yum - again about "no installed groups file"

[mbkuz]

I installed CentOS 7.2.1511 from DVD with "GNOME desktop" environment.
It looks that all works normally (and rpm -qa works normally), but I want now to remore and install some groups via yum. But may be at my installation I was wrong: after final Reboot pressing it was a lot of time with black screen, and I performed reboot manually.

Sorry, I switched from OpenSuSE and am not too familiar w/yum
When I issue
# yum group list ids
I obtain
"There is no installed groups file" (it's not in stderr?), and "classical" proposal to do
yum groups mark convert
Other messages are:
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, langpacks
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
* base: mirror.logol.ru
* extras: mirror.corbina.net
* updates: mirror.logol.ru
Available Environment Groups:
Minimal Install (minimal)
Compute Node (compute-node-environment)
Infrastructure Server (infrastructure-server-environment)
File and Print Server (file-print-server-environment)
Basic Web Server (web-server-environment)
Virtualization Host (virtualization-host-environment)
Server with GUI (graphical-server-environment)
GNOME Desktop (gnome-desktop-environment)
KDE Plasma Workspaces (kde-desktop-environment)
Development and Creative Workstation (developer-workstation-environment)
Available Groups:
Compatibility Libraries (compat-libraries)
Console Internet Tools (console-internet)
Development Tools (development)
Graphical Administration Tools (graphical-admin-tools)
Legacy UNIX Compatibility (legacy-unix)
Scientific Support (scientific)
Security Tools (security-tools)
Smart Card Support (smart-card)
System Administration Tools (system-admin-tools)
System Management (system-management)
Done

Attempt to remove group (smart-card) give the same yum message about "no install groups file".
I don't see yum-messages in dmesg output, and run yum under strace gives, of course, a lot of not opened yum files - and I don't know even the name of the necessary "groups file".

What should I do to create normal groups file ?

Mikhail Kuzminsky,
Moscow

[hunter86_bg]

Groups files are generated with the

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craterepo

command and some predefined groups are created with the CentOS groups.

So first list the current groups:

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yum grouplist

or

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yum groups list

The output should be something like this :

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Loaded plugins: langpacks, product-id, search-disabled-repos, subscription-
              : manager
There is no installed groups file.
Maybe run: yum groups mark convert (see man yum)
Available Environment Groups:
   Minimal Install
   Infrastructure Server
   File and Print Server
   Basic Web Server
   Virtualization Host
   Server with GUI
Available Groups:
   Compatibility Libraries
   Console Internet Tools
   Development Tools
   Graphical Administration Tools
   Legacy UNIX Compatibility
   RT
   Scientific Support
   Security Tools
   Smart Card Support
   System Administration Tools
   System Management
Done

The message "There is no installed Groups" means that yum doesn't know of any installed groups on the server.

Then you can just proceed with installing a group like :

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yum groupinstall "Server with GUI"

or

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yum groups install

Later, if you decide to remove this group - you can use:

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yum groupremove "Server with GUI"

or

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yum groups remove "Server with GUI"

Edit:
Even ,if you have installed "Server with GUI" - you will not be able to remove it. I suppose that the installer (anaconda) has installed the relevant packages without updating yum database , and that's why yum doesn't know it.
After clean installation issuing :

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yum groupinstall "Server with GUI"

you will see an output like this :

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[root@rhel ~]# yum groupinstall "Server with GUI"
Loaded plugins: langpacks, product-id, search-disabled-repos, subscription-manager
There is no installed groups file.
Maybe run: yum groups mark convert (see man yum)
Package 1:NetworkManager-config-server-1.0.6-29.el7_2.x86_64 already installed and latest version
Warning: Group core does not have any packages to install.
Warning: Group guest-agents does not have any packages to install.
Package gtk2-immodule-xim-2.24.28-8.el7.x86_64 already installed and latest version
Package imsettings-gsettings-1.6.3-9.el7.x86_64 already installed and latest version
Package ibus-gtk3-1.5.3-13.el7.x86_64 already installed and latest version
Package ibus-gtk2-1.5.3-13.el7.x86_64 already installed and latest version
Package gtk3-immodule-xim-3.14.13-16.el7.x86_64 already installed and latest version
Warning: Group input-methods does not have any packages to install.
Group input-methods does have 4 conditional packages, which may get installed.
Warning: Group guest-desktop-agents does not have any packages to install.
Warning: Group fonts does not have any packages to install.
Warning: Group print-client does not have any packages to install.
Warning: Group desktop-debugging does not have any packages to install.
Warning: Group dial-up does not have any packages to install.
Warning: Group base does not have any packages to install.
Group base does have 2 conditional packages, which may get installed.
Package gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free-1.4.5-3.el7.x86_64 already installed and latest version
Package gstreamer1-plugins-good-1.4.5-2.el7.x86_64 already installed and latest version
Warning: Group multimedia does not have any packages to install.
Warning: Group internet-browser does not have any packages to install.
Warning: Group x11 does not have any packages to install.
Resolving Dependencies

[mbkuz]

Thank you very much !

But this proposal to use "createrepo" instead of "yum groups mark convert" - does it means that groups file is really absent ?
What is real reason of yum answer w/message about "no installed groups file" ?
And why CentOS can't works normally w/yum - is it because of my manually forced reboot after end of CentOS installation ?
And why there is no any messages in yum.log about "no installed groups file" ?

Mikhail Kuzminsky

[hunter86_bg]

Well,

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createrepo

is used for generating local repository. If you use the official CentOS Repo - it's already have been done.
My guess is that "no installed groups file" is a kind to tell you - I don't have any information of any groups installed locally. A kind of a warning.

If you suspect any issues with yum - just reinstall it :

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yum -y reinstall yum 

If the server is going into Production Environment , I would recommend to reinstall it from scratch - just to feel safer.

[mbkuz]

Oh, again thanks !!
My situation looks very similar to known RHEL 7 Bug 1073484. I don't know about analogical situation for CentOS 7 1511.

I'm afraid: may my issuing of "yum groups mark convert" or even "createrepo" destroy something ?
I don't know is there on my host some real Centos repositoty *.xml file and where (in which directory) it must be ? (unfortunately I don't have just now remote or direct access to my host,
and can't find all *.xml files).

If my "standart" (created at CentOS installation) *.xml repository file exist, must I remain it and issue "yum groups mark convert" ?
If I really don't have *.xml repository file, then will "createrepo" create the same repository file as must be after CentOS installation ?

Thanks again for your help !
Mikhail

[hunter86_bg]

If you are worried that this has happened. You can "workaround" it by doing the following:
During installation you have selected group "Server with GUI".
Run the following -

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yum groupinstall "Server with GUI"

.As the packages are already there , it won't do anything - but it will now know that it has this group.

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yum grouplist

should prove it.
In my opinion Bug 1073484 is not a bug at all. You can imagine the situation that you have manually installed all the packages combined in a certain group. How yum would know that the group is installled? just issue the

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yum groupinstall <group>

command after installation and it will now know that it has it.
Grouping is just a collection of packages needed to provide some functionality, but it would be very system demanding for yum to check if there are enough packages for a group.