Release Notes: grml 0.9 dioptrienotto (20061206)
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.
Bugfixes
Fixed several bugs and issues reported on grml_0.8 @ grml-wiki.
New features
Several improved, updated and extended configuration files.
New grml-scripts (some selected ones):
- getsf: download project from sourceforge.net
- grml-ap: set up your box as access point
- grml-bridge: set up your box as bridge
- grml-debootstrap: wrapper around debootstrap for installing plain Debian via grml
- grml-router: set up your box as NAT-router
- qma: quick manual access, speeds up access for reading manpages
- random-hostname: print random hostname to stdout
- reread_partition_table: re-read partition table of specific disk
New bootparameters/cheatcodes:
- dos: boot into FreeDOS 1.0 from the Balder project
- noswraid: disable search for software RAID arrays
- lang=$LANG-utf: unicode support, usage example: lang=de-utf8
grml2hd (install grml to harddisk):
- support customization of grml2hd through /etc/grml2hd/customization
- allow installation of lilo into MBR of the first disk on the system. (Feature based on patch contributed by Alexander Bernauer.)
- adjust /etc/default/rcS according to bootoption utc/gmt and /etc/localtime according to bootoption tz
- integration of random-hostname
See grml.org/grml2hd/ for more details regarding grml2hd.
Special new features:
- updated to X.org 7.1.1
- unicode support through bootoption lang=$LANG-utf8
- added FreeDOS 1.0 from the Balder project; boot into it using the bootoption 'dos'
- new handling for added/removed devices: /etc/fstab is rebuild automatically if new block devices are added or removed; mounting usb devices is possible through /mnt/usb-sd*
- grml-rebuildfstab (that's a shell command now as well, just run 'grml-rebuildfstab' to rebuild /etc/fstab) supports fs-LABELs and UUIDs; see 'man rebuildfstab' for details
- split package grml-etc into grml-etc + grml-etc-core (the latter one provides the core configuration files for e.g. zsh, screen and vim)
- bootoption 'grub' boots into The All In One Boot Floppy (which provides Grub), contributed by Michael Schierl
Kernel
Based on vanilla kernel 2.6.18.3 including several patches (Speakup, Squashfs,...) and additional modules:
acerhk, acx100, adp94xx, arcmsr, bcm5700, cowloop, drbd8, et131x, exmap, ipw3945, ivtv, kqemu, kvm, linux-wlan-ng, madwifi, misdn, ndiswrapper, nozomi, openafs, pcan, qc-usb, r1000, realtime-lsm, rt2400, rt2500, rt2570, rt2x00, sl-modem, snd-bt-sco, spca5xx, sysprof, tidev, tpm_emulator, truecrypt, unionfs
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
swap partitions: by default grml does not automatically use swap partitions anymore. Run 'grml-swapon' when running grml or boot using 'grml swap' for enabling all detected and usable swap partitions.
software raid: starting with grml 0.9 booting the system searches for present software raid arrays. The configuration file /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf will be generated by default, to disable this feature use the bootopion noswraid. The arrays are not autoassembled by default. Either boot using the bootoption swraid or run 'Start mdadm-raid' when running grml already to assemble present software raid arrays.
zsh global aliases: the global aliases setup has been changed; now the global aliases (like: 'G' is same '|grep') are not enabled by default any more, instead a new setup named 'powerful abbreviation expansion' is available. Usage example: type 'N' and press ',.' to expand the 'N' into '&>/dev/null'. Take a look at the grml zsh refcard for more details.
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 20061203.
Removed 62 packages [please notice that some of them are available under different names/in different packages]:
*2.6.17-grml* lib* apache2-common apt-index-watcher bluez-pin bookmarkbridge camgrab cdw cdw-common cthumb divine dnotify drbd0.7-utils duplicity euro-support-console euro-support-x firefox firefox-webdeveloper flashplugin-nonfree gcj-4.1-base gconf2-common giflib-bin giflib3g gnupg2 grml-kerneladdons grml-reportbug gtkrecover ipchains ipmasqadm ipw3945-ucode jaxml lout-doc lpr mime-codecs mozilla-mplayer mplayer-nogui mtop ndiswrapper-utils-1.7 ndiswrapper-utils-1.8 netkit-inetd open-iscsi pnpbios-tools ppmtofb python-gnupginterface python2.3-pymad python2.3-pyopenssl python2.3-pyparsing python2.3-twisted-bin python2.4-selinux python2.4-semanage scanerrlog stunnel tex-refs thc-ipv6 thc-pptp-bruter truecrypt turkey update x-window-system-core xfonts-100dpi-transcoded xfonts-75dpi-transcoded xfonts-konsole xlibs xorg
Added 113 new packages (exluding lib* and *2.6.18-grml*):
aamath ace-of-penguins afflib apache2.2-common apf-client apf-server aria2 asused automake avahi-daemon ccontrol cdrskin classpath-gtkpeer conntrack cupsys-bsd ddccontrol ddccontrol-db diakonos diction dov4l drbd8-utils dsbltesters dwm-tools dynafont dynamic-disk emacs emelfm firmware-ipw3945 firmware-qlogic glipper-nognome gpgv grml-debootstrap grml-etc-core grml-kerneladdons-2.6.18 grml-network guessnet histring hoz ht iceweasel ink inotail inotify-tools iwatch konwert konwert-filters latex-ucs mathomatic medusa misdn-utils molly-guard mpg123-alsa mplayer mplayer-skin-blue ndiswrapper-utils-1.9 ne obexpushd openbsd-inetd pax-utils ptfinder pwman3 pxfw pydb python-crypto python-jaxml python-pymad python-pysqlite2 python-selinux python-semanage python-twisted-bin python2.5 python2.5-minimal qtparted rake rdoc rdoc1.8 reniced reportbug resolvconf retty ruby-prof sic smap ssdeep stealth stunnel4 synergy sysvinit-utils tesseract-ocr toilet toilet-fonts update-inetd upstreamdev videogen vim-python vim-ruby webcam-server wikipedia2text wodim xen-utils-common xmlindent xmms2 xmms2-client-cli xmms2-core xmms2-plugin-alsa xmms2-plugin-id3v2 xmms2-plugin-jack xmms2-plugin-mad xmms2-plugin-vorbis xsel xserver-xorg-input-vmmouse xserver-xorg-video-ivtv youtube-dl
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 0.8 (20060413)
- new Debian repository available.
- grml repository commits mailinglist available.
- Updated grml-zsh-refcard.
- Public mercurial repositories available at hg.grml.org.
- Ulrich Dangel joined the grml-team.
Known issues
Take a look at grml_0.9 @ grml-wiki. Please report problems using information on grml.org/bugs/.
Download grml 0.9
grml 0.9 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_0.9 @ grml-wiki and report problems using information on grml.org/bugs/. Please send your feedback, feature requests and bug reports to the grml-team!
Thanks
Many thanks in this release go to Wolfgang Karall, Frank Terbeck, Alexander Bernauer, Moritz Augsburger, Arnt Karlsen and Marc Haber for their contributions. Many thanks also to the ones of you who donated something to the grml-team and of course to all those who have sent feedback since the last release!
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.
