Release Notes: grml64 0.2-rc1 - codename Schwammerlklauber (20070518)

Notice: grml64 0.2-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.

Whereas grml is meant for use on 32 bit systems, grml64 provides support for 64 bit platforms. It is based on the amd64 port of Debian. Take a look at the 'Debian-Information'-section if you are searching for the package list.

We do need your help!

Bugfixes

Fixed several bugs and issues reported on grml64_0.1 @ grml-wiki.

New features

Several improved, updated and extended configuration files.

New grml-scripts (some selected ones):

• 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 possibel (<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:

acx100 at76-usb atl2 aufs drbd8 exmap gspca ipw3945 ivtv
kqemu loop-aes lzma madwifi ndiswrapper nozomi openafs
qc-usb realtime-lsm rt2400 rt2500 squashfs sysprof
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 91 packages [please notice that some of them are available under different names/in different packages]:

*2.6.20-grml64* lib*

airsnort artwiz-cursor attacker autofs bandwidthd-pgsql
centericq centericq-common checkinstall clvm cogito
crywrap dbengine ddd debtags defrag discover discover-data
dnsdoctor dvgrab emacs21 emacs21-bin-common emacs21-common
emelfm fbgetty findimagedupes flac123 fvwm-crystal gnuplot
gnuplot-nox gnuplot-x11 gnus gnus-bonus-el grep-dctrl gs
gs-common gs-esp gs-gpl gscanbus ia32-libs idn
installation-report ion3 ion3-mod-xinerama ion3-scripts
irssi-text jail kiss lckdo linux-kernel-headers
linux-kernel-headers-grml linux32 lshw-common mobilemesh
modutils mozilla-firefox msort ncftp2 nessus netdude
netpipes nmapfe openbsd-inetd pdns python-mode
python-semanage rhapsody rt2400 rt2500 schedutils
sound-recorder sqlrelay sqlrelay-postgresql
sqlrelay-sqlite surfraw tdb-dev tinysnmp-tools twin
unison2.9.1 user-de uswsusp valgrind vde vifm vncommand
w3-el-e21 w3-url-e21 xdebconfigurator xfonts-artwiz
xpdf-utils xtla xzgv

Added 221 new packages (exluding lib* and *2.6.23-grml64*):

2vcard 3ware-cli-binary aamath ack-grep acpi-support-base
acpitail afflib aggregate amap aosd-cat
apt-transport-https ascii asql awesome balance base64
bittwist bochsbios bsd-mailx catdvi centerim-common
centerim-utf8 cereal cpp-4.2 ctioga ctorrent dcfldd detox
dir2ogg dns2tcp dpkg-ruby duplicity dupmerge dvipng dzen2
edac-utils elfkickers emacs22 emacs22-bin-common
emacs22-common espeak espeak-data etckeeper exifprobe
exmap fai-client fai-doc fai-server fatsort
firmware-iwlwifi firmware-ralink flashrom fuseiso g++-4.2
gcc-4.2 gcc-4.2-base gcc-4.2-multilib gcc-multilib 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 heirloom-sh hfsprogs hgsvn hplip
hplip-data iceweasel-webdeveloper ifupdown-extra
inoticoming iodine ipw-firmware irqbalance
irssi-plugin-xmpp iscsitarget itop jp2a kanif kpartx
latex-beamer latex-xcolor latexmk lcdtest ldnsutils
linux-libc-dev linux-wlan-ng live-initramfs logapp
loop-aes-testsuite lzma mailplate metastore minised
mkelfimage mlocate mr nat-traverse nessusclient netrw
netsurf nttcp nvclock obconf olsrd-plugins op open-iscsi
open-vm-tools openafs-client openafs-krb5 openbios-sparc
openbox openhackware packeth pamusb-tools paperkey
paris-traceroute pcaputils pdfjam pekwm pgf pip pm-utils
pmailq pngtools polipo poppler-utils preview-latex-style
prism54-firmware pristine-tar privbind proll pssh
python-dbus python-gnupginterface python-gobject
python-pycallgraph python-setuptools python-urlgrabber
qemu rainbowcrack rcov rinse rofs runit rutilt s3cmd
scamper scanmem shorewall-common shorewall-shell sitar sl
sm smap snort-common-libraries splint-data supercat
svgalibg1 sysutils taktuk tasksel tasksel-data tetex-base
tetex-bin tex-common texlive texlive-base texlive-base-bin
texlive-common texlive-doc-base texlive-fonts-recommended
texlive-lang-german texlive-latex-base
texlive-latex-recommended texpower tgt thinkfinger-tools
timelimit ttf-dejavu-core ttf-dejavu-extra uml-utilities
unhide uniutils vgabios 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-radeonhd xsteg yatm yeahconsole
yersinia zfs-fuse

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 grml64_0.2 @ grml-wiki. Please report problems using information on grml.org/bugs/.

Download grml64 0.2-rc1

grml64 0.2-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 grml64_0.2 @ 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.