# grml-live
grml-live - build framework for the Grml Live Linux system
grml-live [-a <architecture>] [-c <classe[s]>] [-C <configfile>] [ -e <extract_iso_name>] [-g <grml_name>] [-i <iso_name>] [ -o <output_directory>] [-r <release_name>] [-s <suite>] [ -t <template_directory>] [-v <version_number>] [-U <username>] [ -w <date>] [-AbBFnNqQuVz]
grml-live is the build system for the Grml Live Linux system. You can also use it to adapt a Grml release to your own needs.
The build system is based on the class concept of FAI (Fully Automatic Installation). While older versions directly used FAI, the current version of grml-live supports the same class-based configuration concept but provides its own implementation.
The class-based configuration concept gives you the flexibility to choose the packages you would like to include on your own Linux Live-CD without having to deal with all the details of a build process.
Caution | grml-live no longer uses FAI. This means you are free to use FAI separately in any way you like, but also you no longer need to have FAI installed. |
Note | Please notice that you should have a fast network connection as all the Debian packages will be downloaded and installed via network. If you want to use a local mirror (strongly recommended if you plan to use grml-live more than once) checkout debmirror(1), reprepro(1) (see /usr/share/doc/grml-live/examples/reprepro/ for a sample configuration), apt-cacher(1) and approx(8). To avoid downloading the base system again and again check out the base tar.gz feature. |
Clean up all output directories before running the build process. After finishing, clean up the Chroot target and Build target directories.
Use the specified architecture instead of the currently running one. This allows building a 32bit system on a 64bit host (though you can’t build a 64bit system on a 32bit system/kernel of course). Please notice that real crosscompiling (like building a ppc system on x86) isn’t possible due to the nature and the need of working in a chroot. Currently supported values: i386, amd64 and arm64.
Build the ISO without updating the chroot. This option is useful for example when working on stable releases: if you have a working base system/chroot and do not want to execute any further updates (via "-u" option) but intend to only build the ISO.
Build the ISO without touching the chroot at all. This option is useful if you modified anything grml-live might adjust via the class-based configuration. It’s like the -b option but even more advanced. Use only if you really know that you do not want to update the chroot.
Specify the CLASSES to be used for building the ISO. By default only the classes GRMLBASE, GRML_FULL and I386/AMD64/ARM64 (depending on system architecture) are assumed. Additionally you can specify a class providing a (grml-)kernel (see the CLASSES section in this document for details about available classes). So instead of GRML_FULL you can also use e.g. GRML_SMALL.
Important | All class names should be written in uppercase letters. Do not use a dash, use an underscore. So do not use "amd64" but "AMD64", do not use "FOO BAR" but "FOO_BAR". |
The specified file is used as configuration file for grml-live. By default /etc/grml/grml-live.conf is used as default configuration. If a file named /etc/grml/grml-live.local exists it is used as well (sourced after reading /etc/grml/grml-live.conf meant as main file for local configuration). As a last option the specified configuration file is sourced so it is possible to override settings of /etc/grml/grml-live.conf as well as of /etc/grml/grml-live.local. Please notice that all configuration files have to be adjusted during execution of grml-live, so please make sure you use /etc/grml/grml-live.conf as a base for your own configuration file (usually /etc/grml/grml-live.local). Please also notice that the configuration file specified via this option is not (yet) supported inside the scripts/hooks/classes at ${GRML_FAI_CONFIG}. Instead use /etc/grml/grml-live.local for configuration stuff used inside ${GRML_FAI_CONFIG}.
Use specified date as build date information on the ISO instead of the default. The default is the date when grml-live is being executed (retrieved via executing date +%Y-%m-%d). The information is stored inside the file /GRML/grml-version on the ISO, /etc/grml_version in the squashfs file and in all the bootsplash related files. This option is useful if you want to provide an ISO with release information for a specific date but have to build it in advance. Usage example: -d 2009-10-30
The specified directory is used as configuration directory for grml-live. By default /usr/share/grml-live/config is used as default configuration directory. If you want to have different configuration scripts, package definitions, etc. without messing with the global configuration under /usr/share/grml-live/config provided by grml-live this option provides you the option to use your own configuration directory. This directory is what’s being referred to as ${GRML_FAI_CONFIG} throughout this documentation.
