Grml Blog

Debian based Linux Live system

new develrelease: grml 0.8-1

I just uploaded a new develrelease for beta-testers and grml-devs. All the mounting-stuff as discussed on the grml-user mailinglist has been implemented. Quoting the main part of the Changelog:

* Fixed the issues of grml 0.8 mentioned on
  http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml_0.8 (only the bt-net stuff
  does not work yet, Gebi is working on it)
* /mnt/usb-sd* feature - see Thread "RFC: handling of external usb
  devices" on grml-user mailinglist for details =>
  http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.distributions.grml.user/466/focus=466
* grml-rebuildfstab (that's an shell command now as well, just run'grml-rebuildfstab' to rebuild /etc/fstab!) supports fs-LABELs and
  UUIDs; rebuilfstab now takes care of /mnt/*-directories as well - see
  http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.distributions.grml.user/466/focus=507
  http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.distributions.grml.user/508
  and "man rebuildfstab" for details.
  Notice: Running "apt-get update ; apt-get install grml-autoconfig \
  grml-rebuildfstab grml-scanpartitions udev" should bring you the
  /mnt/usb-sd* and new fstab features to your harddisk installation
  of grml.
* Removed the bitmap-fonts packages xfonts-100dpi-transcoded and
  xfonts-75dpi-transcoded. I couldn't notice any font-related
  problems, if you do notice some please let me know!
* Added FreeDOS 1.0 from the Balder project; boot into it using the
  bootoption 'dos'
* Updated the adp94xx scsi kernel module [also in the initrd]
  (thanks, jimmy)
* Extended grml-tips: several new tips regarding mdadm, lvm-stuff,...
* Updated packages to debian-pool by 2006-09-11
* New packages (excluding lib*):
  aria2 ccontrol cdrskin classpath-gtkpeer ddccontrol ddccontrol-db
  firmware-qlogic iwatch medusa openbsd-inetd python-jaxml
  python-selinux python-semanage queuegraph reniced smap stealth
  unionfs-modules-2.6.17-grml 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
* Removed packages (excluding lib*):
  jaxml netkit-inetd ppmtofb python2.4-selinux scanerrlog
  xfonts-100dpi-transcoded xfonts-75dpi-transcoded

grml @ german live-radio

Today (2006-09-03) grml will be part of the german Ulmer CCC /dev/radio. Listen to the live-stream/podcast or grab the mp3/ogg from the archive afterwards!

packaged smap and iwatch

I packaged smap (nmap like SIP scanner) and iwatch (a realtime filesystem monitoring program). Both programs are worth a try - as usual get the Debian package from the grml-repository.

grml netboot package for grml 0.8

A grml netboot package for grml 0.8 is available for Booting grml without grml-terminalserver. Credits go to Stefan Himpich, thanks!

grml 0.8 released

grml 0.8 codename Funkenzutzler is available. More information can be found in the official release announcement.

grml 0.8 - release candidate 2 available (update)

Just a short message from the devel-desk: grml 0.8-rc2 is available. Please help hunting bugs! Known issues can be found at the release-candidate webpage in the grml-wiki. Update: we have two mirrors: grml.gwendoline.at (thanks, Alfie!) and modprobe.de (thanks, Nion!)

grml 0.8 - release candidate 1 available

I’m proud to be able to present a first release-candidate of the upcoming grml 0.8 release.

#####################################################
Notice: This is a pre-release and *not* yet the final
stable release! Whereas we do consider this release
as quite stable there might be some issues left.
Please report any bugs you notice!
Thanks for helping us improve grml!
#####################################################

The full changelog is available online. Please contribute to our testing section in the grml-wiki! Download: the release-candidate is available on the following mirrors:

2.6.17-grml in the grml-repository, fglrx-driver 8.27.10

Kernel 2.6.17-grml just hit the grml-repository, so you can run ‘apt-get update; apt-get install linux-image-2.6.17-grml $MODULES_YOU_LIKE’ to install it.

The brand new fglrx-driver version 8.27.10 is available as well, just run ‘apt-get update ; apt-get install fglrx-driver fglrx-kernel-2.6.17-grml’ to install it.

