RHBA-2008:0653 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated anaconda packages that fix several bugs and add enhancements are
now available.

Description

The anaconda packages contain the program which was used to install your
system.

These updated packages fix the following bugs:

• the contents of "/etc/mdadm.conf", generated at install time, often did

not match "/proc/mdstat". In these updated packages, the "mdadm" tool
generates this file, which resolves this issue.

• certain hardware configurations led to time outs when obtaining a DHCP

address during Kickstart installations. This was most notable when using
certain Cisco switches. In these updated packages, a new command line
parameter, "dhcptimeout", has been added, to specify the number of seconds
to wait before issuing a failure due to time outs.

• in certain situations, during hard drive installations, a bug allowed

users to remove or edit the partition containing the installation media.

• certain problems with the post-install ordering of storage devices, on

systems that had a USB storage device connected during installation, which
may have caused the USB storage device to appear first in the device
enumeration, have been resolved.

• when installing using an "initrd.img", which included a driver disk as

"dd.img", Anaconda may have exited with errors similar to the following
error:

Loading driver disk...
install exited abnormally signal 11
sending termination signals...done

• kickstart partitioning of systems with certain preexisting LVM

configurations failed. This was due to some LVM metadata, representing a
now-defunct volume group, preventing the creation of a new volume group of
the same name.

• on systems with a large amount of memory, for example, 2 GB, the amount

of swap space created when using the "part swap --recommended" Kickstart
option, did not match the documented guidelines.

• on IBM System z architectures, incorrect netmask values were produced,

causing installation to hang. In these updated packages, IP addresses are
correctly validated, which resolves this issue.

• when creating a new software RAID during installation, improper handling

of preexisting software RAID configurations caused a traceback, and a
"ValueError: md0 is already in the mdList!" error.

• an error may have caused hypervisor kernels to be installed on the

bare-metal operating system, instead of in the guest, rendering such
systems un-bootable.

As well, these updated packages add the following enhancements:

• support for the Intel 10GbE PCI Express ethernet adapter.
• support for generating SHA-256 and SHA-512 encoded-passwords from

Kickstart. To use SHA-256 or SHA-512 encoded-passwords, use the "auth

• -passalgo=x" option in Kickstart configurations, where "x" is either

"sha256" or "sha512".

• support for the Broadcom NetXtreme II 10Gb ethernet adapter.

Users of the anaconda packages are advised to upgrade to these updated
packages, which resolve these issues and add these enhancements.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure that all previously-released
errata relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via Red Hat Network. Details on how to use
the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at
http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/FAQ_58_10188

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 4 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 4 s390
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 4 ppc

Fixes

• BZ - 185674 - /etc/mdadm.conf doesn't match /proc/mdstat
• BZ - 189795 - DHCP timeouts during Kickstart
• BZ - 257161 - OS Installation of RHEL4.5 fails on X6250 Blade servers.
• BZ - 339001 - incorrect swap size on >2G systems
• BZ - 434949 - Traceback raid5 install after raid1
• BZ - 441729 - anaconda installs xenU kernel on real hardware
• BZ - 442750 - NameError: global name 'dispatch' is not defined
• BZ - 442863 - install exits abnormally
• BZ - 443373 - rpmdb: write: 0x3896790, 16384: No space left on device
• BZ - 443412 - NameError: global name 'anaconda' is not defined
• BZ - 443844 - mdadm --scan does not set the mode and can not be the first option

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)