1 <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en">
3 <title>grml.org - FAQ</title>
4 <meta name="Title" content="grml.org - FAQ" />
5 <meta name="Author" content="the grml team [www.grml.org/team/]" />
6 <meta name="Keywords" content="grml.org, grml" />
7 <meta name="Description" content="FAQ of grml.org" />
8 <meta name="Abstract" content="grml, just another linux-distribution" />
9 <meta name="fdse-index-as" content="http://www.grml.org/faq/" />
10 <meta name="Robots" content="index,follow" />
11 <meta name="Language" content="english" />
12 <meta name="identifier-url" content="http://www.grml.org/" />
13 <meta name="MSSmartTagsPreventParsing" content="true" />
14 <meta http-equiv="imagetoolbar" content="no" />
15 <link rel="home" href="/" title="grml.org" />
16 <link rel="help" href="/features/" title="About" />
17 <link rel="author" href="/team/" title="Team" />
18 <link rel="icon" href="/favicon.png" type="image/png" />
19 <link rel="stylesheet" href="/style.css" type="text/css" />
23 <?php include '../static.inc'; ?>
27 <p><img style="float: right" src="/img/clanbomber.png" alt="*" /></p>
29 <h1 align="center">FAQ for grml</h1>
31 <p><strong>Up2date:</strong> 20081201 - applies to grml releases version 2008.11</p>
33 <p><a name="toc"></a><strong>Index:</strong></p>
35 <p class="toc"><a href="#general">General:</a></p>
37 <li><a href="#whatis">What is grml?</a></li>
38 <li><a href="#get">Where do I get grml?</a></li>
39 <li><a href="#whatmeans">What does grml mean?</a></li>
40 <li><a href="#pronounce">How do you pronounce grml?</a></li>
41 <li><a href="#releasename">What about the release name?</a></li>
42 <li><a href="#requirements">Requirements for running grml</a></li>
43 <li><a href="#why">Why another Linux distribution?</a></li>
44 <li><a href="#license">What's the license of grml?</a></li>
45 <li><a href="#difference">What's the difference between grml and $OTHER-DISTRIBUTION? What are your main goals?</a></li>
46 <li><a href="#knoppix">What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?</a></li>
47 <li><a href="#accessibility">What does accessibility at grml mean?</a></li>
48 <li><a href="#emulation">Is it possible to run grml with $EMULATOR?</a></li>
49 <li><a href="#usbboot">How do I boot grml from a USB stick?</a></li>
50 <li><a href="#store">Is it possible to store my settings?</a></li>
53 <p class="toc"><a href="#grml64">grml64</a></p>
55 <li><a href="#whatisgrml64">What is grml64?</a></li>
56 <li><a href="#grml64vsnormal">What is the difference between 32 bit grml and 64 bit grml?</a></li>
59 <p class="toc"><a href="#grmlmedium">grml-medium</a></p>
61 <li><a href="#whatismedium">What is grml-medium?</a></li>
62 <li><a href="#whatismedium64">What is grml64-medium?</a></li>
65 <p class="toc"><a href="#grmlsmall">grml-small:</a></p>
67 <li><a href="#whatissmall">What is grml-small?</a></li>
68 <li><a href="#whatissmall64">What is grml64-small?</a></li>
69 <li><a href="#smallvsnormal">What is the difference between 'normal' grml and grml-small?</a></li>
70 <li><a href="#grmlvsdsl">What is the difference between grml-small and DSL?</a></li>
73 <p class="toc"><a href="#system">System</a>:</p>
75 <li><a href="#configure">Which tools exist to configure grml?</a></li>
76 <li><a href="#password">What are the passwords of users on grml?</a></li>
77 <li><a href="#version">How do I find out the version of grml</a></li>
78 <li><a href="#remove_cd">Is it possible to run LiveCD and eject CD-ROM?</a></li>
79 <li><a href="#language">How do I change the language/keyboard settings?</a></li>
80 <li><a href="#kde_and_foo">KDE, Gnome, $FOO and $BAR</a></li>
81 <li><a href="#wms">Which window managers can I use?</a></li>
82 <li><a href="#usbmount">How do I mount a USB device / USB stick?</a></li>
83 <li><a href="#lvm">Where are my LVM devices?</a></li>