The squashfs inside the specified ISO will be extracted and used as the chroot. This option is useful for remastering, in combination with -A and -b or -u.
Force execution and do not prompt for acknowledgment of configuration.
Set the grml flavour name. Common usage examples: grml, grml-small, grml64. Please do NOT use blanks and any special characters like /, ; inside GRML_NAME, otherwise you might notice problems while booting.
Display short usage information and exit.
Specify name of ISO which will be available inside $OUTPUT_DIRECTORY/grml_isos by default.
Specify name of source directory which provides files that should become part of the chroot/ISO. Not enabled by default. Note: the files are installed under / in the chroot so you have to create the rootfs structure on your own.
Skip creation of the ISO file. This option is useful if you want to build/update the chroot and/or recreate the squashfs file without building an ISO file.
Bootstrap the chroot without building bootloader, squashfs, or finalizing the ISO. Use this option if installation of some packages fails, you want to run custom commands or similar. The main use of this option is to save time by skipping stages which aren’t necessary for bootstrapping the chroot and which would get executed more than once when iterating through the initial bootstrapping. Alternatively, use this option as a test run of grml-live. Once you are satisfied with the state of your grml_chroot, use grml-live -u to build the remaining stages and finalize the ISO.
Main output directory of the build process. Some directories are created inside this target directory, being: grml_cd (where the files for creating the ISO are located, including the compressed squashfs file), grml_chroot (the chroot system) and grml_isos (where the resulting ISO is stored).
Build the ISO without (re-)creating the squashfs compressed file using mksquashfs. This option is useful if you just want to update parts outside the chroot in the ISO. Consider combining this option with the build-only option -b.
Build the ISO without generating a netboot package.
Specify name of the release.
Specify the Debian suite you want to use for your live-system. If unset defaults to "testing". Supported values are: stable, testing, unstable (or their corresponding release names like "bookworm"). Please be aware that recent Debian suites might require a recent base.tgz (${GRML_FAI_CONFIG}/basefiles/$CLASSNAME.tar.gz) or a recent version of debootstrap.
Specify place of the templates used for building the ISO. By default (and if not manually specified) this is /usr/share/grml-live/templates/.
Update existing chroot instead of rebuilding it from scratch..
Sets ownership of all build output files to specified username before exiting.
Specify version number of the release.
Increase verbosity in the build process.
The wayback machine. Build the system using Debian archives from the specified date. Valid date formats are yyyymmddThhmmssZ or simply yyyymmdd. To learn which snapshots exist, i.e. which date strings are valid, simply browse the lists on http://snapshot.debian.org/. If there is no import at the exact time you specified you will get the latest available timestamp which is before the time you specified. This option is useful especially for release and debugging builds - for example if you know that the Debian archive was in a good state on a specific date but you want to build it on another day in the future, where the archive might not be as needed anymore. Please be aware that this is restricted to the plain Debian repositories only, as referred to in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list (so neither the Grml repositories nor any further custom ones are affected by the wayback machine).
Use ZLIB instead of LZMA/XZ compression in mksquashfs part of the build process.
To get a Debian-stable and Grml-based Live-CD using ./grml as build and output directory just run:
# grml-live
To get a 64bit Debian-testing and grml-small based Live-CD using /srv/grml-live as build and output directory use the following command line on your amd64 system:
# grml-live -s testing -c GRMLBASE,GRML_SMALL,AMD64 -o /srv/grml-live
Note | If you have enough RAM, just run "mount -t tmpfs none /media/ramdisk" to get a tmpfs ("RAMDISK"), and use /media/ramdisk as build and output directory - this results in a very fast build process. Note that these files will be gone when rebooting. |
create a Grml-/Debian-based Linux Live-CD with one single command
class based concept, providing a maximum of flexibility
supports integration of own hooks, scripts and configuration
supports use and integration of own Software and/or Kernels via simple use of Debian repositories
grml-live uses a class based concept, like FAI, for adjusting configuration and customizing the installation according to your needs. This gives you flexibility and strength without losing the simplicity in the build process.
