Can you motivate why this is an important use case? There is a general goal of making the compose faster and more streamlined so adding more artifacts is probably something we'd like to avoid.

[ I also suspect that it's possible to get Workstation-netinst to work with files mirrored to a local USB drive ... installing from a local download of the install certainly used to be a thing a long time ago ]

Same use cases as for Server + Kickstart, more or less. And it's by far the fastest way to get a vanilla (re-)installation of Fedora, and doesn't require network or other infrastructure at install time. For machines on wifi, the installation speed difference is even more marked.

@feborges haven't you automated live installations for Boxes?

@catanzaro Boxes doesn't support express-installs for the workstation Live image for the same reason pointed above by @fedoranuclearsunshine: "Workstation-Live doesn't boot into Anaconda"

The way we automate installations is by feeding Anaconda with a kickstart file.

https://pykickstart.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

Perhaps the correct solution is to do something like what Ubuntu, Mageia, and other distros do, which is provide a boot option to go straight to installer on live media. That boot option can be tweaked by Boxes programmatically to feed Anaconda a kickstart file, too.

Sorry, we missed the opportunity to involve the Anaconda team in this discussion during today's meeting. I wonder if @jkonecny and colleagues would be willing to join us again next week for this discussion too.

I wonder if @jkonecny and colleagues would be willing to join us again next week for this discussion too.

Probably best to let @chrismurphy handle the agenda and invites.

Feel free to invite us for the meeting. We will discuss this before the meeting to find out our possibilities.

"#85, #124, #132 all relate to Anaconda."

Before scheduling this issue or any other issue and setting up another Anaconda meeting, let's produce one big wish list of issues. I suspect everyone has an issue or two or three they can contribute about the direction of the installer. Then we can discuss in a meeting, and then go to Anaconda with a concise set of priorities that we all agree on.

Assigning @catanzaro to conduct interrogatories (decide initial scope, get clarity on anyone's wish list item) and organize the list.

You forgot #48. Those are our four open anaconda issues. If anyone wants to discuss anything else with the Anaconda developers, please create an issue now.

From original description, 7th bullet: Add an "install" boot option to Workstation-Live that boots directly into Anaconda like Server-dvd does, allowing the use of KS files - this suggests bootloader menu entries for "install" and "give the Live OS a try".

This is compatible to #211 specifically Installer session starts (session is limited...Installer autolaunches - this suggests the "install" vs "try it out" options are post-startup.

We discussed this at the workstation group meeting today, and the WG thinks that the way forward is not to add an additional media, but to fix and document automated install from the live media.

Some discussed use cases that we care about:

• Most important: Being able to do an express install from a downloaded ISO in Boxes
• Doing an install started by a human, but with extra automated post-install kickstart steps
• Automated reinstallation of a test machine

Some possible attributes of a solution:

• Would be hidden, perhaps only via kernel command line parameters - having the choice between booting-to-live-session-and-install and install-without-booting-to-the-live-session doesn't make sense.
• Would probably necessarily involve a kickstart file
• Would be fine if the installer was running in TUI mode (do not want to introduce metacity onto the live media.)
• There would be documentation of how to enable this by writing an USB stick of an iso with added kickstart file

The WG does not know of anybody working on this but would welcome contributions in this area.

The WG does not know of anybody working on this but would welcome contributions in this area.

Well that seems to be the fate of this issue, unless somebody wants to volunteer to work on this. Perhaps anaconda team would be interested in tackling this as part of their big rewrite?

Hi @catanzaro we can definitely take a look on this. Could you please provide us the requirements in a list form or any other form which is easy to process?

Could you please provide us the requirements in a list form or any other form which is easy to process?

Good question. :)

Some fixes I can think of for this would be:

• Add a Workstation-dvd ISO (like the server ISO)
• Add an Everything-dvd ISO (so it can be used offline)
• Add an "install" boot option to Workstation-Live that boots directly into Anaconda like Server-dvd does, allowing the use of KS files

I think we're most interested in the third option, because this does not require adding any additional install media.

The primary requirement would be to have some way to use the existing install media to feed a kickstart file to anaconda. But I imagine there are probably a lot of details that would need to be worked out. Neal has an action item to comment here with some further thoughts.

Also, heads-up @feborges: it's been a while, but you were previously interested in this issue due to its impact on Boxes express install.

Hm, I'm not sure that this is actually ready for a meeting.

I believe @feborges we had talked about this and you were indeed willing to provide a list of requirements to the anaconda developers. Was that correct? So this ticket is waiting on that action currently?

Unfortunately I'm not sure there's sufficient energy in the Working Group to continue tracking this issue. Unless somebody volunteers to manage this issue, I will close it soon.

Closing due to lack of interest in working on this. The Working Group is interested in automated offline installation, but not interested enough to work on it ourselves. Sorry.