Red Hat and CentOS don't provide a lot of information on how this work. I found two Solution/Workaround. This is a new feature, in since EL7.2 as far as I can tell, it's known as Platform-specific packages are now installed automatically based on the used virtualization platform (BZ#884385), it's new in anaconda-19.31.123-1.el7 /RHBA-2015:0312-4
Why is it installed / How that work ?
This is a feature implemented by Add platform specific group selection (#884385) (look for get_platform_groupid in Anaconda source code ).
The way it work is that anaconda execute systemd-detect-virt to detect the virtualisation or container host (vmware, qemu, kvm, microsoft... docker, lxc, openvz...) then adds a YUM group named platform-$VIRTNAME
List the (special/hidden) groups:
$ yum group list hidden -v "@platform*" | grep "^ "
Platform Development (platform-devel)
VMware platform specific packages (platform-vmware)
Show the group content:
$ yum group info platform-vmware
Group: VMware platform specific packages
Group-Id: platform-vmware
Description: Virtualization utilities and drivers for VMware
Default Packages:
open-vm-tools
open-vm-tools-desktop
Solution 1: Prevent from installing
Simply add @platform-vmware --nodefaults in the %packages section of your kickstart.
Make sure you don't put a dash at the begining of the line, as it won't prevent the group from being installed. You can still add a line open-vm-tools to install that package only !
Kickstart snippet example:
%packages
## Workaround to prevent automatic installation
## of package open-vm-tools-desktop (an X11 library)
## http://serverfault.com/q/815356/238995
## https://access.redhat.com/discussions/2770061
## Note: DON'T put a dash at the begining of the line !
## The way it works, is that it instructs Anaconda to install
## the "Mandatory" package from the YUM group 'platform-vmware',
## but not the "Defaults" and "Optional".
## Since this group has no Mandatory package... it actually
## install .. nothing !
@platform-vmware --nodefaults
#Optionaly, install this if needed:
#open-vm-tools
The way it works, is that it instructs Anaconda to install the "Mandatory" package(s) from the YUM group platform-vmware, but not the "Defaults" and "Optional" package(s). Since this group has no Mandatory package... it actually install nothing !
Workaround: Purge the packages by hand,
Purge the packages by hand. Be carefully, as it may uninstall other packages, so double check before pressing yes ! (and fine tune the list if needed)
/usr/bin/yum erase open-vm-tools-desktop harfbuzz libthai libtiff mesa-libgbm mesa-libglapi libXxf86vm libxshmfence libdrm libpng mesa-libEGL libXau libXft mesa-libGL pixman atk cairo gdk-pixbuf2 hicolor-icon-theme libxcb libXcomposite libXcursor libXdamage libXfixes libXrender pango pangommatkmm cairomm gtk2 gtkmm24 libX11 libXext libXi libXinerama libXrandr libXtst glibmm24 graphite2 libX11-common
Other solutions tried, but not working:
- explicitly remove
@platform-vmware in Kickstart %packages section.
- explicitly remove
open-vm-tools-desktop in Kickstart %packages section
Diagnostic / Anaconda's log
Look for a tring like this in Anaconda's `packaging.log:
INFO packaging: Adding platform group platform-vmware
Other platforms reported by systemd-detect-virt aren't supported yet, and may report:
INFO packaging: Platform group kvm not available.
INFO packaging: Platform group microsoft not available.
INFO packaging: Platform group oracle not available.
INFO packaging: Platform group xen not available.
INFO packaging: Platform group qemu not available.
INFO packaging: Platform group zvm not available.
INFO packaging: Platform group bhyve not available.
