[syslinux] using syslinux to try to kickstart a RH9 install...

[Paul Armor]

Hi,
I'm wondering if anyone else has had a similar problem to the one I'm 
having, or can make any recommendations on what else to try.  I apologize 
if this is a duplicate of something someone else has written, but my 
google searches have proven fruitless.

Our current setup:  cluster of RH7.3 boxes that we use syslinux to pxe 
boot for imaging purposes.  The initrd has a customized init, and various 
binaries (cp, diff, sfdisk, etc), a shell script, and necessary libs, all 
added to the default redhat initrd.  This works wonderfully!

What we're trying to change:  we're trying to use the same 
servers/head-nodes to test the ability to move the cluster to RH9.  I am 
able to use the redhat initrd and such to automate the install.  But, if I 
modify the initrd (add things to theirs, which changes the compressed 
size; or make the rd big enough to hold all my warez) more than very 
slightly, everything breaks.  IE making the zipped redhat disk just a 
little bigger, it forgets that it was told to use a specific .ks and 
anaconda drops to the installer and asks about localizations and such.  Or 
if I make the ramdisk too big, anaconda tells me the installation tree is 
invalid.

Does anyone have any ideas/suggestions?!?

Thanks in advance for ANY help you can offer!
Paul