kernel

Only two days after Linus released Kernel 2.6.38 we already have it in the grml-testing repository! Besides the usual AUFS support it also features mainline's squashfs XZ support, meaning no extra squashfs patch needed anymore to get support for LZMA (now known as XZ). Our build tool grml-live(8) already supports this kernel version and uses XZ compression with squashfs-tools >=1:4.2-1 by default.

Please note: If you want to use current grml-live version (>=0.13.1) with older kernel versions than 2.6.38 don't forget to point SQUASHFS_BINARY to the according mksquashfs binary and set SQUASHFS_OPTIONS accordingly. If you want to build older versions without any hassles you can still use old grml-live versions of course (as provided and shipped with each Grml release).

Bottom line, XZ support in mainline (kernel >=2.6.38 and squashfs-tools >=4.2) will provide a better upgrade cycle for grml-live and the grml environment.

Thanks to excellent work by Gebi the squashfs-lzma issue for the new kernel could be solved. Now I'm proud to be able to announce a full-featured kernel 2.6.35-grml[64] which is available from the Grml grml-testing repository.

grml-live 0.11.0 is available as well, featuring support for kernel 2.6.35-grml. The new squashfs-lzma patches in kernel 2.6.35 aren't using the openwrt style format any longer but instead use the official on disk layout from mainline. That's why a new squashfs-tools package is required to properly support kernel 2.6.35-grml[64]. This package is available as squashfs-lzma-tools4. All you've to do to get a kernel 2.6.35-grml[64] based live system is upgrading to grml-live >=0.11.0, install squashfs-lzma-tools4 and grml-live will take care of the rest automatically for you. For further details regarding the current state of squashfs-lzma in Grml please have a look at the official grml-live documentation.

BTW: The current daily ISOs feature the new kernel version already, so give it a shot while it's hot! :)

After busy development days the kernel 2.6.31-grml and 2.6.31-grml64 entered the grml-testing pool today. This kernel version is based on upstream's 2.6.31-rc9 and features the squashfs file format version 4 with lzma support.

Please note that you need squashfs-lzma-tools 4.0-1 for remastering with grml-live if you plan to use LZMA compression. grml-live has been adjusted to be as backwards friendly as possible. Check out 'current state of grml-live with squashfs-tools and kernel' for further details if you plan to build your own ISOs.

An updated live-initramfs 1.157.3-1grml.00 package is available as well. Starting with tomorrow (2009-09-08) the daily builds of grml should feature kernel 2.6.31-grml[64] already. This means we are coming closer to a new stable release...

An updated 2.6.28-grml kernel is available through the grml-testing repository, this update incorporates the latest stable patch (being 2.6.28.7). I'll provide the according 2.6.28-grml64 kernel soon as well.

I just uploaded the first version of kernel 2.6.28-grml[64] to the grml-testing repository. Details about configuration and patches are available in grml's git kernel repository. A new develrelease providing the new kernel will be available as well as daily snapshots featuring the new kernel soon.

In news from the grml development front a grml user named Dave asked some questions regarding the grml kernel. As this seems to be not clear enough yet I'll write some sentences about the way the grml developers work on the grml kernel.

Daily grml builds (see daily.grml.org) use a recent grml kernel version from the grml-testing repository. As the daily ISOs are being built automatically we have the need for a known-to-work kernel. grml wouldn't work in live mode without kernel modules like aufs and squashfs. Finally grml users are used to get some additional kernel modules as well.

We could wait for a stable kernel 2.6.x.y with y being a stable patch/release with a version number >=10. But then we would have the problem that our kernel might be pretty out of date when we release a new grml version. grml users expect to get good hardware support - to acchieve that we need recent kernel versions. On the other side we don't want to upload a completely fresh and untested kernel to the grml repository even though it's "just" grml-testing. grml-testing is the place where we put stuff that will be available as a stable release once we consider it rocking solid. Of course there MIGHT be any issues left even though it's called a stable release, but thanks to our release cycle we have a pretty good test parcoure and try to identify and solve any possible breakages which shouldn't happen on any productive boxes outside the test world.

During our initial tests, configuration checks and verifying the upgrade path we also build external modules and in the meanwhile new stable updates (the y in the 2.6.x.y) appear which we can integrate into our kernel then. Therefor when releasing a new stable grml version we can provide an up2date kernel without forgetting about "rocking solid". HTH.

A first version of kernel 2.6.26-grml is ready to go:

% uname -a
Linux okely-dokely 2.6.26-grml #1 SMP PREEMPT Sun Jul 27 00:10:16 CEST 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

Now work on external modules will start, if you want to follow progress of work on kernel 2.6.26-grml check out our grml-kernel mercurial repository. If you want to get the kernel using Debian's package management even before it's available through grml's repository add the following line to your /etc/apt/sources.list and install linux-image-2.6.26-grml then:

deb http://grml.org/2.6.26 ./

Please notice that we are testing migration to libata with this kernel so if you use root=/dev/hd.. in your bootloader config make sure to switch to root=/dev/sd.. or even better use root=UUID=... (see stable root device aka UUID for more details) instead.

Gebi started to work on kernel 2.6.26-grml already, I'll follow soon (currently I'm working on stuff around grml-live and a boot chain problem), so stay tuned - we are working towards a new develrelease.

Kernel 2.6.23-grml.06 is available in the grml repository. It includes latest stable patch 2.6.23.16 which addresses the well known root exploits from CVE-2008-0009/10 and CVE-2008-0600 (see bugzilla #9924 and debian BTS #464953 and dsd's detailed explanation for further information). Kernel 2.6.23-grml64 will be available within the next few hours as well.

Just to keep you informed: we planned to release the new stable grml versions during this weekend. Due to local root exploits in the Linux kernel we decided to work on an updated kernel version. So please stay tuned a little bit further, we expect to be able to provide the final stable release within the next few days. Sorry for the delays, but hopefully we can provide a rocking stable release really soon now.

I just finished the first stable version of 2.6.23-grml. As usual grab the Debian packages from the grml repository (grml-testing, find the source in the mercurial repository. Check out the README for details on the patchset. If you are interested in the outstanding todos check out issue216 in our BTS.

The first version of 2.6.22-grml is available for download (the debs are available via the grml-testing repository as well). Follow progress via issue 216 in our BTS or via the according mercurial repository.

% uname -a
Linux meilenschwein 2.6.22-grml #1 SMP PREEMPT Tue Jul 10 00:35:57 CEST 2007 i686 GNU/Linux

A new develrelease (1.0-1) providing this kernel build will be available very soon.

A new full-featured version of 2.6.20-grml (revision grml.04) is available in the grml-testing pool. It's based on 2.6.20.6 and I plan to use it as stable kernel for the new develrelease grml 0.9-7, the upcoming grml 1.0-rc1 and the final stable version as well if everything works as expected. It's already integrated within my latest devel-ISO and I'm working on the last few issues on the todolist. Expect to get a new develrelease within the next few days.... Same applies to grml64 and grml-small as well... Now going back to work...

I worked on a new version of 2.6.20-grml. The kernel features 2.6.20.1, plus iteraid and unionfs now. Several external modules are available as well, some few are missing though (due to API changes in 2.6.20). I just uploaded all the debian packages of 2.6.20-grml to the grml-testing pool.