The main and base class provided by grml-live is named GRMLBASE. It’s strongly recommended to always use the class GRMLBASE when building an ISO using grml-live, as well as the architecture dependent class which provides the kernel (being I386 for x86_32, AMD64 for x86_64 and ARM64 for arm64) and a GRML_* class (like GRML_SMALL or GRML_FULL). The following files and directories are relevant for class GRMLBASE by default:
${GRML_FAI_CONFIG}/scripts/GRMLBASE/ ${GRML_FAI_CONFIG}/debconf/GRMLBASE ${GRML_FAI_CONFIG}/class/GRMLBASE.var ${GRML_FAI_CONFIG}/hooks/instsoft.GRMLBASE ${GRML_FAI_CONFIG}/package_config/GRMLBASE
Take a look at the next section for information about the concept of those files/directories.
If you want to use your own configuration, extend an existing configuration and/or add additional packages to your ISO just invent a new class (or extend an existing one). For example if you want to use your own class named "FOOBAR" on your amd64 build, et CLASSES="GRMLBASE,GRML_SMALL,AMD64,FOOBAR" inside /etc/grml/grml-live.local or invoke grml-live using the classes option: "grml-live -c GRMLBASE,GRML_SMALL,AMD64,FOOBAR …".
More details regarding the class concept can be found in the documentation of FAI (being available at /usr/share/doc/fai-doc/ if you install fai-doc). In the past, grml-live directly used FAI. Nowadays, it uses an internal implementation of the class concept.
The package selection part of the classes can be found in ${GRML_FAI_CONFIG}/package_config whereas some further classes are defined for example in ${GRML_FAI_CONFIG}/scripts/ so specific feature sets can be selected. The following classes are predefined:
DEBORPHAN: get rid of "autoremove" and "removed-but-not-yet-purged" packages;
also all packages listed in output of deborphan (only if deborphan is actually
present, note that grml-live no longer installs deborphan by default as it’s not
present since Debian/trixie!). This class is called as such for historic
reasons, and while deborphan itself is no longer relevant nowadays, the name of
the class was kept as such for backwards compatibility reasons. This class is
thought to be used before any further GRML*
classes, like
DEBORPHAN,GRMLBASE,GRML_FULL,RELEASE,...
to get proper Grml releases.
FRESHCLAM: execute freshclam (if it’s present) to update clamav definitions (increases resulting ISO size ~70MB). By default it’s skipped to avoid bigger ISO size.
GRMLBASE: the main class responsible for getting a minimal subset of what’s
defining a Grml system. Important parts of the buildprocess are specified in
this class as well, so unless you have a really good reason you should always
use this class. Please be aware that using just the GRMLBASE class won’t be
enough, because the kernel packages (e.g. linux-image-*) are chosen in
further GRML_* classes (to provide maximum flexibility with kernel
selection). If you don’t want to use the existing GRML_FULL or GRML_SMALL
classes, define your own CLASS file choosing the kernel package you want to use
(and don’t forget to include your CLASS in the arguments of grml-live’s -c...
command line option).
GRML_FULL: full featured Grml, also known as the "normal", full grml as introduced in December 2011 (~750 ISO size).
GRML_SMALL: minimum sized Grml version, known as grml-small (~360MB ISO size).
LATEX: LaTeX(-related) packages like auctex, texlive,… (which used to be shipped by grml before the LaTeX removal)
LATEX_CLEANUP: get rid of several very large LaTeX directories (like some /usr/share/doc/texlive-*, /usr/share/doc/texmf,…)
LOCALES: use full featured locales setup (see /etc/locale.gen.grml). This avoids to get rid of /usr/share/locale - which happens by default otherwise - as well.
NO_ONLINE: do not run scripts during the chroot build process which require a network connection
RELEASE: run some specific scripts and commands to provide the workflow for an official grml release
REMOVE_DOCS: get rid of documentation directories (like /usr/share/doc, /usr/share/man/, /usr/share/info,…)
SOURCES: retrieve Debian source packages after installation. Files will be placed in the output directory under grml_sources.
