Install nodes with re-configured kernel image

[Brian Showalter]

--- Gavin Tran <gavintran at gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm building a beowulf in which nodes supposed to use the
> re-configured kernel image made with make-kpkg.
> 
> I've put the following lines into /fai/class/FAIBASE.var
> 
> addpackages="kernel-image-2.6.8-fai_2_i386"
> # parameters for the kernel
> kappend=''
> 
> In /fai/package_config/DEFAULT,
> 
> PACKAGES install I386
> memtest86+
> kernel-image-2.6-386
> 
> But after install it seems that the clients installed with fresh
> kernel-image via apt-get.
> 
> How can i install my clients with re-configured kernel-image ?
> The fresh kernel-image has some trouble with my hardware.

Sounds like you may be having a similar problem to the one I'm
having.  I'm trying to get a modified 2.6.14 kernel to install
instead of the stock 2.6.8 kernel.  One thing I discovered just last
evening is that in the /etc/fai/make-fai-nfsroot.conf file, the
FAI_LOCAL_REPOSITORY variable is commented out by default and needs
to be enabled and the make-fai-nfsroot command run before .deb
packages stored in /usr/share/fai/files/packages can be installed. 
You also have to cd to the /usr/share/fai/files directory and run the
command 'dpkg-scanpackages packages /dev/null | gzip -9 >
packages/Packages.gz'.

That said, I'm *still* unable to install my custom kernel package, as
the local repository is either not set up properly or is not visible
to apt-get during the install.  Here's a step-by-step walkthrough of
what I've done:

----------

1. Uncomment FAI_LOCAL_REPOSITORY in /etc/fai/make-fai-nfsroot.conf
and set it to "deb file:/fai/files packages/".

2. Run make-fai-nfsroot.

3. Copy the customized kernel-image-2.6.14-fai-kernels_1_i386.deb
package (which I recompiled to include some needed drivers) into
/usr/share/fai/files/packages/.

4. cd to /usr/share/fai/files.

5. Run 'dpkg-scanpackages packages /dev/null | gzip -9 >
packages/Packages.gz'.

6. My /usr/share/fai/package_config/DEFAULT file starts out as
follows:

PACKAGES install I386
memtest86+
kernel-image-2.6.14-fai-kernels_1_i386

----------

When I try to install with that configuration, the following line
appears in fai.log:

WARNING: These unknown packages are removed from the installation
list: kernel-image-2.6.14-fai-kernels_1_i386

And when I ssh into the newly installed client (but before rebooting
after the install), I get the following response at the bottom when I
key in 'apt-cache search kernel-image-2.6':

W: Couldn't stat source package list file: packages/ Packages
(/var/lib/apt/lists/_fai_files_packages_Packages) - stat (2 No such
file or directory)
W: Couldn't stat source package list file: packages/ Packages
(/var/lib/apt/lists/_fai_files_packages_Packages) - stat (2 No such
file or directory)

Where am I going wrong?