FAIBASE/10-misc and hostname

[Thomas Neumann (FAI)]

On Monday 11 March 2013 09:31:08 Dirk Geschke wrote:
> I stumbled over FAIBASE/10-misc and setting of the hostname. This
> has changed in FAI-4, in earlier versions there was something like:
> 
>    fcopy /etc/hostname || echo $HOSTNAME     > $target/etc/hostname
> 
> The first part is strange (who would fcopy the hostname file?)

You could define a class, create an appropriate hostname file for the class 
and let fcopy figure out the correct file to copy. E.g. you could query a 
database for the correct hostname or you could provide the class via the 
kernel command line (ADDCLASSES=xxx,yyy). For a networkless installation 
from cd it could be sufficient to create files/etc/hostname/FAICD with 
content 'liveboot'.

[...]
> Wouldn't it be a good idea to gather all the pitfalls and put it
> on a Tips&Tricks Webpage?

[This is just my personal interpretation, nothing official.]

I guess this and other 'issues' stem from misusing the 'simple' example. 
It's really just that, it's an example. It's not a reference impementation. 
But it is used as such. (I don't blame anybody for this 'misusage'. It's 
just the way it is.) The problem is there's no implied guarantee that the 
fai 3.x example is compatible to the 4.x config space example. It's just an 
example.

Regarding Tips&Tricks - there is something like that already -> 
http://wiki.fai-project.org/wiki/Howtos Is this what you were thinking of? 
Maybe it's just not featured enough? If you know what you're looking for, 
then you find it - if you don't know it is there it's very easily missable.

http://fai-project.org/
 -> Documentation
   -> The FAI wiki
     -> (User contributed in this wiki) HowTos

But apart from that - maybe we should reorganize this somewhat. We have a 
lowlevel description about the FAI config space concept and what each stage 
is doing (FAI manual, chapter 8) and we have advanced documentation which 
provides detailed information on very specific topics (like multiboot), but 
it seems to me the 'in between' is missing and is filled solely by the 
configspace example. This is perfectly illustrated by the FAI manual:
  Chapter 8 - Installation details
  Chapter 9 - How to build a Beowulf cluster using FAI
I think there's at least room for a chapter 8.5 - 'Your first fai 
installation / config space' and maybe even chapter 8.6 - Troubleshooting

Other thoughts?

bye
thomas