XORG: providing important packages for use with a base grml-featured X.org setup
ZFS: package selection to add support for OpenZFS/zfsonlinux
To understand the class-based configuration concept, please refer to the FAI documentation (provided by the Debian package fai-doc). Examples can be found in /usr/share/doc/fai-doc/examples/simple/ . Furthermore /usr/share/doc/fai-doc/fai-guide.html/ch-config.html provides documentation regarding configuration possibilities. Note that grml-live uses its own implementation of the class-based concept, so not all FAI features are available.
/usr/sbin/grml-live
Script for the main build process. Requires root permissions for execution.
/etc/grml/grml-live.conf
Main configuration file for grml-live which should be considered as a reference configuration file only. Please use /etc/grml/grml-live.local for local configuration instead.
/etc/grml/grml-live.local
All the local configuration should go to this file. This file overrides any defaults of grml-live. Configurations via /etc/grml/grml-live.local are preferred over the ones from /etc/grml/grml-live.conf. If you want to override settings from /etc/grml/grml-live.local as well you have to specify them on the grml-live commandline.
${GRML_FAI_CONFIG}/
The main directory for configuration of grml-live. More details below.
${GRML_FAI_CONFIG}/class/
This directory contains files which specify main configuration variables for the classes.
${GRML_FAI_CONFIG}/debconf/
This directory provides the files for preseeding/configuration of debconf through files.
${GRML_FAI_CONFIG}/hooks/
This directory provides files for customising the build process through hooks. Hooks are user defined programs or scripts, which are called during the installation process.
${GRML_FAI_CONFIG}/package_config/
Directory with lists of software packages to be installed or removed. The different classes describe what should find its way to your ISO. When running "grml-live -c GRMLBASE,GRML_SMALL,AMD64 …" only the configuration of GRMLBASE, GRML_SMALL and AMD64 will be taken. If you use grml-live -c GRMLBASE,GRML_SMALL,AMD64,FOOBAR … then the files of GRMLBASE, GRML_SMALL, AMD64 plus the files from FOOBAR will be taken. So just create a new class to adjust the package selection according to your needs. Please notice that the directory GRMLBASE contains a package list defining a minimum but still reasonable package configuration.
${GRML_FAI_CONFIG}/scripts/
Scripts for customising the ISO within the build process.
${GRML_FAI_CONFIG}/live-initramfs/
This directory provides the files used for building the initramfs/initrd via live-initramfs(8).
Starting with grml-live version 0.17.0 you should find log files in a directory named grml_logs in the output directory (next to grml_isos, grml_chroot,…).
grml-live versions before 0.17.0 used to log into /var/log/grml-live.log and /var/log/fai/grml.
any Debian based system should be sufficient (if it doesn’t work it’s a bug, please send us a bug report then). Check out How do I deploy grml-live on a plain Debian installation for details how to set up grml-live on a plain, original Debian system.
enough free disk space; at least ~2GB are required for a minimal grml-live run (\~1GB for the chroot [$CHROOT_OUTPUT], \~400MB for the build target [$BUILD_OUTPUT], \~35MB for the netboot files and \~350MB for the resulting ISO [$ISO_OUTPUT] plus some temporary files), if you plan to use GRML_FULL you should have at least 4GB of total free disk space
fast network access for retrieving the Debian packages used for creating the chroot (check out "local mirror" to workaround this problem as far as possible)
your output directory should not be mounted with any of the "nodev", "noexec" or "nosuid" mount options. (/tmp typically is at least "nodev" and "nosuid" on most systems.)
For further information see next section.
Use squashfs-tools >=4.2-1 to build Grml (based) ISOs featuring kernel version 2.6.38-grml[64] or newer.
The easiest way to get a running grml-live setup is to just use Grml. Of course using grml-live on a plain, original Debian installation is supported as well. So there we go.
What we have: plain, original Debian bookworm (v12).
What we want: build a Grml ISO based on Debian/bookworm for the amd64 architecture using grml-live.
