Release Notes: grml 1.1-rc1 Skunk (20071228)

Notice: grml 1.1-rc1 is a RELEASE CANDIDATE and not yet the stable release!

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, unless you want to (use grml2hd for this). Due to on-the-fly decompression grml includes about 2.1GB of software and documentation on the CD.

Bugfixes

Fixed several bugs and issues reported on grml_1.0 @ grml-wiki.

New features

Several improved, updated and extended configuration files.

New grml-scripts:

• arename.pl: rename audio files by looking at a file's tagging information
• grml-live: build framework based on FAI for generating a grml and Debian based Linux Live system (CD/ISO)

New bootparameters/cheatcodes:

• micvol: configure mixer/ volume settings of microphone channel; usage: micvol=$number
• noconsolefont: skip setting console font via consolechars
• nogrmlacpi: disable acpi stuff inside grml-autoconfig without having to boot using noacpi (which triggers kernel code actions)
• lvm: activate present Logical Volumes (LVM)
• nolvm: completely disable LVM code/checks; by default (so without using a special bootoption) grml runs 'lvdisplay' and if something can be found the user gets a hint to execute 'Start lvm2' to set it up

grml2hd (install grml to harddisk):

• use --insecure for passwordbox so user gets feedback when typing password (it's '***' of course and not plaintext).
• check for dmraid signatures
• support installation on LVM devices. Usage example: 'LVM=/dev/mapper/grml2hd-lvm grml2hd'

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

grml-terminalserver (boot grml via network)

• updated initrd generation for use with live-initramfs, providing a reworked initial bootprocess

See grml.org/terminalserver/ for more details regarding grml-terminalserver.

Special new features:

• all grml ISOs are automatically generated using the new grml-live framework
• completely reworked initial bootprocess, based on live-initramfs now
• Squashfs with LZMA support
• optimised the system to have as few wakeups as possible (<25 wakeups/s in default startup)
• updated to X.org 7.3
• updated to libc6 2.7
• the lang=-bootoption supports dvorak keyboard layouts (using parameters dvorak, dvorak-iso or dvorak-utf8)

Kernel

Based on vanilla kernel 2.6.23.11 including several patches and additional modules:

acerhk acx100 at76-usb atl2 aufs bcm5700 drbd8 exmap
gspca ipw3945 iscsitarget ivtv kqemu linux-wlan-ng
loop-aes lzma madwifi ndiswrapper nozomi openafs pcan
qc-usb r1000 r5u870 r6040 realtime-lsm rt2400 rt2500 rt73
sdricoh_cs sl-modem squashfs sysprof tp-smapi truecrypt

Notice: some more modules

are not pre-installed but available through the grml-repository.

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

Important Changes

The bootoption expert has been dropped. It is deprecated nowadays. The bootoption splash has been renamed into textsplash to avoid clashes with graphical bootsplashes.

Due to the new initial bootprocess (which is based on live-initramfs) some bootoptions might not work as expected or changed its behaviour. The grml team is working on merging outstanding features. If you think you found a bootoption that does not work as expected/documented please report it.

Packages / Software

Details about shipped packages and their versions on grml are available at the Debian section. See dpkg_get_selections for a main package listing and dpkg_list for a more detailed list of packages shipped with grml 1.1.

Updates

Updated all packages to Debian Unstable branch by 20071225.

Removed 81 packages [please notice that some of them are available under different names/in different packages]:

*2.6.20-grml* lib*

3ware-3dm2-binary airsnort artwiz-cursor attacker auctex
autofs bandwidthd-pgsql centericq centericq-common
checkinstall clvm cogito cpp-2.95 crywrap dbengine debtags
defrag discover discover-data dnsdoctor dvgrab emacs21
emacs21-bin-common emacs21-common fbgetty findimagedupes
flac123 gnuplot gnuplot-nox gnuplot-x11 gnus gnus-bonus-el
grep-dctrl gs gs-common hwtools idn installation-report
ion3 ion3-mod-xinerama ion3-scripts irssi-text jail kiss
lckdo lshw-common modutils mozilla-firefox ncftp2 nessus
netdude openbsd-inetd pdns python-mode python-semanage
rhapsody rt2400 rt2500 schedutils scsi-idle sqlrelay
sqlrelay-postgresql sqlrelay-sqlite squashfs surfraw
tdb-dev thinkpad-base tinysnmp-tools tpctl trapdoor2 twin
unison2.9.1 user-de vncommand w3-el-e21 w3-url-e21
xdebconfigurator xfonts-artwiz xpdf-utils xtla xzgv

Added 164 new packages (exluding lib* and *2.6.23-grml*):

2vcard ack-grep acpi-support-base acpitail aggregate
aosd-cat apt-transport-https asql awesome balance bittwist
bsd-mailx centerim-common centerim-utf8 cereal cpp-4.2
ctorrent dns2tcp duplicity dzen2 ecryptfs-utils edac-utils
elfkickers emacs22 emacs22-bin-common emacs22-common
etckeeper exifprobe fai-client fai-doc fai-server fatsort
firmware-iwlwifi firmware-ralink flashrom fuseiso
fuseiso9660 g++-4.2 gcc-4.2 gcc-4.2-base gconf2
gconf2-common ghostscript ghostscript-x git-svn gitpkg
gksu gnome-keyring gnu-fdisk gnupg-pkcs11-scd gparted
grml-debian-keyring grml-live grml-paste gzrt haproxy
hdaps-utils hdapsd hfsprogs hgsvn hplip hplip-data
iceweasel-webdeveloper ifupdown-extra inoticoming iodine
irqbalance irssi-plugin-xmpp iscsitarget itop jp2a kanif
kpartx ldnsutils linux-wlan-ng live-initramfs logapp
lsb-release lzma mailplate metastore mkelfimage mlocate mr
nessusclient netrw netsurf nscd nvclock obconf op
open-iscsi open-vm-tools openbox opencryptoki packeth
paperkey paris-traceroute pcaputils pm-utils pmailq
pngtools polipo poppler-utils pristine-tar privbind pssh
python-dbus python-gnupginterface python-pycallgraph
python-setuptools python-urlgrabber rinse rofs rt73-common
runit rutilt s3cmd scanmem shorewall-common
shorewall-shell sl sm snort-common-libraries splint-data
squashfs-tools supercat svgalibg1 sysutils taktuk tasksel
tasksel-data tetex-base tetex-bin texlive tgt
thinkfinger-tools tra ttf-dejavu-core ttf-dejavu-extra
uml-utilities unhide uniutils vim-tiny wacom-tools
wamerican wapiti x11-apps x11-session-utils x11-utils
x11-xfs-utils x11-xkb-utils x11-xserver-utils xar xauth
xbacklight xdelta3 xdg-utils xinit xrestop
xserver-xorg-video-amd xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd yatm
yeahconsole

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 1.0 (20070518)

• Alexander Steinboeck joined the grml-team.
• Daily builds available: automatically generated ISOs of grml (using the grml-live framework) are available at daily.grml.org.
• Results of the grml user survey are available.

Known issues

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

Download grml 1.1-rc1

grml 1.1-rc1 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_1.1 @ 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 Henning Sprang, Thomas Lange, Michael Schmitt, Daniel Baumann, Karl Voit, Norbert Tretkowski, Jan-Pieter Jacobs, Wolfgang Karall and Darshaka Pathirana 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.

Further Questions?

Contact us.