Grml Blog

Debian based Linux Live system

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.

grml 0.6 pre1 and grml-small 0.2 pre1

The pre releases of grml 0.6 and grml-small 0.2 are available for beta-testers and developers. We are running some last tests and updating documentation. We are planning to release on this weekend (around 23/24th of january). Stay tuned. :-)

2.6.15-grml

grml@grml ~ % uname -a  
Linux grml 2.6.15-grml #1 PREEMPT Wed Jan 4 16:42:22 CEST 2006 i686 GNU/Linux

See kernel-information webpage for more details. If you want to test 2.6.15-grml on your box(es), you are welcome to download them. I’m running a few more tests and finishing work on todolist before I’m releasing a preview-release of grml 0.6 for betatesters. I’ll be working on grml-small with 2.6.15-grml also to be able to release grml-small 0.2 too.

grml 22c3 release

I just finished work on the ‘grml 22c3 release’

The 22nd Chaos Communication Congress (December 27th to 30th, 2005) will take place in Berlin/Germany. I’m not on the event (lacking time), but several grml team members and beta-testers will be there! ‘grml 22c3’ is not a public release, it is only available for beta-testers and people at 22c3. It’s a preview release of the upcoming grml 0.6 which will be available in january 2006.

grml2hd and software raid (level 1)

I just added support for installing grml on software RAID level 1 with grml2hd. As we already have support for initrds it wasn’t such a big deal. [Disclaimer: it’s not a frontend for mdadm, you have to use mdadm manually on your own. If you want to use software RAID you should know how to handle it anyway.] So if you want to use RAID1 with ‘/’ on software-raid run mdadm and install grml afterwards on the new created device using the environment variable SWRAID which passes the provided option to the raid-extra-boot-option in lilo.conf:

# mdadm --create --verbose /dev/md0 --level=raid1 \  
        --raid-devices=2   /dev/hda1  /dev/hdc1  
# SWRAID='mbr-only' grml2hd /dev/md0 -mbr /dev/md0

That’s it. :-)

status report... grml 0.5-3

A lot of development has taken place in the last few weeks and days. We now have a full featured 2.6.14-grml kernel with udev replacing hotplug-light (thanks, Tobias!). Using bt-hid it’s possible to connect a bluetooth mouse, some more bluetooth scripts are work in progress… grml2hd supports initrd (and therefor installation on scsi and usb-devices). Improved synaptics touchpad support, ip addresses of network interfaces are displayed in GNU screen (thanks, Gebi!) and lots of other nice stuff. :-) Now we are waiting for kernel 2.6.15, in the meanwhile we are continuing work on the big quality check. We plan to release grml 0.6 and grml-small 0.2 at beginning of 2006.

new team member: Alexander Wirt

Alexander ‘formorer’ Wirt joined the grml-team. He is helping me at the kernel framework and works on the ppc port of grml. Welcome in the grml-team, Alexander!

grml-ppc: testers needed

Yes, that’s not a joke. A ppc-port of grml exists. :-) If everything works as expected a first develrelease of the grml-ppc live-cd will be available on this weekend (~27th of november). Formorer (who works on the ppc-port) needs testers. So if you own a power pc machine, are interested in the grml-ppc flavour and want to help us: please let us know! Either drop us a mail or contact us via #grml. Any help appreciated!

grml user map

I just created the grml-user map at frappr.com. Join us and add yourself as a grml-user! :)