Release Notes:
grml 0.8 - codename Funkenzutzler (20060813)

About

grml is a Debian-based Live-CD. It includes a collection of GNU/Linux software especially for users of texttools and system administrators. grml provides automatic hardware detection. You can use grml for example as a rescue system, for analyzing systems/networks or as a working environment. It is not necessary to install anything to a harddisk, you don't even need a harddisk to run it. Due to on-the-fly decompression grml includes about 2.1 GiB of software and documentation on the CD.

We do need your help!

Bugfixes

Fixed several bugs and issues reported on grml_0.7 @ grml-wiki.

New features

Several improved, updated and extended configuration files.

New grml-scripts (some selected ones):

• blacklist: blacklist module via module-init-tools (/etc/modprobe.d/grml)
• unblacklist: remove blacklisted module from /etc/modprobe.d/grml
• install-packages-useful: a script which installs useful software on your grml system. This script is similar to Ubuntu's EasyUbuntu and EasyBreezy
• grml-policy-rc.d: a wrapper script for invoke-rc.d to avoid automatical startup of init scripts via invoke-rc.d; take a look at 'man grml-policy-rc.d' for more details
• 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
• grml-tpm: set up a system for use with TPM technology
• grml-resolution: change X resolution via a simple menu frontend (script based on work by Florian Keller)
• grml-hostname: set hostname of system

New bootparameters/cheatcodes (some selected ones):

• splash: text based bootsplash (based on contribution by Florian Keller)
• noblank: disable console blanking

grml2hd (install grml to harddisk):

• partition selector (just invoke grml2hd without any further options)
• added support for setting hostname via grml-hostname
• grml-setlang: set language system-wide on grml system. Set $LANG, $LC_ALL, $COUNTRY,... in /etc/default/locale (formerly known as /etc/environment)
• grml-setkeyboard: set keyboard layout system-wide on grml system via /etc/sysconfig/keyboard (Notice: Does not affect the currently used keyboard layout, use grml-lang instead to temporarly change settings)
• reworked grml2hd-utils

See grml.org/grml2hd/ for more details regarding grml2hd.

Special new features:

• updated to X.org 7.0
• using Lat15-Terminus16 as default console font (disable via bootoption 'nodefaultfont')
• text based bootsplash (see bootoption 'splash'), based on contribution by Florian Keller
• switched from kaffe to jikes and jamvm
• added window managers fvwm-crystal and dwm
• added support for UMTS vodafone cards (austrian providers like A1, T-Mobile and 3 work out-of-the-box) - see 'grml-tips umts'
• added /etc/rc{0..6}.d/ /etc/rcS.d directories with important_notice to inform users about file-rc
• /etc/init.d/boolocal.{pre,middle,post}: add your own commands/stuff to bootup sequence, see "man grml-autoconfig" for more details
• setup of files in /boot/grub/ to be able to install grub; provide sample menu.lst for use with grml2hd - see 'grml-tips grub'
• run 'zsh-help' for some hints regarding the best shell on earth

Kernel

Based on vanilla kernel 2.6.17.7 including several patches (Reiser4, Speakup, Squashfs,...) and additional modules:

  acerhk, acx100, adp94xx, bcm5700, cowloop, dazuko, drbd0.7, et131x, exmap, ipw3945,
  ivtv0.7, kqemu, linux-wlan-ng, lufs, madwifi, ndiswrapper, nozomi, openafs, pcan,
  pwc, qc-usb, realtime-lsm, rt2x00, rt2400, rt2500, rt2570, sl-modem, snd-bt-sco,
  spca5xx, sysprof, thinkpad, tidev, truecrypt, vaiostat, zd1211

Notice: some more modules (for example fglrx and nvidia) are not pre-installed but available through the grml-repository.

See grml.org/kernel/ for more details regarding the grml-kernel.

Important Changes

The software RAID devices like /dev/md0 aren't created by default anymore. See /etc/udev/mdadm.rules and #381181 for the reason. If you need /dev/md*-devices just run the following command (you will find this tip in 'grml-tips mdadm' as well):

cd /dev && MAKEDEV md

There might be problems running DRI with current X.org. Check whether DRI/3d-support works for you via running:

% glxinfo | grep direct
direct rendering: Yes

If it does not return 'Yes' the following command might solve your problem:

apt-get install libgl1-mesa-dri/experimental libgl1-mesa-glx/experimental

Packages / Software

Details about shipped packages and their versions on grml are available at the Debian section.

Updates

Updated all packages to Debian Unstable branch by 20060811.

