new develrelease: 0.9-1

We have a new develrelease. grml 0.9-1 is available for beta-testers and grml-developers. Quoting the main changelog:

  * kernel 2.6.19-grml
  * use utf8 by default:
    - when using lang=$LANG it defaults to utf8, it's possible to
      use lang=$LANG-utf8 as well for backward compability
    - fallback to iso is possible through bootoption lang=$LANG-iso
    - now using Uni3-Terminus14 as default font instead of
      Lat15-Terminus16 which should improve use of utf8 on console;
      very probably I'll change the font to Uni3-Terminus16
  * update Debian packages to pool by today (except initramfs-tools
    which is once again broken, using an older version therefore)
  * grml2hd should work on SW-RAID again, installs
    /etc/grml2hd/config with permissions 600 now so possible sensible
    data can't be read by non-root
  * zsh: use of global dirstack, this allows switching directories
    via "cd -<press_tab>" also when running a new/fresh shell
    session (thanks schula + ft)
  * some minor bugfixes, improvements,...

grml 0.9 and grml-small 0.3 available

We have a new release: grml 0.9 with codename ‘Dioptrienotto’ and grml-small 0.3 with codename ‘Zwergenaufstand’ are available for public download.

changes from grml 0.9-rc1 to stable release

The final release is on its way, should be available on 6th of december. JFTR:

Changes from grml 0.9-rc1 to stable release:
* Update packages to Debian pool by 4th of december 2006
* sw-raid: do not automatically assemble md arrays anymore,
  instead create /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf by default (disable via
  bootoption noswraid) and boot using swraid to enable automatic
  assembling of swraid/md arrays or run 'Start mdadm-raid' then
* added iscsitarget-2.6.18-grml
* removed thc-ipv6, ipmasqadm, tex-refs, open-iscsi, pnpbios-tools
  thc-pptp-bruter, ndiswrapper-utils-1.8, giflib-bin, giflib3g
* renamed script fma into qma (quick manual access) and provide
  less-like vim (thanks to wuehlmaus)
* zsh: new default umask setting is 002
* grml-terminalserver: some small fixes (including the
  /etc/resolv.conf issue, thanks to Wolfgang Karall)
* fixed problem when booting via firewire (thanks for noticing,
  Hendrik Scholz!)

new Debian repositories for grml

Please notice that grml has new Debian package repositories as announced on the grml user mailinglist. Please adjust the line containing grml.org/repos/ in your /etc/apt/sources.list to something like:

# stable grml repository:
  deb     http://deb.grml.org/ grml-stable  main
  deb-src http://deb.grml.org/ grml-stable  main

See the announce mail for more details.

grml 0.9 - release candidate 1 available

The first release candidate of grml 0.9 is available. Take a look at the release announcement for details about all the nifty new features. Please test the ISO and all the stuff you usually need so we can provide a rocking stable 0.9 release soon. Download the ISO from the devel directory of the mirrors listed at grml.org/download/.

searching for artwork for grml 0.9 [update]

We don’t have artwork for grml 0.9 yet (besides a fallback version from myself) and therefore the release-name for grml 0.9 isn’t stable either. So if you want to ‘immortalize’ yourself in grml and can contribute a nice wallpaper and/or a cd-cover: please let me know! Update: wallpaper is ready, release-name as well (thanks for ideas - formorer and Martin Piskernig!). The cd-cover is pending but will be done in the next few days…

final version of 2.6.18-grml

A new version of 2.6.18-grml is available (take a look at the kernel repository for details). This should become the final version of 2.6.18-grml so it will be available in the grml repository soon. A last few tests will take place, some docs have to be updated and then a first release-candidate of grml 0.9 will be available to the public.

new bug tracking system available: bts.grml.org

Thanks to formorer we have a new bug tracking system (BTS) at bts.grml.org. It’s mainly meant for developers so working together without forgetting any issues is easier. The issues regarding stable releases will be available in the grml wiki as usual. So you don’t have to care about the BTS unless you want to work together with grml developers or you are one of them. ;-) Notice to all grml-developers: please register youself in the BTS so we can assign issues according… Please use the webinterface for the task and use a nickname which is the same as your grml.org mailaddress, thanks.

