general

In the last few weeks I've been busy working on grml-live (the build framework based on FAI for generating a grml and Debian based Linux Live system). As generating a new grml-ISO using grml-live can be done with one single command(!) we could finally build an autobuild system which generates daily snapshots of grml. Thanks to hosting by formorer and jimmy we can provide a wide range of different flavours of grml now:

• grml-small: as usual that's the smallest version of grml; due to growing packages the ISO size is ~110MB currently - we are trying to reduce the ISO size further....
• grml-medium: a new grml flavour with the purpose of closing the gap between grml-small and normal/large/full grml. Currently it's pending at about 140MB ISO, we want to keep the ISO size at a maximum of 200MB
• grml: as usual, the big, normal, large, full version of grml with a maximum ISO size of 700MB, providing all the grml features

That's not all. We provide all these versions in a 32bit version (grml) as well as in a 64bit version (grml64). But stop! We even provide all the versions in a Debian/stable based and a Debian/unstable based version.

So you can choose your favourite grml-ISO from a total of 3x2x2 = 12 different ISOs. They are available from daily.grml.org and are built full automatic on a daily base. This should help us in tracking down possible problems in Debian packages as well as keeping the truck factor in our team as low as possible and improve quality management furthermore. On the other side users can get brand new software for testing, or if they need a special feature (like a brand new kernel version) they can get it without the need for waiting for a new devel-/stable-release. So just grab the current snapshot for testing from daily.grml.org, or if you want to build your own Linux live-cd based on Debian and grml consider the use of grml-live.

I had to clone a server to another server (1:1 copy using dd+netcat) but didn't want to stay at the customer's place until the task finished. So I executed 'Start ssh; passwd' to be able to login remotely. But how to reboot the server and get rid of the CD so the harddisk system boots instead of the grml-CD without manual interaction at customer's place? Server systems usually don't move in/re-insert an ejected CD on reboot - that's nice for what we need. So all I had to do was:

eject &>/dev/null
umount -l /cdrom
eject /dev/cdrom
echo b > /proc/sysrq-trigger

Thanks to the infrastructure provided by IBM's x305 server donation and Jimmy's work I just finished a first prototype setup of an autobuild system for building grml-ISOs using grml-live. Currently I've a working system for building "grml-medium" ISOs based on etch/stable and sid/unstable on a daily base. Normal/full grml ISOs (the ~700MB version) of etch/stable and sid/unstable will follow soon. I plan to provide new develreleases as soon as I finished the autobuild setup. Hopefully we'll find ressources for a 64bit environment (so we can provide autobuilded ISOs of grml64) as well.

After the Froscon event took place we have a new develrelease. Quoting the main changelog for the new develreleases:

  * several updated configuration files, bugfixes and
    up2date Debian packages as of 20070905

  * atl2 kernel driver added

  * grml2hd: display '***' in password box so user gets feedback when
    typing the password

  * ctrl-alt-del triggers reboot instead of powerdown now

  * use of live-initramfs: the biggest change inside 1.0-3 and the
    one which will break everything. ;-) But: as a long-term
    side-effect it will dramatically simplify customizing grml and
    provide new options like including firmware for booting.
    'ls -la /' looks completely different now as you will notice.
    We have a new unionfs overlay layout. Let's see whether it's
    working for us.

    So please: test all the grml bootoptions and let us know what's
    broken!

Lots of development took place in the last weeks, finally we have a new develrelease. Quoting the main changelog for the new develreleases:

  * featuring new stable kernel 2.6.22
    See http://bts.grml.org/grml/issue216 for details regarding
    development and progress.

  * *no* further speakup patch inside the kernel, see
    http://braille.uwo.ca/pipermail/speakup/2007-June/043478.html
    for the reason

  * update to libc 2.6; packages from Debian pool by 2007-07-13

  * grml-x with multihead support using Xinerama ->

      % grml-x -xinerama ...

    Notice: this is limited to two monitors currently and I can test
    it only on my intel based Samsung X20 laptop. Please report
    feedback if you give it a try! Patches are welcome as well. :)

  * some small improvements in bootsequence when running inside
    VirtualBox

  * grml2hd supports installation on LVM devices through
    'LVM=/dev/mapper/target grml2hd'

  * added bootoption startup=$script to startup the provided
    $script/application instead of grml-quickconfig

  * support LVM (logical volumes) in boot sequence:
    - bootoption 'lvm' activates them
    - no special bootoption just runs 'lvdisplay' and if something
      can be found the user gets a hint to execute 'Start lvm2' to
      set it up
    - bootoption 'nolvm' completely disables the lvm code/checks

  * Due to the emacs21 to emacs22 migration the following packages are not
    yet available:

      auctex:      http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=432206
      python-mode: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=424973

    Whereas the other removed packages "gnus gnus-bonus-el w3-el-e21
    w3-url-e21" shouldn't be necessary with the new emacs version
    AFAICS.

