RHBA-2009:1412 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

An updated python-virtinst package that fixes bugs and adds enhancements is
now available.

Description

The python-virtinst package contains virtinst, a module to help start
installations of Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Fedora inside a virtual
machine. It supports para-virtualized and fully-virtualized guests. As
well, the python-virtinst package contains a script, virt-install, which
uses virtinst in a command-line mode.

This update addresses the following bugs:

• to install a virtual machine using a remote ISO, the "--cdrom" argument

can take a Uniform Resource Indicator (URI) value. Previously this did not
work, instead failing with a "Cannot create storage for cdrom device error.
The re-base to version 0.400.3 (see below) includes a fix for this: giving
a remote URI value to the "--cdrom" argument now works as expected.
(BZ#506714)

• if installation of a virtual instance of Red Hat Enterprise Linux or

Fedora took longer than the time specified by the "--wait" option,
virt-installs exited and printed the error "Installation has exceeded
specified timelimit. Aborting." Since the installation itself is not
affected, "Aborting" has been edited to the clearer "Exiting application".
(BZ#476717)

As well, this updated package includes the following enhancements:

• when creating a new guest, the default sound hardware was previously

es1370 with the user able to select pcspk and sb16 as alternatives. For
this update, ac97 has been added as an option for both Xen and KVM virtual
machines. As well, for KVM virtual machines, ac97 is now the default choice
(for Xen virtual machines the default remains es1370). (BZ#508747)

• to support KVM on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, python-virtinst was

re-based from version 0.300.2 to version 0.400.3. (BZ#489375)

Along with KVM support, this re-base adds multiple new features, including:

• the new "virt-convert" tool. virt-convert allows conversion between

different virtualization configuration file formats. Note: this currently
only supports converting between vmx and virt-image formats.

• virt-install support for remote guest installations.
• the new "--disk" option for virt-install. This allows many more storage

attributes via the command line, as well as libvirt storage specific
information.

• the new "--sound" option for virt-install. This allows sound devices to

be attached to guest operating systems.

• the new "--hostdev" option for virt-install. This allows a physical host

device to be attached to guest operating systems.

• the new "--import" option for virt-install. This allows for the creation

of a guest from an existing disk image, with no installation phase
required.

• the virt-* tools no longer run interactively by default. The user must

pass the --prompt option to force this mode. (Messages to STD OUT inform
users familiar with the previous default of this new setting.) This was
done to make the tools more friendly for scripting purposes.

Users of python-virtinst are advised to upgrade to this updated package,
which fixes these issues and provides 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/docs/DOC-11259

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 i386

Fixes

• BZ - 476717 - RFE: Better error message is needed for --wait timeouts.
• BZ - 506714 - Cannot install an HVM guest from a CDROM on a remote URI
• BZ - 508747 - Want ac97 sound, and want it by default
• BZ - 508784 - Revert to previous behavior wrt unicode gettext and help messages

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)