new developer mailinglists for grml

formorer did an excellent job in the last few days improving infrastructure of grml. One of many tasks was the setup of new mailinglists for grml. What might be interesting for you is the grml repository commits mailinglist which allows tracking of all the commits to our mercurial repositories. Thanks again, formorer!

update grml-zsh-refcard

The grml-zsh-refcard received a big update. It covers the most current zsh configuration which will be shipped with the upcoming grml release. Many thanks go to Frank Terbeck for his work!

DNS problems: subdomains of grml.org not reachable (update: solved)

You might notice problems with the subdomains (wiki, hg, lists,…) of grml.org. It’s a problem at the DNS-provider which has been informed already… Update: the problem has been solved a few hours ago. Everything should be working again…

updates in grml-packages (grml2hd, grml-autoconfig, grml-terminalserver)

Just to keep developers and beta-testers informed (assuming that you don’t follow my hg commits [time for a hg-commit mailinglist, yes]): today I spent several hours in reducing the todo list for grml 0.9. So make sure you have recent packages on your brand new develrelease (run ‘apt-get update; apt-get install $PACKAGES’) when trying out. Quoting some important stuff of the changelogs:

grml2hd: adjust /etc/default/rcS according to bootoption utc/gmt
              and /etc/localtime according to bootoption tz
grml-autoconfig:
              * deprecate CONFIG_KERNEL, CONFIG_LANGUAGE,
                CONFIG_DMA and CONFIG_MIXER as they are not really
                relevant on hd installations.
              * do *not* use swap by default anymore, thanks for feedback
                 goes to Wolfgang Karall!
grml-terminalserver: a maintenance release to fix some outstanding issues:
             * big update of linuxrc - do not use discover anymore (broken)
                but instead try modprobing all available network modules
             * reject tcp/113 via iptables to speed up PXE boot

I consider the current state as pretty stable, in the next few days I’ll do some more regression testing so hopefully we’ll have a first release-candidate of grml 0.9 soon…

new grml-develrelease: 0.8-5

We have a new develrelease. grml 0.8-5 is available for beta-testers and grml-developers. Quoting the main changelog:

   * Added support for detection and activation of SW-RAIDs in
     live-cd mode. Can be disabled via bootoption noraid (and is
     disabled as well through forensic and raid=noautodetect).
   * Added grml-debootstrap: wrapper around debootstrap for
     installing plain Debian via grml very simple and fast
   * Added script fma: shipped with grml 0.8-4 already but not yet
     mentioned, provides "fast manual access" (take a look at it!)
   * zsh:
     - new alias hidiff (highlight important stuff in diff
       output using histring) [thanks for the idea, T!]
     - added power completion, thanks wuehlmaus!
       See http://zshwiki.org/home/examples/zleiab for details.
       Notice: this deactivates the global aliases by default now,
       just use the global aliases as well but press ',.' afterwards
       to expand the abbreviation! Trust me: you should know and use
       it! :-)
   * Fixed some issues in configuration framework handling, thanks
     for the reports, Marc Haber!
   * language stuff: added support for Norsk environment, thanks to
     Arnt Karlsen! [not yet visible in grml-setlang though]
   * grml-bootsplash: replaced the clear command with
     "echo -ne '\033[H\033[25l'" to avoid flickering at bootoption'splash'. Thanks a lot, Michael Schierl!

Setup Xen within 20 minutes on Debian/grml

I wrote a small howto for setting up xen within 20 minutes on Debian/grml.

working on grml64

As written in my private blog (german article only, sorry) I own a amd64 system now. A grml64 kernel is available and I already have a first working grml64 live-cd version. I plan to be able to release a first public version of grml64 together with grml 1.0. Stay tuned.