I apologise if this is not the appropriate list for the following issue, but…

Is it possible to upgrade the Linux kernel on a kickstart CD?

I’ve changed the vmlinuz and initrd.img files in the isolinux directory from the distro’s ISO image; so kernel 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.i686 now boots from a DVD, and loads the appropriate modules and firmware from the stage 1 initrd.img.

However, anaconda (13.21.229) exits abnormally with a DBusException
(org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply); possibly because NetworkManager is unable to launch the wpa_supplicant.

Anaconda appears to be choking during initialisation:

anaconda.id = instClass.installDataClass(anaconda, extraModules, opts.display_mode, anaconda.backend)
File “/usr/lib/anaconda/instdata.py”, line 324, in __init__
self.reset()
File “/usr/lib/anaconda/instdata.py”, line 64, in reset
self.network = network.Network()
File “/usr/lib/anaconda/network.py”, line 308, in __init__
self.update()
File “/usr/lib/anaconda/network.py”, line 326, in update
devhash = isys.getDeviceProperties(dev=none)
File “/usr/lib/anaconda/isys.py”, line 375, in getDeviceProperties
bus = dbus.SystemBus()
File “/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/dbus/_dbus.py”, line 202, in
__new__
private=private()
File “/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/dbus/_dbus.py”, line 108, in
__new__
bus = BusConnection.__new__(subclass, bus_type, mainloop=mainloop)
File “/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/dbus/bus.py”, line 125, in __new__
bus = cls._new_for_bus(address_or_type, mainloop=mainloop)
dbus.exceptions.DBusException: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply: Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken. install exited abnormally [1/1]
The system will be rebooted when you press Ctrl-C or Ctrl-Alt-Delete.

The shell prompt is available on tty2; and so I can see the syslog, which has repeated messages at its tail end:

INFO NetworkManager: Trying to start the supplicant

So, something needs to be changed somewhere (kernel recompilation?
missing module? wpa_supplicant / NM upgrade? stage 2 install.img?) which is where I’m stuck. Do I need to hack Wifi NIC related lines out of anaconda?

The reason that I’d like the final kernel version to be running during the install, is that it’s needed to compile the low-level driver for a FIPS-140 crypto coprocessor. The target system will be an off-line certification authority system, and will certainly not need Wifi (in fact the hardening procedure foresees removal of most network hardware drivers).

I know I could do everything in three stages (initial install – software upgrade – crypto driver install); but being able to do everything in one go would simplify business continuity / bare metal recovery.

In the meantime, I’m very happy to have learned something about anaconda
/ kickstart and so on, which will be very useful in future.

If there’s a quick fix to the above issues, I’d be happy to hear it.

Thanks in advance James Bishop