Rocky 10: what minimal and DVD installs really differ in (measured)

Test scope

On a Rocky Linux 10.2 VM in PVE, an unattended install from the Rocky 10.2 DVD ISO (sha256 matches the official CHECKSUM) with a kickstart, changing only the environment group:

Install	Environment group	Result
This one (Rocky)	@^minimal-environment	349 packages, no podman
Control (Alma, same method)	@^server-product-environment	664 packages, podman 5.8.2 present

Evidence and screenshots: plans/content-expansion/evidence/logs/rocky-minimal-vs-dvd.log, public/evidence/minimal-vs-dvd/.

The installer boot menu

At this point the DVD and the minimal ISO look the same; the difference is which environment groups the installer offers, and what ends up installed.

How the unattended install starts

The kickstart lives on a small ISO labelled OEMDRV attached as a second CD-ROM. Anaconda finds it automatically:

The key lines are Not asking for remote desktop session because of an automated install and Starting automated install — no inst.ks= typing at the boot menu.

Installing 349 packages

The installer prints Installing ... (n/349), then post-install, bootloader and initramfs. That 349 is the real package count of the Minimal group.

First boot

Kernel 6.12.0-211.7.3.el10_2. Root is locked by the kickstart (rootpw --lock), so day-to-day use goes through a sudo-capable user.

Measured: the group is the difference, not the media

Item	Minimal group	Server group (Alma control)
Packages	349	664
podman	❌ absent	✅ 5.8.2
firewalld	✅ 2.4.0	✅ 2.4.0
chrony	✅ 4.8	✅ 4.8

Both used the same DVD and the same kickstart, differing only in the @^...environment line. “A DVD install is bigger” is therefore imprecise — the group you pick is what differs.

Reproducing it

The smallest interesting part of the kickstart:

cdrom
clearpart --all --initlabel
autopart --type=plain
%packages
@^minimal-environment
%end

Replace @^minimal-environment with @^server-product-environment and the same media installs 664 packages. The OEMDRV ISO is built with genisoimage -V OEMDRV and contains just a ks.cfg.

Common traps

• Wrong OEMDRV label: it must be exactly OEMDRV or Anaconda will not read it automatically;
• Booting the DVD again after install: set boot order=scsi0 or detach the DVD, otherwise you land back in the installer;
• Locked root: log in as the user created by the kickstart and use sudo, or use SSH keys;
• Skipping the ISO checksum: DVD images are large, always verify against the official CHECKSUM.

Practice: change one line, install again

# only this line changes in ks.cfg
@^minimal-environment   →   @^server-product-environment

Then compare:

rpm -qa | wc -l
rpm -q podman firewalld chrony

Checks:

1. Minimal is about 349 packages, Server about 664
2. podman appears only in the Server group
3. Both include firewalld and chrony
4. Both installs used the same DVD

FAQ

常见问题

How do the DVD and minimal ISO actually differ?

The media differs in which packages and groups can be installed offline; the system differs by the environment group you select. A DVD with Minimal selected is still a clean system.

Why is my OEMDRV not detected?

Check that the label is exactly OEMDRV (uppercase), that /ks.cfg exists in the ISO, and that it is attached as a second CD-ROM.

What are the 300+ extra packages in the Server group?

Mostly container management (podman and friends), headless management (cockpit-related), hardware support and the Standard toolset; see `dnf group info "Server"`.

Next steps

• Post-install checks: 7 checks after install
• Repositories and groups: Repositories and groups
• Reboot policy: Reboot policy