Grml Blog

Debian based Linux Live system

new team member: Timo Boettcher

Timo ‘Spida’ Boettcher joined the grml-team. He is known as the bug-hunter #1. :-)

grml 0.7 available

grml 0.7 - Codename Bootenschnitzl is available! The new release brings 48 new packages and many new features. For details take a look at the release announcement.

2.6.16-grml available

Work on kernel 2.6.16-grml has been finished. It’s based on 2.6.16.1 and includes support for speakup, squashfs 3.0, iteraid, sdhci and reiser4. All the external modules usually provided by grml are available as well, take a look at the kernel-devel webpage for details.BTW: Besides some updates in configuration files I also added support for detection of resume, speakup_synth, swspeak and brltty bootoptions to grml2hd-bootparams. This means you shouldn’t need to add the options manually to lilo’s append-line anymore. A new develrelease (grml 0.6-8) will be available at the weekend. grml 0.7 is coming closer…

booting via firewire

As you maybe know grml is already capable of booting from CD via firewire. Now we are also able to boot a grml2hd installation via firewire (thanks to maks for the initramfs-update). So we aren’t limited to external usb devices but you can use your portable grml-installation even on external firewire devices. :-) Note: currently initramfs on usb devices is broken, I hope this issue can be fixed within the next few days… BTW: I also have a kernel 2.6.16-grml featuring reiser4-support now… grml 0.7 is coming closer…

grml-small @ Cebit-Sarge-DVD

A special edition of grml-small (0.2c) is available on the Debian Sarge DVD by Linux New Media AG presented at Cebit 2006. Thanks to Alexander ‘formorer’ Wirt for sending me 4 DVDs and a Debian-keyring!

2.6.16-grml available (update)

A first public version of kernel 2.6.16-grml is available. It includes support for speakup and the new squashfs version 3.0. Notice: reiser4 is included but causes problems.

Currently nvidia-kernel, openafs, qc-usb, sl-modem, linux-wlan-ng and eagle-usb are missing from the external modules list, caused by building problems. grml-kerneladdons needs to be updated as well. I also found bugs in the exmap and nozomi source package. BTW: Propably we still can’t integrate loop-aes as we need CONFIG_BLK_DEV_LOOP=y and this seems to conflict with loop-aes requirements. :-/ The ISO-build grml 0.6-7c is running with 2.6.16-grml already. Fixing the above mentioned problems is on my todo-list now. I’ll provide a new develrelease very soon… Update: a new kernel build (grml.04) without reiser4 is available and included in new develrelease grml 0.6-7

chemnitzer linuxdays 2006: done

We are back from Chemnitzer Linuxdays 2006. It was fun and I really enjoyed meeting all the other grml developers! Thanks to Timo ‘Spida’ Boettcher for sponsering a box of Club-Mate to the grml-team! :-) The slides of my german talk about grml are available online (1.5 MB, PDF). We also have some pics (by Karl Voit, thx!): clt06 gallery.

grml - Chemnitzer LinuxTage 2006 edition

Main work on the special grml edition “Chemnitzer LinuxTage 2006” (grml-clt06) has been finished. Packages have been updated, we have some more new tools and minor bugfixes took place. Now we have to do some more testing before burning the CDs is on the todolist. The edition will be available exclusive for CLT06 visitors. If you visit my grml-talk your chances aren’t that bad to receive a grml-clt06-CD. :-)BTW: We’ll have grml-develmeeting(s) at CLT06. If you want to get in contact with grml-developers feel free to do so! We are wearing black shirts. ;-) Of course with a grml-logo on it. :-)

develrelease grml 0.6-2

Chemnitzer LinuxTage 2006 and the grml CLT06 release are coming closer. grml 0.6-2 is available for betatesters and developers. See the changelog for more details: Changelog from grml 0.6-1:

  • updated isolinux to version syslinux-3.20-pre6
  • removed mysql-server package
  • rebuildfstab (/etc/fstab):
  • partitions have new mount-options: ’noauto,nouser,dev,suid,exec'
  • improved partition detection (e.g. reiser4 is detected now) Changelog from grml 0.6-2:
  • updated all packages (including some kernel module updates)
  • boot cheatcode ‘vmware’ - disable usb/firewire detection during bootprocess, load some SCSI-modules instead
  • reworked zsh completion (no error correction on rm and mv commands)
  • grml2hd: check for given mbr option and prompt for activating it if not set
  • bt-audio: script to connect bluetooth headset to computer
  • /bin/sh now points to /bin/bash; reason: Debian does not support zsh as /bin/sh. Take a look at #329288 and #340058 for example. zsh is used as interactive shell anyway of course
  • grub can be called from bootmenu (in isolinux) through running ‘grub’ now; thanks a lot to Rafael Steiner!
  • implemented sw-raid related stuff as mentioned on grml-user mailinglist Now I just implemented a function to detect suspend-to-disk signatures on swap partitions so grml does not touch them unless you are requesting via using bootoption ‘anyswap’. This entry is brought to you by mika running grml 0.6-2-a. :-)

information regarding debconf problem

I’m receiving many requests regarding the debconf problem within the last few days. Please! If you are using grml in a productive environment and/or use a grml2hd installation I strongly recommend to suscribe to the grml-user mailinglist to stay informed about current issues. It’s possible to read the mailinglist also via gmane.

grml user mailinglist available on gmane

The grml-user mailinglist is available on the mail to news gateway gmane now: gmane.linux.distributions.grml.user

grml @ chemnitzer linuxdays 2006

Chemnitzer LinuxTag 2006 takes place at the beginning of march. Several grml developers will be there, including myself. :-)
I will present grml in a lecture named “grml - Debian-basierte Live-CD für Systemadministratoren und Texttool-User”. I’ll introduce what is grml and give a technical overview what’s behind grml. Of course I’ll present some of the rocking features like handy stuff of the zsh, some nifty tools and full automatic installation via grml2hd. I’m working on a grml CLT06 edition and will carry grml-CDs and grml-shirts with me. Hope to see you there!

paper cd case for grml 0.6

Florian Hassler contributed a paper cd case for grml 0.6. Get it on grml.org/files/ Thanks, Florian!

new grml releases available: grml 0.6 and grml-small 0.2

grml 0.6 with codename Winterschlapfn and grml-small 0.2 with codename Corry are available.

update to grml 0.6

The meta package grml 0.6 is available in the grml-repository. This means you can run ‘apt-get update ; apt-get install grml’ and you will get the up2date grml-core packages on your grml harddisk installation. I’ve done several tests, the update from grml 0.5 to grml 0.6 went smoothly and without any problems. If you do consider any problems during upgrade don’t hesitate to contact us.