Using yum module to install gnome-desktop-environment on CentOS 7 does not work

[Nathan Sowatskey]

HI

I am working on a role here:

https://github.com/DevOps4Networks/ansible-linux-desktop-role

Which is used in a Packer build here:

https://github.com/DevOps4Networks/opendaylight-integration-packaging-devtools/tree/master/packer

When I attempt to use the yum module to install the group gnome-desktop-environment I get the first result below, which reports: "No packages marked for update". Note that I have also tried "state=present" which reports that there is nothing to do (virtualbox-iso: ok: [localhost] => {"changed": false, "msg": "", "rc": 0, "results": ["@gnome-desktop-environment: Nothing to do"]}).

When I change to use a shell command to invoke yum to groupinstall gnome-desktop-environment the install works, which is shown in the second result below.

I am either missing a trick here, or this is just plain wrong.

Any ideas anyone?

Many thanks

Nathan

First result 

--------------

With RedHat.yml with:

- name: Install RedHat Gnome desktop

#TODO: In theory one should be able to do this:

  yum: name="@gnome-desktop-environment" state=latest

#BUT, I have been unable to get that to work, so:

 #shell: yum -y groupinstall gnome-desktop-environment

I get:

virtualbox-iso: TASK: [ansible-linux-desktop | Install RedHat Gnome desktop] ******************

    virtualbox-iso: <localhost> REMOTE_MODULE yum name= state=latest

    virtualbox-iso: <localhost> EXEC ['/bin/sh', '-c', 'mkdir -p $HOME/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1445340469.26-97807224264836 && chmod a+rx $HOME/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1445340469.26-97807224264836 && echo $HOME/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1445340469.26-97807224264836']

    virtualbox-iso: <localhost> PUT /tmp/tmpUXuUTj TO /home/vagrant/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1445340469.26-97807224264836/yum

    virtualbox-iso: <localhost> EXEC /bin/sh -c 'sudo -k && sudo -H -S -p "[sudo via ansible, key=uvezdafkleudwpucmmsrzghddspdlqad] password: " -u root /bin/sh -c '"'"'echo BECOME-SUCCESS-uvezdafkleudwpucmmsrzghddspdlqad; LANG=C LC_CTYPE=C /usr/bin/python -tt /home/vagrant/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1445340469.26-97807224264836/yum; rm -rf /home/vagrant/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1445340469.26-97807224264836/ >/dev/null 2>&1'"'"''

    virtualbox-iso: changed: [localhost] => {"changed": true, "msg": "Warning: Package group gnome-desktop-environment does not exist.\n", "rc": 0, "results": ["Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, langpacks\nLoading mirror speeds from cached hostfile\n * base: mirror.tedra.es\n * epel: ftp.rediris.es\n * extras: mirror.tedra.es\n * updates: mirror.tedra.es\nNo packages marked for update\n"]}

Second result

-------------------

When I change to:

- name: Install RedHat Gnome desktop

#TODO: In theory one should be able to do this:

#yum: name="@gnome-desktop-environment" state=latest

#BUT, I have been unable to get that to work, so:

  shell: yum -y groupinstall gnome-desktop-environment

I get:

TASK: [ansible-linux-desktop | Install RedHat Gnome desktop] ******************

    virtualbox-iso: <localhost> REMOTE_MODULE command yum -y groupinstall gnome-desktop-environment #USE_SHELL

    virtualbox-iso: <localhost> EXEC ['/bin/sh', '-c', 'mkdir -p $HOME/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1445343827.26-139550713552714 && chmod a+rx $HOME/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1445343827.26-139550713552714 && echo $HOME/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1445343827.26-139550713552714']

    virtualbox-iso: <localhost> PUT /tmp/tmpG7lqPk TO /home/vagrant/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1445343827.26-139550713552714/command

    virtualbox-iso: <localhost> EXEC /bin/sh -c 'sudo -k && sudo -H -S -p "[sudo via ansible, key=cibzbkzumoqutznqhwjsvofqejqxvchg] password: " -u root /bin/sh -c '"'"'echo BECOME-SUCCESS-cibzbkzumoqutznqhwjsvofqejqxvchg; LANG=C LC_CTYPE=C /usr/bin/python /home/vagrant/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1445343827.26-139550713552714/command; rm -rf /home/vagrant/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1445343827.26-139550713552714/ >/dev/null 2>&1'"'"''