Removed 114 packages [please notice that some of them are available under different names/in different packages]:

  *2.6.16-grml* lib*

  3ware-3dm2-old-binary acx100-firmware aget aide antlr apache apache-common
  apachetoolbox apachetop apticron automake1.6 ccdv cdrecord-prodvd-binary cpm
  cpp-4.0 cpudyn cron-apt dahb-txt dbconfig-common dchroot debfoster eagle-usb-data
  eagle-usb-utils ecj-bootstrap edictionary fastjar fcheck fftw2 fglrx-control
  figfonts fonts-ttf-west-european ftester g++-4.0 gcc-4.0 gcc-4.0-base gcj-4.0-base
  giftrans gij-4.0 gjdoc gramofile grml-splash hgrep httpf ices2 installwatch ipac-ng
  ipsc ipw2100-firmware ipw2200-firmware ipython-common isdnutils-xtools kaffe
  kaffe-common kaffe-pthreads lbxproxy m-tx magma maradns mod-chroot-common
  musepack-decoder musepack-encoder musepack-replaygain musixtex mwcollect
  mysql-client-4.1 nbsmtp newsflash nis ntp-server ntp-simple numlockx ooo2dbk
  pekwmsvn php5-common pipemeter postgresql-common proftpd proftpd-common prospect
  proxymngr python-id3lib python-pymad python2.3-apt python2.3-bsddb3
  python2.3-crypto python2.3-elementtree python2.3-eyed3 python2.3-fuse
  python2.3-id3lib python2.3-ipython python2.3-profiler python2.3-zopeinterface
  python2.4-celementtree python2.4-elementtree qtparted queue scavr shunit sslwrap
  tasksel tiger torsmo tripwire update-apt vncserver xfonts-base-transcoded
  xfree86-driver-synaptics xfwp xlibmesa-dri xlibs-data xmon xprint xprint-common
  xserver-common

Added 117 new packages (exluding lib*, xserver-xorg-* and *2.6.17-grml*):

  3ware-3dm2-binary 3ware-cli-binary acpi-support aircrack-ng ajaxterm btscanner cdck
  cdpr cedet-common classpath classpath-common cmospwd cpp-4.1 cpuid cpulimit crywrap
  cupsys-common curlftpfs debdelta debian-goodies dwm eieio emcast facter freeglut3
  fusesmb fvwm fvwm-crystal-minimal g++-4.1 gcc-4.1 gconf2-common grep-dctrl
  grml-policyrcd habak id3 ipmitool ipw-firmware ipw3945-ucode ipw3945d jamvm jikes
  lame latexmk linuxlogo lspowertweak madwifi-doc magicrescue mesa-utils mktemp
  modconf mp3val mrb mrxvt mrxvt-common mysql-client-5.0 ndisc6 ndiswrapper-common
  ndiswrapper-utils-1.1 ndiswrapper-utils-1.7 ndiswrapper-utils-1.8 nethogs ntfs-3g
  num-utils open-iscsi p3nfs pcopy pekwm pktstat policyrcd-script-zg2 powertweak-gtk
  powertweakd prism54-firmware pymacs python-celementtree python-central
  python-elementtree python-minimal python-mode python-support remind snmp sudoku
  syrep tdb-dev tetrinet-client thc-ipv6 tinysnmp-tools tpm-tools trayer trousers
  tshark twolame txt2pdbdoc tzdata unclutter unionfs-tools uswsusp vbindiff vobcopy
  vsftpd weechat weechat-scripts wikipediafs wireshark wireshark-common wyrd xbitmaps
  xclip xcursor-themes xfonts-biznet-100dpi xfonts-biznet-75dpi xfonts-biznet-base
  xfonts-encodings xfonts-utils xkb-data xorg xutils-dev

Upgrade notes

As usual you can upgrade your grml harddisk system to the latest grml version running 'apt-get update; apt-get install grml'. Take a look at the upgrading webpage in the grml-wiki as well. Notice: If you are using grml in a productive environment and/or use a grml2hd installation we strongly recommend to subscribe to the grml-user mailinglist!

Changes since release 0.7 (20060410)

• grml on linuxdays graz and vienna 2006
• grml in the German LinuxUser magazine.
• Planet grml available.
• Timo Boettcher joined the grml-team.

Known issues

Take a look at grml_0.8 @ grml-wiki. Please report problems using information on grml.org/bugs/.

Download grml 0.8

grml 0.8 can be downloaded from mirrors listed on grml.org/download/.

Feedback

Your comments, bug reports, patches, and suggestions will help fix bugs and improve future releases. If you find a problem with the release please check grml_0.8 @ grml-wiki and report problems using information on grml.org/bugs/. Please send your feedback, feature requests and bug reports to the grml-team!

• grml.org/contact/
• #grml on irc.freenode.org

Thanks

Many thanks in this release go to Florian Keller for his code contributions, to Jörg Müller for the releasename, to Ulrich Dangel, Alexander Bernauer and Rico Schickel for osd_server.py, to Thomas Konrad for the wallpaper and CD-Cover and of course to all those who have sent feedback since the last release!

Thanks a lot for all the donations! Special thanks go to IBM/Lenovo Austria for providing us a x305 server which will serve as buildsystem in the near future. While working on the grml-trusted project (details will follow soon) we also got a Thinkpad T60 laptop for about 3 months. Thanks a lot!

More Information

You can find out more about grml on our website, IRC channel, and wiki.

To sign up for future grml announcements, please subscribe to grml's announcement list.

Further Questions?

Contact us.