# adjust sources.list: cat >> /etc/apt/sources.list << EOF
# grml stable repository: deb http://deb.grml.org/ grml-stable main # deb-src http://deb.grml.org/ grml-stable main
# grml testing/development repository: deb http://deb.grml.org/ grml-testing main # deb-src http://deb.grml.org/ grml-testing main EOF
# get keyring for apt: apt-get -o Acquire::AllowInsecureRepositories=true update apt-get --allow-unauthenticated install grml-keyring
cp -rv /usr/share/grml-live/config /srv # optionally(!) install basefile so we don't have to build basic # chroot from scratch. best build them with mmdebstrap. # mkdir -p /srv/config/basefiles/ # mv I386.tar.gz /srv/config/basefiles/ # mv AMD64.tar.gz /srv/config/basefiles/ # mv ARM64.tar.gz /srv/config/basefiles/
# install relevant tools apt-get --no-install-recommends install grml-live
# adjust grml-live configuration for our needs: cat > /etc/grml/grml-live.local << EOF GRML_LIVE_CONFIG=/srv/config ## want a faster build process and don't need smaller ISOs? ## if so use zlib compression # SQUASHFS_OPTIONS="-comp gzip -b 256k" ## want to use a specific squashfs binary? # SQUASHFS_BINARY='/usr/bin/mksquashfs' ## install local files into the chroot # CHROOT_INSTALL="/srv/config/chroot_install" ## adjust if necessary (defaults to ./grml/): ## OUTPUT="/srv/grml-live" FAI_DEBOOTSTRAP="bookworm http://deb.debian.org/debian/" # ARCH="amd64" CLASSES="GRMLBASE,GRML_FULL,AMD64" EOF
That’s it. Now invoking grml-live -V should build the ISO. If everything worked as expected the last line of the shell output should look like:
[*] Successfully finished execution of grml-live [running 687 seconds]
and the ISO can be found inside /grml-live/grml-live/grml_isos/ then.
The variable $GRML_FAI_CONFIG is pointing to the directory /usr/share/grml-live/config by default. To provide you a maximum of flexibility you can set up your own configuration directory (e.g. based on /usr/share/grml-live/config) and use this directory running grml-live with the -D <config_dir> option. Now $GRML_FAI_CONFIG points to the specified directory and all the configuration files, scripts and hooks will be taken from your $GRML_FAI_CONFIG directory.
Check out the logs inside the directory grml_logs next to your grml_chroot, grml_isos,… directories.
If you need help with grml-live or would like to see new features as part of grml-live you can get commercial support via Grml Solutions.
If there were errors during the build, grml-live should have aborted when the error happened.
Just point the configuration variable CHROOT_INSTALL to the directory which provides the files you would like to install. Note that the files are installed under / in the chroot - so you have to create the rootfs structure on your own. Usage example:
GRML_FAI_CONFIG=/srv/config echo "GRML_FAI_CONFIG=$GRML_FAI_CONFIG" >> /etc/grml/grml-live.local echo "CHROOT_INSTALL=\$GRML_FAI_CONFIG/chroot_install" >> /etc/grml/grml-live.local mkdir -p $GRML_FAI_CONFIG/chroot_install/usr/src/ cp -rv /usr/share/grml-live/config/* $GRML_FAI_CONFIG wget example.org/foo.tar.gz mv foo.tar.gz $GRML_FAI_CONFIG/chroot_install/usr/src/ grml-live ...
Yes. Set up an according sources.list configuration as class file in ${GRML_FAI_CONFIG}/files/etc/apt/sources.list.d/ and adjust the variable FAI_DEBOOTSTRAP in /etc/grml/grml-live.conf[.local]. If you’re setting up your own class file make sure to include the class name in the class list (grml-live -c …).
If you want to use a local (for example NFS mount) mirror additionally then adjust MIRROR_DIRECTORY in /etc/grml/grml-live.conf[.local] as well.
