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we have a package on RHEL and we'd like to make the installation non-interactive so that we can read a config/answer file. (Our Solaris version using the package manager and that allows for interactive installation as well as non-interactive installation.)

Any thoughts ? links ?

thank you,

BR,
~A

3 Answers 3

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RPM is non-interactive. Period.

You can create a wrapper around an RPM that prompts for user input and ultimately installs the RPM. Dell does this frequently.

Look at the RPM %pre and %post sections to hook it up.

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Unlike Solaris and Debian packages RPM provides no utility for interactive installation. This seems annoying but it means that the software is installed the same everywhere.

I've seen two methods to work around this:

  1. You can create several RPMs each packaging the parts of the application. Then to assist the user install the correct parts you can write a wrapper script which prompts for answers and decides which part to install. This is the method taken by OFED.
  2. The other method I've seen is to install the whole application then provide a setup script which is run afterwards that configures the application. It is important to note that this script should not alter any of the packaged files that aren't marked as configuration, and should keep away from other packages. This method is used for VirtualBox Additions.

Option 1 is the better solution for RPMS as it allows much easier automation by systems administrators.

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That's just asking for trouble. I'm sure you can find a way, but please don't do it. RPMs are meant to be installed without user interaction.

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