Hi,
What does autoyast use the .pat files for? I think it has something to do with the packages,
.pat files are definitions of patterns. You can imagine a pattern like some meta-container for the packages i.e. it is not only a dumb group of packages needed for certain functionality of the system (e.g. LAMP server pattern contains apache, mysql, php modules, ...), but it also has its own dependencies, you can install/delete a whole pattern etc.
but why are they listed there if they are listed also in the xml control file?
I'm afraid I'm now "lost in translation" and I don't get this part. Listed where? Any example control file to hand? In general (as implied above), in a control file if you install a pattern( in <software> section, <pattern> tag), it'll pull the necessary packages in. No need to mention them explicitely as <package> then again. hB. -- \\\\\ Katarina Machalkova \\\\\\\__o YaST developer __\\\\\\\'/_ & hedgehog painter