If you want to use a HTTP Proxy (like apt-cacher-ng), set APT_PROXY. Example:
APT_PROXY="http://localhost:3142/"
Just create a new class (using the package_config directory):
# cat > $GRML_FAI_CONFIG/package_config/MIKA << EOF PACKAGES install
vim another_name_of_a_debian_package and_another_one EOF
and specify it when invoking grml-live then:
# grml-live -c GRMLBASE,GRML_SMALL,AMD64,MIKA
If you make changes to the grml-live configuration files, it is recommended you copy them to a new directory, set GRML_FAI_CONFIG and modify them there.
If you modified them inside /usr/share/grml-live, you can just reinstall grml-live:
# apt remove grml-live # apt install grml-live
Note: modified files in /usr/share/grml-live will not survive upgrades of grml-live.
Make sure /etc/grml/grml-live.local provides according APT_PROXY and FAI_DEBOOTSTRAP:
# cat /etc/grml/grml-live.local [...] APT_PROXY="http://localhost:3142/" [...] FAI_DEBOOTSTRAP="bookworm http://localhost:3142/deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib non-free"
Make sure apt-cacher-ng is running (/etc/init.d/apt-cacher-ng restart). That’s it. All downloaded files will be cached in /var/cache/apt-cacher-ng then.
This is no longer supported. grml-live will call mmdebstrap for you.
Let’s assume you have Debian package(s) in your filesystem inside
/home/foobar/local-packages
and want to provide them to your grml-live build.
This can be achieved either 1) through a bind mount (using the MIRROR_DIRECTORY
configuration) or 2) by serving a repository via HTTP.
Make sure to create an according sources.list configuration file, e.g. using
your own class name CUSTOM
:
# cat > $GRML_FAI_CONFIG/files/etc/apt/sources.list.d/local-packages.list/CUSTOM << EOF deb file:///home/foobar/local-packages ./ EOF
Add the according MIRROR_DIRECTORY configuration to your grml-live configuration:
# echo "MIRROR_DIRECTORY='/home/foobar/packages'" >> /etc/grml/grml-live.local
Make sure the local directory looks like a mirror:
% cd /home/foobar/packages % dpkg-scanpackages . /dev/null | gzip > Packages.gz
Finally invoke grml-live with your class name (CUSTOM
in this example) added
to the list of classes on the command line (see grml-live option -c
).
Make sure to create an according sources.list configuration file, e.g. using
your own class name CUSTOM
:
# cat > $GRML_FAI_CONFIG/files/etc/apt/sources.list.d/local-packages.list/CUSTOM << EOF deb http://127.0.0.1:8000/ ./ EOF
Make sure the local directory is served via HTTP on the according IP address and
port. For the http://127.0.0.1:8000/
example from above it should be enough to
just invoke:
% cd /home/foobar/packages % dpkg-scanpackages . /dev/null | gzip > Packages.gz % python -m http.server 8000
Tip | Of course you can also use a real Debian repository setup using tools like reprepro(1) and/or using a real web server, though for quick debugging sessions python’s http.server in combination with dpkg-scanpackages from package dpkg-dev is a simple and easy approach. |
Finally invoke grml-live with your class name (CUSTOM
in this example) added
to the list of classes on the command line (see grml-live option -c
).
Stable Debian packages are available through the grml-repository at deb.grml.org and the latest Git commits are available as Debian packages from jenkins.grml.org. If you want to build a Debian package on your own (using for example a specific version or the current development tree), just execute:
git clone git://git.grml.org/grml-live cd grml-live debuild -us -uc
In case you want to run grml-live directly from the git repository checkout
(after making sure all dependencies are installed), you should set
GRML_FAI_CONFIG
so that a) it finds its class-based configuration files and
b) does not use the config files of an possibly installed grml-live
package.
Usage example:
# export GRML_FAI_CONFIG=$(pwd)/config # export SCRIPTS_DIRECTORY=$(pwd)/scripts # export TEMPLATE_DIRECTORY=$(pwd)/templates # ./grml-live -s sid -a amd64 -c GRMLBASE,GRML_FULL,AMD64
The source of grml-live is available at https://github.com/grml/grml-live/
Please report feedback, bugreports and wishes to the Grml team!
The most recent grml-live documentation is available online at http://grml.org/grml-live/ and for offline reading also available in different formats:
Michael Prokop <mika@grml.org>