Grml Blog

Debian based Linux Live system

grml-debootstrap: wrapper around debootstrap for installing plain Debian via grml

grml-debootstrap screenshot

I assume you already know debootstrap. Quoting the package description “debootstrap is used to create a Debian base system from scratch, without requiring the availability of dpkg or apt. It does this by downloading .deb files from a mirror site, and carefully unpacking them into a directory which can eventually be chrooted into.” I already described the procedure for installing Debian sarge and etch via grml in my private blog.

I usually install plain Debian systems via debootstrap, because it’s simple, fast and just works. Especially because grml provides recent hardware detection I can often install Debian on systems where the official debian installer might not work at all. But running debootstrap is a boring task, especially if you often do this kind of installation the tasks during installation are boring. Therefore I decided to write a wrapper around debootstrap, and there we are:

% apt-cache show grml-debootstrap
 Description: wrapper around debootstrap for installing plain Debian via grml
  This package provides a wrapper suite around deboostrap and
  cdebootstrap for installing a plain Debian system via grml.
  .
  All you have to do is adjust a few variables in configuration
  file /etc/debootstrap/config and invoke grml-debootstrap then.
  A plain and base Debian system will be installed on the given
  device then. Customization of this process is possible as well.

Installation of a plain and base Debian etch system is pretty fast and easy this way. The first public version of grml-debootstrap is available in the grml repository. Just apt-get it when running the grml live-cd. As usual: feedback is welcome.

devel meeting: mercurial day

Today Gebi and me had a developer meeting and concentrated on working with mercurial. We figured out the mq-extension (Mercurial Queues, similar to quilt) for working with Linux kernel and the grml patches, improved ACL system on our repositories, set up push notification via mail and extended our mercurial documentation. Thanks for the interesting day, Gebi.

new grml-develrelease: 0.8-4

We have a new develrelease. grml 0.8-4 is available for beta-testers and grml-developers. Quoting the main changelog:

  * fixed known issues from develrelease 0.8-3
  * updated kernel 2.6.18-grml:
    http://blog.grml.org/archives/199-updated-kernel-2.6.18-grml.html
  * grml2hd has a new feature: it's possible to customize grml2hd's
    execution via a configuration file named
    /etc/grml2hd/customization. Using this feature you can toggle
    which functions of grml2hd should be executed when running
    grml2hd.
  * switched to mplayer version available in Debian/unstable
  * OOTB support for vmmouse driver if running grml inside vmware
  * many minor updates, lots of cleanups, new shell
    aliases/functions,... [just too many too mention all]
Packages removed since 0.8 (excluding lib* and *2.6.17-grml*;
notice: some of them are available under a differnet name now):
  apache2-common bluez-pin bookmarkbridge camgrab cdw cdw-common
  cthumb divine dnotify drbd0.7-utils gcj-4.1-base gconf2-common
  grml-kerneladdons grml-reportbug ht jaxml lout-doc lpr
  mozilla-mplayer mplayer-nogui ndiswrapper-utils-1.7 netkit-inetd
  ppmtofb python2.3-pymad python2.3-pyopenssl python2.3-pyparsing
  python2.3-twisted-bin python2.4-selinux python2.4-semanage
  scanerrlog stunnel turkey xfonts-100dpi-transcoded
  xfonts-75dpi-transcoded xorg x-window-system-core
Packages added since 0.8 (excluding lib* and *2.6.18-grml*):
  ace-of-penguins afflib apache2.2-common aria2 automake ccontrol
  cdrskin classpath-gtkpeer conntrack cupsys-bsd ddccontrol
  ddccontrol-db diakonos diction drbd8-utils dwm-tools dynafont
  emacs emelfm firmware-qlogic glipper grml-etc-core
  grml-kerneladdons-2.6.18 guessnet ink inotail inotify-tools iwatch
  konwert konwert-filters latex-ucs mathomatic medusa misdn-utils
  mpg123-alsa mplayer ne obexpushd openbsd-inetd pax-utils ptfinder
  python2.5 python2.5-minimal python-jaxml python-pymad
  python-selinux python-semanage python-twisted-bin qtparted rake
  rdoc rdoc1.8 reniced reportbug resolvconf ruby-prof sic smap
  ssdeep stealth stunnel4 synergy sysvinit-utils update-inetd
  vim-python vim-ruby wodim xen-utils-common xmms2 xmms2-client-cli
  xmms2-core xmms2-plugin-alsa xmms2-plugin-id3v2 xmms2-plugin-jack
  xmms2-plugin-mad xmms2-plugin-vorbis xserver-xorg-input-vmmouse
  youtube-dl

updated kernel 2.6.18-grml

An updated version of kernel 2.6.18-grml is available. The patchlist for 2.6.18-grml:

1000_2.6.18.1.patch
2500_via-irq-quirk-revert.patch
4005_sky2-v1.9.patch
4010_r8169-8168.patch
4105_dm-bbr.patch
4110_promise-pdc2037x.patch
4150_iteraid.patch
4300_squashfs-3.0.patch
4400_speakup-20060814.patch
5000_grml-version.patch
5001_grml_logo.patch
5002_linux-2.6.17-commandline.patch