  * the fluxbox theme (~/.fluxbox/styles/Sn33z) is broken with the
    current version. Just delete it manually or choose another theme
    from the fluxbox menu. Would be great if someone could take a
    closer look at fixing this issue!

  * the windows/ directory on the ISO has been renamed (currently
    only for now) due to space problems....

  * several bugfixes, updated configuration files,...

I continued work on shortening our bugreports, wish- and todolist in the last few weeks. New features include:

• bootoption startup for starting a script when booting finished, usage example: 'grml startup=netcardconfig'
• LVM (logical volumes) support in the booting process, providing bootoption 'lvm' now
• grml2hd supports installation on LVM devices also in interactive mode, all you have to do is set up LVM is you want it to and then invoke 'LVM=/dev/mapper/$target grml2hd'
• support dvorak keyboard layout via bootoption lang=dvorak and lang=dvorak-iso as well as keyboard=dvorak and xkeyboard=dvorak

More to come in the next few days... going back to development now...

The media edition 07/2007 of the german LinuxUser magazine contains a DVD and a CD providing grml 1.0, grml64 0.1 and grml-small 0.4! It's a great chance to get different versions of grml on one medium. You'll even find an article I wrote about grml inside. So get it as long it's hot off the press and available! :-)

Yes, we have new stable release available.

Today I uploaded rc2 of the current releases, they are meant to be the last release candidates for the upcoming stable release. As the stable version will be available really soon (within the next 3-4 days) I maybe won't even announce them "officially". So far the ISOs are available on debian.netcologne.de only, grab and test them if you want to help the grml-team to provide the stable release really soon.

grml-docs (1.0.0-rc1) unstable; urgency=low

  * Update docs for:
    - grml       1.0-rc1 Release Codename Meilenschwein [2007-05-08]
    - grml-small 0.4-rc1 Release Codename Springginkerl [2007-05-08]
    - grml64     0.1-rc1 Release Codename LiveShell     [2007-05-08]

 -- Michael Prokop   Mon, 07 May 2007 22:35:16 +0200

Yes, it's on its way.... if everything works as expected you can find the ISOs on the mirrors tomorrow....

I was working very hard the last few days, the result is a bunch of new develreleases. The stable releases are coming closer now, I've just to write the release notes and find artwork for the new releases (want to contribute? let me know!) first. Quoting the main changelog for the new develreleases:

=======================================================================
Main changelog for grml:

  * updated kernel 2.6.20-grml based on 2.6.20.6

  * updated libc6 (2.5)

  * updated Debian packages by 2007-04-15

  * several fixes, including the ones mentioned on
    http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml_devel

  * LaTeX: switch from tetex to texlive

  * grml-debootstrap is aware of stages (canceling is possible now),
    supports lenny (additionally to Etch of course) now as well

  * grml-x: use of evdev, please test it with all your mouses and
    report whether it works or not!

  * tons of other nifty updates/addons/... I've to dig through the
    changelogs first.... :)

Removed packages since grml 0.9:

  aircrack classpath classpath-common classpath-gtkpeer cpp-3.3 ddd
  debsig-verify doc-base emacspeak ethereal ethereal-common gcc-2.95
  gcc-3.3 gcc-3.3-base glibc-doc grml-btnet grml-kerneladdons-2.6.18
  grml-sysvinit gs-gpl jamvm java-common kdoc latex-ucs
  libavahi-core4 libbind9-0 libclamav1 libcman1 libdlm1 libdns21
  libexiv2-0.10 libgcj-common libgtk-perl libgulm1 libinklevel3
  libisc11 libisccc0 libisccfg1 liblwres9 libncurses5-dev
  libnet-pcap-perl libnet-perl libnids1.20 libpam-opie libqdbm14
  libreadline5-dev librudiments0.29 libsasl2 libsqlrelay-0.37
  libstdc++2.10-glibc2.2 libstdc++5 libtorrent9 libuclibc0
  libxmltok1 linux-wlan-ng linux-wlan-ng-firmware lout lout-common
  lufs-utils lvm-common lvm10 madwifi-doc misdn-utils mutt-ng
  muttprint nxclient olsrd-plugin openafs-client openafs-krb5
  opie-server postgresql-client-8.1 prosper python-clamav
  python-jaxml python2.3 samdump scapy simh tclx8.3 tesseract-ocr
  tetex-base tetex-bin tetex-extra tethereal tftp-hpa tftpd-hpa
  tk-brief unionfs-utils unzsplit valgrind wellenreiter wmi
  xen-tools xen-utils-common xlibmesa-gl zsplit

