Installer User Interface Mode Not Supported Error on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3 & 7.4

[#1]

Summary

Information on console mode installation failing on RHEL 7 machines with error: Installer User Interface Mode Not Supported

Symptoms

Running a console mode installation on RHEL 7.3 or 7.4 can fail with the following error:

Installer User Interface Mode Not Supported
Unable to load and to prepare the installer in console or silent mode.

The following stack trace can be found in the debug output:

XMLScriptReader: ERROR during instantiation of object.  This object was lost! refID: null - class: com.zerog.ia.installer.Installer
java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError
	at com.zerog.ia.installer.util.InstallFrameConfigurator.<init>(Unknown Source)
	at com.zerog.ia.installer.Installer.ae(Unknown Source)
	at com.zerog.ia.installer.Installer.ad(Unknown Source)
	at com.zerog.ia.installer.Installer.<init>(Unknown Source)
	at com.zerog.ia.installer.Installer.<init>(Unknown Source)
	at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
	at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:62)
	at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45)
	at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:423)
	at java.lang.Class.newInstance(Class.java:442)
	at Flexeraan9.as(Unknown Source)
	at Flexeraan9.ar(Unknown Source)
	at Flexeraan9.am(Unknown Source)
	at Flexeraan9.ak(Unknown Source)
	at Flexeraan9$1.aa(Unknown Source)
	at Flexeraais.ad(Unknown Source)
	at Flexeraan9.ac(Unknown Source)
	at com.zerog.ia.installer.LifeCycleManager.b1(Unknown Source)
	at com.zerog.ia.installer.LifeCycleManager.a8(Unknown Source)
	at com.zerog.ia.installer.LifeCycleManager.au(Unknown Source)
	at com.zerog.ia.installer.LifeCycleManager.consoleInstallMain(Unknown Source)
	at com.zerog.ia.installer.LifeCycleManager.executeApplication(Unknown Source)
	at com.zerog.ia.installer.Main.main(Unknown Source)
	at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
	at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
	at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
	at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
	at com.zerog.lax.LAX.launch(Unknown Source)
	at com.zerog.lax.LAX.main(Unknown Source)
Caused by: java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 0
	at sun.font.CompositeStrike.getStrikeForSlot(CompositeStrike.java:75)
	at sun.font.CompositeStrike.getFontMetrics(CompositeStrike.java:93)
	at sun.font.FontDesignMetrics.initMatrixAndMetrics(FontDesignMetrics.java:359)
	at sun.font.FontDesignMetrics.<init>(FontDesignMetrics.java:350)
	at sun.font.FontDesignMetrics.getMetrics(FontDesignMetrics.java:302)
	at sun.font.FontDesignMetrics.getMetrics(FontDesignMetrics.java:250)
	at sun.awt.SunToolkit.getFontMetrics(SunToolkit.java:649)
	at sun.awt.HeadlessToolkit.getFontMetrics(HeadlessToolkit.java:413)
	at Flexeraaq1.ag(Unknown Source)
	at Flexeraaq1.<clinit>(Unknown Source)
	... 29 more
XMLScriptReader: unable to parse the provided script file.  File may have been invalid...
java.lang.NullPointerException
	at Flexeraan9.am(Unknown Source)
	at Flexeraan9.ak(Unknown Source)
	at Flexeraan9$1.aa(Unknown Source)
	at Flexeraais.ad(Unknown Source)
	at Flexeraan9.ac(Unknown Source)
	at com.zerog.ia.installer.LifeCycleManager.b1(Unknown Source)
	at com.zerog.ia.installer.LifeCycleManager.a8(Unknown Source)
	at com.zerog.ia.installer.LifeCycleManager.au(Unknown Source)
	at com.zerog.ia.installer.LifeCycleManager.consoleInstallMain(Unknown Source)
	at com.zerog.ia.installer.LifeCycleManager.executeApplication(Unknown Source)
	at com.zerog.ia.installer.Main.main(Unknown Source)
	at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
	at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
	at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
	at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
	at com.zerog.lax.LAX.launch(Unknown Source)
	at com.zerog.lax.LAX.main(Unknown Source)
Unable to load the script.

Cause

This issue is a result of a RHEL 7 bug reported here.

This issue has also been submitted to our Engineering team as Issue# IOJ-1843875.

Steps To Reproduce

1. Create an InstallAnywhere project
2. Add 'Console' to Allowable UI Modes setting
3. Add Console actions to Pre-Install sequence
4. Build a Linux target installer
5. Make sure that the following packages are installed on the target machine:
   • xorg-x11-fonts-Type1-7.5-9.el7.noarch
   • stix-fonts-1.1.0-5.el7.noarch
6. Launch the installer in console mode (e.g. ./install.bin -i console)

Resolution

Our Engineering team is investigating this issue, but at this moment, there is no estimated time frame for when it will be fixed. There is a workaround available below.

Workaround

Remove at least one of the following packages:

• xorg-x11-fonts-Type1-7.5-9.el7.noarch
• stix-fonts-1.1.0-5.el7.noarch