Where is my output going?

PeterSteele · 09-13-2012, 11:02 AM

I'm creating a kickstart controlled VM using a command similar to this:

virt-install --connect=qemu:///system --initrd-inject=/tmp/ks.cfg --extra-args="ks=file:/ks.cfg console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200" ...

where my kickstart script ks.cfg has a %pre script in it with the following:

%pre
clear >/dev/tty1
echo >/dev/tty1
echo -n "Hit ENTER to continue..." >/dev/tty1
read response

I know the read command executes because the installation pauses and I have to hit enter to have it continue. I don't see the text echoed to the console though. I've tried various things, including using chvt, but I can never get any of the messages generated in my %pre script to appear on my console when virt-install runs. What am I missing?

PTrenholme · 09-13-2012, 11:44 AM

I've never done anything like that, but your install command sets the console to tty0, and your prompt seems to be to tty1. The read seems to not specify a tty at all, so it may be reading from tty0.

PeterSteele · 09-13-2012, 12:08 PM

Changing my pre-install script to redirect to /dev/tty0 doesn't have any effect--I still don't see the output of my pre script on the console. Is this even possible?

PeterSteele · 09-14-2012, 12:18 AM

What I mean is, is there a way to cause the output of the %pre and %post commands to appear on the console when you are doing a text only CentOS install via virt-install/kickstart?

anon233 · 10-09-2012, 03:30 PM

The following snippet should work for the post-install scripts section (and the pre-install section as well).

%post
exec < /dev/tty6 > /dev/tty6 2> /dev/tty6
chvt 6

(The rest of your post-install stuff goes here)

Credit for this solution goes to Michael Ludvig.

PeterSteele · 10-13-2012, 04:40 PM

I tried added the lines

Code:

exec < /dev/tty6 > /dev/tty6 2> /dev/tty6
chvt 6

to my %pre script but I still don't see anything on the console when my install runs. My virt-install command looks like

Code:

virt-install --connect=qemu:///system \
    --network bridge=br0 \
    --initrd-inject=/ks.cfg \
    --extra-args="ks=file:/ks.cfg text console=tty0 utf8 console=ttyS0,115200" \
    --name=vmtest \
    --disk path=/dev/sda1,bus=virtio \
    --vcpus=1 \
    --ram=2048 \
    --check-cpu \
    --accelerate \
    --hvm \
    --location=centos.iso \
    --nographics \
    --noreboot

Why does this trick with chvt not work for me?