As you might notice reiser4 is not part of the kernel (and unless there’s an official patch this won’t change for the upcoming grml-release). The external modules lufs, nozomi, thinkpad and vaiostat don’t compile against 2.6.18 yet, the rest of the work has been done. I’m already running grml 0.8-3d with this kernel version. A new develrelease will be available within the next few days…

two years of grml

Exactly two years ago (on 22nd of october 2004) the first release of grml (named OS04) was released. Happy birthday. :-)

launching hg.grml.org

The grml-team uses Mercurial and we are providing public repositories via hg.grml.org. Documentation regarding our setup and how to work with mercurial can be found at grml.org/mercurial/.

grml2hd: support for customization

grml2hd has a new feature: starting with version 0.8.12 it’s possible to customize grml2hd’s execution via a configuration file named /etc/grml2hd/customization. Using this feature you can toggle which functions of grml2hd should be executed when running grml2hd.

grml.org running on new server

Notice that grml.org moved to a new server (more space, RAM, power,…). The new ip address of grml.org is 88.198.6.110, JFYI.

new grml-develrelease: 0.8-3

We have a new develrelease. grml 0.8-3 is available for beta-testers and grml-developers. Quoting the main changelog:

  * added acx100, drbd8, spca5xx and truecrypt (for 2.6.18-grml)
  * new script random-hostname (print random hostname to stdout),
    integrated within grml2hd as well:)
  * grml-setlang: support all languages defined in
    /etc/grml/language-functions. Don't set $LC_ALL and $COUNTRY by
    default anymore.  Support non-interactive use via 'grml-setlang'.
  * rebuildfstab/scanpartitions:
    - added support for /dev/md*
    - improved fs-detection
    - support bootoption nolabel (don't generate label based fstab
      entries but plain, old style); use 'NOLABEL=1 grml-rebuildfstab'
      if you want to regenerate fstab without labels; force usage
      of labels via 'LABEL=1 grml-rebuildfstab' if you booted with'nolabel' but want to use labels anyway
    - support /etc/fstab.local (will be appended to end of
      /etc/fstab if the file exists)
    Please take a look at /etc/fstab and report any problems you consider!
  * hwinfo: using new release from Debian's pool, if you notice any
    problems with grml-x you didn't have until now, please report
    them!
  * new scripts (under development):
    - grml-bridge: set up your box as bridge
    - grml-router: set up your box as NAT-router
    - grml-ap: set up access point on your box
  * added /etc/skel/.irbrc ($HOME/irbrc), new shell aliases,...

packaged ssdeep, ptfinder and afflib

Today I packaged ssdeep (detect similarities between files based on hash values), ptfinder (extract process information from a Windows memory dump) and afflib (utils for the Advanced Forensic Format [aff]).

grml-small in Linux-User 2006/10

Linux User 2006/10 Bootsplash

grml-small 0.2 is shipped with the german Linux-User magazin, edition 2006/10.

grml in c't 21/2006

grml is mentioned in the well known and popular german computer magazine c’t, edition 21/2006 in an article named “Systemdiagnose und -wartung mit Linux” (page 130++ ). Great. :-)

quality management: checking for new upstream releases

I’m working on quality management those days. Today I checked 284 (a*-dillo) out of 2470 packages shipped with grml for new upstream releases and got 13 hits which I reported to Debian’s BTS of course. I’ll continue with this (awful boring) kind of work in the next days…

new grml-develrelease: 0.8-2

Hurray, we have a new develrelease! grml 0.8-2 is available for beta-testers and grml-developers.

grml 0.8-2

Quoting the main changelog:

  * Features brand new kernel 2.6.18-grml
    Notice: the fglrx and nvidia modules are available at
    http://dufo.tugraz.at/~prokop/grml-kernel/2.6.18-grml/
    Notice2: not all modules are available yet; the missing ones are:
    reiser4 (not yet in kernel), acx100, adp94xx, bcm5700, dazuko,
    drbd8, lufs, nozomi, spca5xx, qc-usb, sl-modem, thinkpad,
    truecrypt
  * grml2hd checks whether you're installing to something like
    /dev/hdb3 and if /dev/[sh]da are harddisks, the lilo-dialog
    provides the possibility to install lilo into MBR of /dev/[sh]da
    instead of /dev/hdb3 or /dev/hdb. (Thanks for idea and code-base
    goes to Alexander Bernauer!)
  * Unicode support!
    /archives/178-basic-unicode-support-for-grml.html
    What does this mean? You can use something like 'grml
    lang=at-utf8' to set environment variable for unicode.
    Just use "lang=$YOURLANGUAGE-utf8" to use this feature.
    The script grml-setlang allows to configure environment
    variables through /etc/default/locale. (Some more documentation
    will be available as soon as I upload the packages to the
    grml-repos.)
  * Split grml-etc into grml-etc-core: this provides the possibility
    to use grml-etc-core (which ships only some core config files
    for zsh, vim,...) on *plain* Debian (stable/testing/unstable)
    systems without interference.
  * Support truecrypt in our reboot/shutdown scripts (make sure no
    mapped volumes are left behind).
  * Check whether a swap partition is in use already and display
    info message during boot process (instead of an error message).
  * When running pump finished (which happens in background during
    bootup) it writes "finished_running_pump" into
    /etc/network/status/$DEVICE so you/we can check for it.
  * Bugfixes, improvements in rebuildfstab and other grml-packages...
  * Fixed the "Booting from external devices (SCSI/USB/Firewire)
    does not work" issue.

Get it as long as it’s fresh and hot! :-)