #301257)
• [func] partitioning UI rewritten
• [compat] if you configure a partition to has the mountpoint "swap", the filesystem will be automatically set to `swap too and vice versa (bnc#401547)
• [compat] the autoyast2 RPM will be installed when your profile contains a <files ...> section
• [func] the profile in the AutoYaST UI can be written to the currently running system now (fate#302171). See my blog for some details.
• [func] you can configure the list of proposals that is shown on the proposal screen if you set confirm to true (fate#302946). See my blog for some details.
• [func] you can run an online update at the end of the autoyast installation. Here is documentation (feature #301298) See my blog for some details.
• [func] UI was redesigned a bit for better usability - thanx to Sven Schober (feature #303552). Read my blog for some details.
• [func] The XML schema check in the UI can show now which section failed - thanx to Sven Schober. Read my blog for some details.
• [func] post-patterns added for the installation of patterns in the second stage (like post-packages). Read my blog for some details.
• [func] files in the <files config:type="list"> section can be on a remote source now. Read my blog for some details.
• [func] you can clone single modules via "Read" button in the UI now
• [func] cloning of bootloader, partitioning and software is optional now
• [func] when reusing an old fstab via <partitioning_advanced> the old mountby is used too.
• [compat] the <online-update> section was dropped from the profile. Please use the new <automatic_online_update> client in the AutoYaST UI
• [func] when reusing an old fstab via <partitioning_advanced> the old mount options are used too.
• [func] kdump support added
• [func] you can wait and/or run scripts before/after each second stage module (look here for documentation).
• [compat] country settings moved beyond pre-script execution, so you can modify it via pre-script