Added packages since grml 0.9:

  advchk array-info ascii2binary atftpd blktrace bluetooth-alsa cbm
  clive concalc cryopid dnsproxy dvb-utils fatresize funionfs
  gaffitter gatling gems genisoimage grml-desktop
  grml-kerneladdons-2.6.20 grml-pylib icedax ii imsniff keyutils
  kqemu-common kvm mcabber mtp-tools ncc newsbeuter odt2txt
  olsrd-plugins oss-compat pdfcube perl-tk pnputils podget
  postgresql-client-8.2 python-scapy python-urwid recordmydesktop
  samdump2 scalpel sigit smbnetfs speedometer texlive-base
  texlive-base-bin texlive-common texlive-doc-base
  texlive-fonts-recommended texlive-lang-german texlive-latex-base
  texlive-latex-recommended treil tss uncrustify urlscan vde2
  vinetto xserver-xorg-input-aiptek xserver-xorg-input-elo2300
  xserver-xorg-input-elographics xserver-xorg-input-evtouch
  xserver-xorg-input-hyperpen xserver-xorg-input-joystick
  xserver-xorg-input-penmount xserver-xorg-input-void xwatchwin zzuf
=======================================================================

=======================================================================
Main changelog for grml64:

  * Tons of updates, fixes,.. updated Debian packages by 2007-04-15

  * Added several 32bit compability libs, so now working 64<->32bit
    should work really fine.

  * Removed LaTeX, due to space reasons.
=======================================================================

=======================================================================
Main changelog for grml-small:

  * updated to kernel 2.6.20-grml-small (based on 2.6.20.7)

  * updated libc6 (2.5)

  * tons of fixes.... including the issues ones mentioned on
    http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml_devel

  * updated Debian packages by 2007-04-15

  * merged all relevant code from big grml[tm]
=======================================================================

After uploading grml64 I also uploaded a new develrelease of grml (the 32bit version ;-)) for beta-testers and developers. So, what's new? Read yourself:

This release is a very special one for me. There are many updates,
fixes, addons - I could remove most of the release-stoppers
(http://bts.grml.org/release-stoppers). From my POV we are pretty
close to grml 1.0-rc1 now. But due to several updates it needs heavy
testing of course. So if you want to help us please test this
release and report *anything* you find and think should be fixed for
grml 1.0!

Main changelog:
===============

  * update of kernel 2.6.20-grml, now based on 2.6.20.3
    You're missing a feature/module/...? Report!

  * grml-terminalserver: big improvements like better module loading
    and switch to atftpd (thanks gebi) - give it a try!

  * grml2hd: added grml-setservices (interface for basic
    configuration of system startup/shutdown via
    /etc/runlevel.conf), improved grub code, some minor stuff...

  * added bootoption 'qemu', currently it does nothing else than
    copying /etc/X11/xorg.conf.example to /etc/X11/xorg.conf (if you
    have further ideas please inform me)

  * grml-autoconfig: dropped userspace/powernowd stuff in
    cpufrequeny scaling in favour of the ondemand-governor. If you
    notice any problems with powermanagement on your laptop please
    let me know.

  * news from grml-scripts:

    - added dirvish-setup: a simple script for setting up a basic
      configuration for backup software dirvish.

    - grml-setlang: do not set $TZ anymore, we want to handle it via
      /etc/timezone instead of /etc/default/locale; notice: the
      timezone configuration has been documented detailed at
      http://grml.org/faq/#timezone and within 'grml-tips timezone'
      Questions? Problems? Report!

    - integrated grml-quickconfig within zsh-login. grml-quickconfig
      has been contributed by Michael Schierl - thanks! [Needs some
      more tweaking though...]

    - added iso-term (wrapper script to run x-terminal-emulator in
      iso885915 mode).

    - added alignmargins (adjust the margins and the position of the
      printed contents on the paper)

  * /etc/zsh/zshrc: added aliases for better iso<->utf handling
    (term2iso, term2utf, utf2iso, iso2utf), big update of swspeak
    alias, added function ytdl (download video from youtube), and
    tons of other fixes, updates, additions...