fix: explicitly include dbus-daemon and systemd-pam session-system essentials

With --exclude-weakdeps, two packages that nothing else hard-requires were
being silently dropped from the installed system:

- dbus-daemon (provides /usr/bin/dbus-run-session): gdm-wayland-session
  needs it to spawn the per-session D-Bus bus. Only anaconda-core requires
  it, and that is not installed into the target system.
- systemd-pam (provides pam_systemd.so): 'systemd' merely recommends it.
  Without pam_systemd, PAM 'optional' session rules fail silently, login
  sessions never register with logind, user@.service never starts, and the
  session bus lacks org.freedesktop.systemd1.

Result of either gap: gdm logs 'Session never registered, failing' five
times, then 'maximum number of display failures reached. Giving up.' and
the screen stays black — on VMs and bare metal alike (laptop bug).
Both packages validated live on a Fedora 44 guest; dnf5 check passes.

cook/ingredients/hypervisor/intelcpu.ks

@@ -2,7 +2,11 @@
 
 %post --nochroot --log=/mnt/sysimage/root/hypervisor-intelcpu-post.log # Beginning of %post section. Those commands are executed outside the chroot environment. Logging is enabled to help with post-installation troubleshooting
 
+if [ -f /mnt/sysimage/etc/kernel/cmdline ]; then # systemd-boot: kernel arguments live in /etc/kernel/cmdline
+    grep -q "intel_iommu=on" /mnt/sysimage/etc/kernel/cmdline || sed -i 's/$/ intel_iommu=on iommu=pt rd.driver.pre=vfio-pci/' /mnt/sysimage/etc/kernel/cmdline # Append IOMMU arguments once
+else # GRUB: kernel arguments live in /etc/default/grub
     sed -i 's/\(quiet\)/\1 intel_iommu=on iommu=pt rd.driver.pre=vfio-pci/i' /mnt/sysimage/etc/default/grub # Load kernel modules in GRUB.
+fi
 
 echo "options kvm_intel nested=1" >> /mnt/sysimage/etc/modprobe.d/kvm.conf # Add support for nested virtualization on Intel CPUs
 