    virtualbox-iso: changed: [localhost] => {"changed": true, "cmd": "yum -y groupinstall gnome-desktop-environment", "delta": "0:05:35.508381", "end": "2015-10-20 12:29:22.840576", "rc": 0, "start": "2015-10-20 12:23:47.332195", "stderr": "", "stdout": "Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, langpacks\nLoading mirror speeds from cached hostfile\n * base: centos.mirror.xtratelecom.es\n * epel: ftp.cica.es\n * extras: centos.mirror.xtratelecom.es\n * updates: centos.mirror.xtratelecom.es\nResolving Dependencies\n--> Running transaction check\n---> Package ModemManager.x86_64 0:1.1.0-6.git20130913.el7 will be installed\n--> Processing Dependency: ModemManager-glib(x86-64) = 1.1.0-6.git20130913.el7 for package: ModemManager-1.1.0-6.git20130913.el7.x86_64\n--> Processing Dependency: libqmi-glib.so.1()(64bit) for package: ModemManager-1.1.0-6.git20130913.el7.x86_64\n--> Processing Dependency: libmm-glib.so.0()(64bit) for package:

[Lots of lines elided]

...

\n  xorg-x11-xkb-utils.x86_64 0:7.7-9.1.el7                                       \n  yelp-libs.x86_64 1:3.8.1-7.el7                                                \n  yelp-xsl.noarch 0:3.8.1-2.el7                                                 \n  zenity.x86_64 0:3.8.0-4.el7                                                   \n\nComplete!", "warnings": ["Consider using yum module rather than running yum"]}

[Nathan Sowatskey]

A colleague suggested that I also try with @GNOME Desktop"

The result is below. This is the same outcome as trying the gnome-desktop-environment form of the group name, which is to say that the response is "Nothing to do".

I know that this is not correct, as manually trying the same install does work, as does using a shall command, so I think that this is broken.

 virtualbox-iso: TASK: [ansible-linux-desktop | Install RedHat Gnome desktop] ******************

    virtualbox-iso: <localhost> REMOTE_MODULE yum name= Desktop" state=present

    virtualbox-iso: <localhost> EXEC ['/bin/sh', '-c', 'mkdir -p $HOME/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1445414341.08-121472318185337 && chmod a+rx $HOME/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1445414341.08-121472318185337 && echo $HOME/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1445414341.08-121472318185337']

    virtualbox-iso: <localhost> PUT /tmp/tmp36wo8c TO /home/vagrant/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1445414341.08-121472318185337/yum

    virtualbox-iso: <localhost> EXEC /bin/sh -c 'sudo -k && sudo -H -S -p "[sudo via ansible, key=epnfbkhdzrrresbocmxmjznkvqquwkmm] password: " -u root /bin/sh -c '"'"'echo BECOME-SUCCESS-epnfbkhdzrrresbocmxmjznkvqquwkmm; LANG=C LC_CTYPE=C /usr/bin/python -tt /home/vagrant/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1445414341.08-121472318185337/yum; rm -rf /home/vagrant/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1445414341.08-121472318185337/ >/dev/null 2>&1'"'"''

    virtualbox-iso: ok: [localhost] => {"changed": false, "msg": "", "rc": 0, "results": ["@GNOME Desktop: Nothing to do"]}

[Edgars]

Hi

Can you try to install GNOME group, like yum: name="@GNOME" state=latest

The difference is that GNOME is package group while GNOME Desktop is environment group. It could be that yum module supports only package groups.

Edgars

[Nathan Sowatskey]

Hi Edgars

Thanks for that :-)

The install process worked, i.e. "Completed", but what was installed was not quite what I wanted, as the X portions were still missing. So, a good test, but something is still amiss here.

I'll wait a bit to see if anyone else has anything to say, then create an issue for the GitHub Ansible project pointing to this thread.

Regards

Nathan

[Edgars]

As a workaround, instead of installing GNOME Desktop environment group, you can install two package groups: GNOME and 'X Window System'.

Edgars

[Nathan Sowatskey]

Many thanks, I’ll try that.

Regards

Nathan

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[tkuratomi]

We've found an answer to this mystery on the bug report https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/12873 that was posted.  For those who are interested, yum apparently has two types of groups that it knows about, package groups and environment groups: https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/html/System_Administrators_Guide/sec-Working_with_Package_Groups.html

In some yum subcommands yum will handle both types transparently.  For instance: "yum groups install gnome-desktop-environment".  Unfortunately, ansible needs to install all packages in a single transaction to avoid some cornercases with  package dependencies.  So we don't specifically use groups install.  Instead we specify that certain names are groups instead of packages like this: "yum install @development-tools".  When groups are given to the install command, you need to specify package groups and environment groups using slightly different syntax.  Since the gnome-desktop-environment group is an environmental group, its syntax is like this: @^gnome-deskop-environment.  So the yum command is: "yum install @development-tools @^gnome-desktop-environment".

Specifying that to ansible is then simply:

- yum:
    name:
      - "@development-tools"
      - "@^gnome-desktop-environment"
    state: latest

You can tell which type of group you are dealing with by doing a "yum group list" and looking for which category your desired group falls under in the output.

-Toshio