If you notice any problems please feel free to report them!

new develrelease: 0.7-6

A new develrelease is available. Quoting the main changelog from my mail to beta-testers and developers:

* includes the final build of 2.6.17-grml (based on 2.6.17.7):
  - reiser4 is part of the kernel again
  - SMP enabled (this means we also have dual-core support!)
  - featuring all extra modules
* bootoption noblank: disable console blanking
* grml2hd:
  - partition selector
  - grml-setlang: set language system-wide on grml system
  - grml-setkeyboard: set keyboard layout system-wide on grml system via
    /etc/sysconfig/keyboard
* grml-policy-rc.d: a wrapper script for invoke-rc.d to avoid
  automatical startup of init scripts via invoke-rc.d
* osd_server.py: listen for incoming messages on a specific port and
  print them via osd_cat; run 'grml-tips osd' for more details
  (thanks to Ulrich Dangel, Alexander Bernauer and Rico Schickel)
* myip: return IP address of running system on stdout
* updated hwinfo to version 12.9 (with backporting hw-ids from 13.0)
* updated packages to debian-pool by 2006-07-27

Notice: this is a pre-release of grml 0.8, the next few days are meant for testing, testing and testing so we can ship a new stable release soon.

final build of 2.6.17-grml

The final build of 2.6.17-grml is available. It’s based on 2.6.17.7, including some more patches and supports SMP and reiser4. I could manage to build all extra modules as well. If you want to install the debian packages before they are going into the grml-repository get them from the usual place. The kernel is integrated and running with(in) current grml-build 0.7-5f. A new develrelease will be available within the next few days. Then we’ll have the big find-bugs-and-report-them-so-we-can-fix-them week before grml 0.8 is available as a new stable release.

packaged magicrescue

Today I packaged magicrescue (undelete utility and recover files from corrupted drives). As usual you can get it from the grml-repository.

packaged dwm

I just packaged dwm (dynamic, small, fast and simple window manager for X11). As usual you can get it from the grml repository.

language-selection within grml2hd, status report

Currently I’m working on language support within grml2hd so you can easily select your prefered language and keyboard settings via grml-setlang and grml-setkeyboard. Works fine so far, we just have to do some more testing.

Jimmy wrote a partition selector for grml2hd which should make live easier for grml2hd-newbies. :-)

I slightly improved some configuration files and scripts. An absolutely great feature has been integrated: osd_server.py by Ulrich Dangel, Rico Schiekel and Alexander Bernauer. Special thanks to Ulrich ‘schula’ Dangel for his work in #grml. osd_server.py allows you to be notified about remote stuff via On Screen Display when running X. Expect to find a hint for setup in grml-tips(1) soon.

Another feature waiting for being published: grml-policy-rc.d, to avoid automatical startup of init scripts via invoke-rc.d. More details will be available in its manpage as soon as we consider it working and stable.

And I’m still working on the patchset for 2.6.17-grml. I’m waiting for the next stable release (should be available on 19th of july) before providing a final build of 2.6.17-grml.

We will have a grml-develmeeting today (tuesday) where we will talk about grml 0.8. We have some release-stoppers left and try to reduce todo-list within the next few days so we can release grml 0.8 at beginning of august. Stay tuned…

packaged CmosPwd

I packaged CmosPwd, a tool which decrypts password stored in cmos used to access BIOS setup. As usual you can find it in the grml-repository and it will be part of grml 0.8.

grml develrelease 0.7-5

Last wednesday I uploaded the new grml develrelease 0.7-5. Quoting the changelog:

* 2.6.17-grml:
  http://blog.grml.org/archives/163-2.6.17-grml.html
  - reiser4 is *not* part of the kernel. Anyone out there missing it?
  - ipw3495 is part of the kernel, the daemon is missing though
[...]
  - I'm thinking about integration of swsusp2 - any votes?
  TODO-list for 2.6.17-grml:
  http://dufo.tugraz.at/~prokop/grml-kernel/2.6.17-grml/TODO
* integrated fvwm-crystal-minimal (packaged by myself, you can find
  it in the grml-repos; replaces fvwm-crystal for space-reasons)
* dropped gcc/g++ 4.0, providing 4.1 instead as the kernel is
  compiled with 4.1
* vi points to vim instead of elvis (thanks, Wolfgang Karall)
* updated packages to debian-pool by 2006-06-21

Now I’ve finished work on the ipw3495 stuff: ipw3945-ucode and ipw3945d are available in the grml repository. The ipw3495 module works out-of-the-box on grml now.

Running some more tests with different kernel configurations showed that swsusp2 very probably won’t find its way to the grml-kernel. On the other hand the tests with SMP were very good, so we might have SMP-support in grml 0.8. Stay tuned. :-)

The TODO list for the the current build of 2.6.17-grml is also very short now: only ivtv and linux-wlan-ng are missing. I’ll package truecrypt, tpm-emulator and grml-kerneladdons for 2.6.17-grml as soon as the final build of 2.6.17-grml is available.