Bug in yum-minimal element when building centos 8 image

[Tim Randles]

08-yum-chroot in the yum-minimal element has a bug. When trying to build a centos-minimal image, DIB_RELEASE=8, the following happens:

2021-01-14 22:27:01.871 | dib-run-parts Running /tmp/dib_build.vkYhmyf6/hooks/root.d/08-yum-chroot
2021-01-14 22:27:02.409 | Loaded plugins: builddep, changelog, config-manager, copr, debug, debuginfo-install, download, generate_completion_cache, needs-restarting, playground, repoclosure, repodiff, repograph, repomanage, reposync
2021-01-14 22:27:02.409 | DNF version: 4.2.17
2021-01-14 22:27:02.409 | cachedir: /tmp/tmp.ehOGDH0ORq
2021-01-14 22:27:02.416 | User-Agent: constructed: 'libdnf (CentOS Linux 8; generic; Linux.x86_64)'
2021-01-14 22:27:02.776 | repo: downloading from remote: centos-appstream
2021-01-14 22:27:06.177 | CentOS-8 - AppStream 1.9 MB/s | 6.3 MB 00:03
2021-01-14 22:27:07.646 | centos-appstream: using metadata from Thu Jan 7 08:51:09 2021.
2021-01-14 22:27:07.646 | repo: downloading from remote: centos-base
2021-01-14 22:27:08.692 | CentOS-8 - Base 2.2 MB/s | 2.3 MB 00:01
2021-01-14 22:27:09.248 | centos-base: using metadata from Thu Jan 7 08:51:01 2021.
2021-01-14 22:27:09.249 | repo: downloading from remote: centosplus
2021-01-14 22:27:09.783 | CentOS-8 - Plus 1.1 MB/s | 593 kB 00:00
2021-01-14 22:27:09.987 | centosplus: using metadata from Tue Dec 8 10:14:00 2020.
2021-01-14 22:27:10.594 | Completion plugin: Generating completion cache...
2021-01-14 22:27:10.595 | Completion plugin: Can't write completion cache: attempt to write a readonly database
2021-01-14 22:27:10.596 | No package centos-release available.
2021-01-14 22:27:10.596 | Exiting due to strict setting.
2021-01-14 22:27:10.599 | Error: No package centos-release available.
2021-01-14 22:27:10.641 | Failed to download initial packages: basesystem filesystem setup centos-release centos-linux-release centos-linux-repos centos-gpg-keys
2021-01-14 22:27:10.643 | dib-run-parts 08-yum-chroot completed

As indicated, centos8 does not have a 'centos-release' package. The package name is `centos-linux-release.` Looking in 08-yum-chroot, I see that's been addressed in the code block starting at line 92:

 92 # CentOS 8.1 split repositories and GPG keys out into subpackages
 93 if [[ ${DISTRO_NAME} = centos && ${DIB_RELEASE} > "7" ]]; then
 94 packages+="centos-linux-release centos-linux-repos centos-gpg-keys "
 95
 96 if [[ "$DIB_RELEASE" =~ (stream) ]]; then
 97 packages+="centos-stream-release centos-stream-repos "
 98 fi
 99 fi

However, an earlier block incorrectly adds 'centos-release' to the packages list:

 76 if [[ ${DISTRO_NAME} = fedora && ${DIB_RELEASE} -gt 29 ]]; then
 77 packages+="fedora-release-cloud fedora-release-common "
 78 else
 79 packages+="${DISTRO_NAME}-release "
 80 fi

The test needs to be updated to exclude adding "${DISTRO_NAME}-release" if ${DISTRO_NAME} is 'centos' and DIB_RELEASE is > 7.

[Martin Chlumsky (martin-chlumsky)]

I've encountered this as well.

What I don't understand is why it fails. centos-release is provided by the centos-linux-release package.

The command `dnf install centos-release` just works in centos-8 normally.

# dnf provides centos-release
Last metadata expiration check: 0:00:29 ago on Wed Jan 20 03:27:33 2021.
centos-linux-release-8.3-1.2011.el8.noarch : CentOS Linux release files
Repo : @System
Matched from:
Provide : centos-release = 8.3-1.2011.el8

centos-linux-release-8.3-1.2011.el8.noarch : CentOS Linux release files
Repo : baseos
Matched from:
Provide : centos-release = 8.3-1.2011.el8

[Martin Chlumsky (martin-chlumsky)]

So I got past this issue.

We were using the docker image centos:8.2.2004 to build the CentOS 8 image. We install diskimage-builder inside the container and run dib from there.

We switched to using centos:8.3.2011 instead and the issue has resolved itself.