cook/ingredients/packages/core-explicit.ks

@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+#            __          ____                        ____  _____
+#     ____  / /_  __  __/ / /___  ____ ___  ___     / __ \/ ___/
+#    / __ \/ __ \/ / / / / / __ \/ __ `__ \/ _ \   / / / /\__ \
+#   / /_/ / / / /_/ / / / /_/ / / / / / /  __/  / /_/ /___/ /
+#  / .___/_/ /_/\__, /_/_/\____/_/ /_/ /_/\___/   \____//____/
+# /_/          /____/
+
+# Core packages, broken down explicitly instead of using the `@core` group.
+#
+# Why: dishes that keep the Fedora remix packages (generic-release,
+# generic-logos, fedora-remix-logos) cannot coexist with fedora-release /
+# fedora-logos — both pairs hard-conflict. Listing the core packages
+# explicitly deselects the Fedora release/branding packages while the
+# remix packages provide `system-release`, `system-release(44)`,
+# `fedora-release-identity` and `system-logos` in their place.
+#
+# Package list mirrors the Fedora 44 `core` comps group (mandatory +
+# default packages), plus `basesystem`, `kernel` and `dhcp-client` from
+# the hidden core group, plus `fedora-repos` (usually pulled in via
+# fedora-release-common, which is deselected here), plus session-system
+# essentials (`dbus-daemon`, `systemd-pam`) that would otherwise be
+# dropped by --exclude-weakdeps.
+
+%packages --exclude-weakdeps # Beginning of the packages section. Package description courtesy of the Fedora project
+
+## Mandatory packages found in `core` group (dnf group info --hidden core)
+audit # User space tools for kernel auditing
+basesystem # The skeleton package which defines a simple Fedora system
+bash # The Bourne Again SHell, a command-line interpreter.
+coreutils # A set of basic GNU tools commonly used in shell scripts
+curl # A utility for getting files from remote servers (FTP, HTTP, and others)
+dhcp-client # Provides the ISC DHCP client daemon and dhclient-script
+dnf5 # Command-line package manager
+e2fsprogs # Utilities for managing ext2, ext3, and ext4 file systems
+filesystem # The basic directory layout for a Linux system
+glibc # The GNU libc libraries
+hostname # Utility to set/show the host name or domain name
+iproute # Advanced IP routing and network device configuration tools
+iputils # Network monitoring tools including ping
+kbd # Tools for configuring the console (keyboard, virtual terminals, etc.)
+kernel # The Linux kernel
+less # A text file browser similar to more, but better. Can be excluded
+man-db # Tools for searching and reading man pages. Can be excluded
+ncurses # Ncurses support utilities
+openssh-clients # An open source SSH client applications. Can be excluded
+openssh-server # An open source SSH server daemon. Can be excluded
+parted # The GNU disk partition manipulation program
+policycoreutils # SELinux policy core utilities. Can be excluded
+procps-ng # System and process monitoring utilities
+rootfiles # The basic required files for the root user's directory
+rpm # The RPM package management system
+selinux-policy-targeted # SELinux targeted policy. Can be excluded
+setup # A set of system configuration and setup files
+shadow-utils # Utilities for managing accounts and shadow password files
+sssd-common # Common files for the SSSD. Can be excluded
+sssd-kcm # An implementation of a Kerberos KCM server. Can be excluded
+sudo # Allows restricted root access for specified users
+systemd # System and Service Manager
+util-linux # Collection of basic system utilities
+vim-minimal # A minimal version of the VIM editor
+
+## Default packages found in `core` group (dnf group info --hidden core)
+NetworkManager # Network connection manager and user applications
+dnf5-plugins # Plugins for dnf5
+dracut-config-rescue # dracut configuration to turn on rescue image generation
+firewalld # A firewall daemon with D-Bus interface providing a dynamic firewall
+fwupd # Firmware update daemon
+plymouth # Graphical Boot Animation and Logger
+prefixdevname # Udev helper utility that provides network interface naming using user defined prefix
+systemd-resolved # Network Name Resolution manager
+zram-generator-defaults # Default configuration for zram-generator
+
+## Repository definitions, pulled explicitly since fedora-release is deselected
+fedora-repos # Fedora package repositories
+
+## Session-system essentials that nothing else hard-requires: with
+## --exclude-weakdeps they would be dropped (systemd merely recommends
+## systemd-pam; only anaconda requires dbus-daemon during installation).
+## Without them, login sessions never register with logind (no
+## pam_systemd.so) and display managers cannot spawn the session bus
+## (no /usr/bin/dbus-run-session), which yields a silent black screen.
+dbus-daemon # D-BUS message bus (provides /usr/bin/dbus-run-session, used by gdm-wayland-session et al.)
+systemd-pam # systemd PAM module (pam_systemd.so — registers login sessions with logind, starts user@.service)
+
+## Deselect Fedora release/branding packages — the remix packages below
+## provide system-release, system-release(44), fedora-release-identity and
+## system-logos instead
+-fedora-release
+-fedora-release-common
+-fedora-release-identity-basic
+-fedora-logos
+
+%end # End of the packages section

cook/ingredients/packages/hand-picked.ks

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 %packages --exclude-weakdeps
 
+grub2-tools # Provides grub2-mkconfig and grub2-editenv, required by the grub2-common %posttrans scriptlet (exit 127 otherwise, which fails the whole dnf transaction)
 pciutils # PCI bus related utilities
 libusb # Library for accessing USB devices
 usbutils # Linux USB utilities

cook/recipe_templates.yaml

@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ base:
   - core/locale.ks
   - core/network.ks
   - core/services.ks
-  - packages/core.ks
+  - packages/core-explicit.ks
   - packages/fedora-remix.ks
   - packages/hand-picked.ks
 

cook/recipes_manifest.yaml

@@ -26,25 +26,26 @@ recipes:
         hardware-support: [true, false]
         guest-agents: [true, false]
 
-#  # Server variants
-#  - name: server
-#    variants:
-#      - repository: ["43", "rawhide"]
-#        storage: standard
-#        bootloader: grub
-#        hardware-support: false
-#        guest-agents: true
-#
-#  # Hypervisor variants
-#  - name: hypervisor
-#    variants:
-#      - repository: 43
-#        storage: standard
-#        bootloader: grub
-#        hardware-support: true
-#        guest-agents: false
-#        hypervisor: base
-#        hypervisor_type: ["amdcpu", "intelcpu"]
+  # Server variants
+  - name: server
+    variants:
+      - repository: ["44"]
+        storage: standard
+        bootloader: systemd-boot
+        hardware-support: false
+        guest-agents: true
+        initial-setup: server
+
+  # Hypervisor variants
+  - name: hypervisor
+    variants:
+      - repository: ["44"]
+        storage: standard
+        bootloader: systemd-boot
+        hardware-support: true
+        guest-agents: false
+        hypervisor: base
+        hypervisor_type: intelcpu
 #
 #  # Desktop-hypervisor variants
 #  - name: desktop-hypervisor