ONL installer gets unknown onie_platform in latest ONIE

[david56]

Hello @carlroth, @jnealtowns , @cbrune ,

In latest ONIE, I had removed machine.conf from the initrd image. i.e., machine.conf is generated at ONIE run-time dynamically rather than putting a static one in the image. ONL had been revised to use onie-sysinfo on Dec 27 (#280 ). We found ONL install failed because it unpacks the image to execute onie-sysinfo to get onie_platform. In the unpacked environment, machine.conf is not existent so that onie-sysinfo will reply unknown to ONL installer. It will try to import a module named unknown:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/onl-install", line 6, in <module>
    import onl.install.App
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/onl/install/App.py", line 21, in <module>
    import ConfUtils, BaseInstall
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/onl/install/ConfUtils.py", line 14, in <module>
    from onl.sysconfig import sysconfig
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/onl/sysconfig/__init__.py", line 13, in <module>
    from onl.platform.current import OnlPlatform
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/onl/platform/current.py", line 62, in <module>
    OnlPlatform = import_subsystem_platform_class()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/onl/platform/current.py", line 57, in import_subsystem_platform_class
    m = importlib.import_module('%s.platform.%s' % (subsystem, platform_module))
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/importlib/__init__.py", line 37, in import_module
    __import__(name)
ImportError: No module named unknown
Install failed.

It looks that it is necessary to keep machine.conf in the image to make the installer go smoothly. But onie-sysinfo still lacks machine-live.conf (which is also generated dynamically at ONIE run-time) for calculating the real onie_platform. We need to discuss how to fix the issue.

I would appreciate your opinions. Thank you very much.

Cheers,
David

[david56]

I did a test on AS7712_32X having a revised ONIE keeping machine.conf in the initrd image which can install latest ONL normally.

[jnealtowns]

@david56
The existing design was a convenience since the installer itself runs as part of the Loader initrd in multiple envirnonments. But it isn't necessary (especially if it no longer works).

@carlroth Lets modify the platform detection logic to remove the chroot into ONIE.
This means the platform id must be passed as a configuration parameter to the installer prior to entering the Loader initrd instead of the installer detecting it itself.

Environment override

1. if $ONL_INSTALL_PLATFORM then echo "platform=$ONL_INSTALL_PLATFORM" >> installer.conf

Installing from ONIE
2. If ONIE: echo "platform=onie-sysinfo -p >> installer.conf

Installing form ONL
3. If ONL : echo "platform=$(cat /etc/onl/platform)" >> installer.conf
etc.

What do you think?

cc @cbrune

[carlroth]

see #287

[david56]

The latest ONL can be installed via latest ONIE normally now. Thank you.