Release Notes:
grml 1.1 - codename Skunk (20080224)
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)
- grml-paste: command line interface for paste.grml.org
- grml-vnet: create persistent tun/tap devices with bridge handling
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
- added support for loop-aes
- the lang=-bootoption supports dvorak keyboard layouts (using parameters dvorak, dvorak-iso or dvorak-utf8)
- support for Virtualbox guest additions
Kernel
Based on vanilla kernel 2.6.23.16 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 (like 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
To avoid problems with isolinux/syslinux on older hardware (see syslinux mailinglist) we decided to put several files like kernel and initrd from /boot/isolinux/ into a new directory named /boot/$GRML_FLAVOUR/. This should improve the possibility for supporting multiboot in the future as well.
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.
The bootoption expert has been dropped. It is deprecated nowadays. The bootoption splash has been renamed into textsplash to avoid clashes with graphical bootsplashes.
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 (plus some further selected updates).
Removed 82 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 autofs bandwidthd-pgsql centericq centericq-common check 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 grml-kerneladdons-2.6.20 gs gs-common hwtools idn ation-report ion3 ion3-mod-xinerama ion3-scripts irssi-text jail kiss lckdo lshw-common modutils mozilla-firefox ncftp2 nessus netdude netpipes 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 176 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 bluez-audio bsd-mailx centerim-common centerim-utf8 cereal conky cpp-4.2 ctorrent dns2tcp doc-base docbook-xml duplicity dzen2 ecryptfs-utils edac-utils elfkickers emacs22 emacs22-bin-common emacs22-common epdfview 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 gnupg-pkcs11-scd gparted grml-debian-keyring grml-kerneladdons-2.6.23 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 loop-aes-testsuite lsb-release luvcview 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 scamper scanmem scrollkeeper 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 timelimit tra ttf-dejavu-core ttf-dejavu-extra uml-utilities unhide uniutils unsort vim-tiny virtualbox-ose-guest-utils 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 Steinböck 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_1.1 @ grml-wiki. Please report problems using information on grml.org/bugs/.
Download grml 1.1
grml 1.1 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!
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, Darshaka Pathirana, Andrea Mayr and Wernfried Haas 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.