84 <li><a href="#swraid">Where are my Software-RAID devices?</a></li>
85 <li><a href="#nodma">Why does grml not use DMA mode?</a></li>
86 <li><a href="#booting">Which ways exist to boot grml?</a></li>
87 <li><a href="#timezone">How do I configure timezone on my grml system?</a></li>
88 <li><a href="#utf8">I have problems with UTF-8 / Unicode</a></li>
89 <li><a href="#missingfiles">I noticed some files are missing on grml</a></li>
90 <li><a href="#bugreport">Bugreport</a></li>
91 <li><a href="#hdinstall">Is it possible to install grml to harddisk?</a></li>
92 <li><a href="#grml2hdhang">grml2hd seems to hang?!</a></li>
93 <li><a href="#hardware">I have problems with my hardware!</a></li>
94 <li><a href="#boot">grml does not boot on my computer!</a></li>
97 <p class="toc"><a href="#kernel">Kernel</a>:</p>
99 <li><a href="#kernelconfig">Where can I find the configuration for the kernel used on grml?</a></li>
100 <li><a href="#kernelpatches">Are there any special components/patches in the kernel used on grml?</a></li>
101 <li><a href="#platform">For which platforms is the grml kernel optimized?</a></li>
104 <p class="toc"><a href="#software">Software:</a></p>
106 <li><a href="#sw_general">General</a></li>
107 <li><a href="#sw_version">What version of $PACKAGE is available?</a></li>
108 <li><a href="#init">Init-System</a></li>
109 <li><a href="#zsh">Why is zsh the default shell?</a></li>
110 <li><a href="#zsh_binsh">Wasn't zsh the /bin/sh interpreter?</a></li>
111 <li><a href="#bash">Is a bash available?</a></li>
112 <li><a href="#configuration">Where can I find the configuration of zsh, GNU screen,...?</a></li>
113 <li><a href="#truecrypt">Why isn't Truecrypt available within grml?</a></li>
114 <li><a href="#fdisk">fdisk/parted/... complains with something like 'unable to open /dev/sda - unrecognised disk label'?!</a></li>
115 <li><a href="#setuid">setuid/SUID</a></li>
116 <li><a href="#bitchx">bitchx</a></li>
117 <li><a href="#ispell">ispell</a></li>
118 <li><a href="#latex">LaTeX</a></li>
119 <li><a href="#slapd">slapd</a></li>
122 <p class="toc"><a href="#release">Release related issues</a>:</p>
124 <li><a href="#known_issues">Are there any known issues with this release?</a></li>
125 <li><a href="#proc_usb">Why isn't /proc/bus/usb mounted anymore?</a></li>
128 <p class="toc"><a href="#xserver">X-Server</a></p>
130 <li><a href="#xstart">How do I start the X server?</a></li>
131 <li><a href="#xproblem">X does not start on my box?!</a></li>
132 <li><a href="#xresolution">I don't like the resolution of X!</a></li>
135 <p class="toc"><a href="#framebuffer">Framebuffer</a></p>
137 <li><a href="#video">The boot option video does not work as expected anymore</a></li>
138 <li><a href="#fbprobs">I don't see anything when booting grml?!</a></li>
141 <p class="toc"><a href="#stuff">Unanswered stuff</a></p>
143 <li><a href="#questions">Further questions?</a></li>
144 <li><a href="#donate">You like grml? Make a donation to support our work!</a></li>
147 <h2><a name="general"></a><a href="#toc">General</a></h2>
149 <h3><a name="whatis"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml?</a></h3>
151 <p>grml is a bootable CD (Live-CD) once based on <a
152 href="http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/">Knoppix</a> and nowadays based on <a
153 href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>. grml includes a collection of
154 GNU/Linux software especially for users of texttools and system
155 administrators. grml provides automatic hardware detection. You can use grml
156 as a rescue system, for analyzing systems/networks, or as a working
157 environment. It is not necessary to install anything to a harddisk. Due to
158 on-the-fly decompression grml includes about 2.1 GB of software and
159 documentation on the CD.</p>
161 <h3><a name="get"></a><a href="#toc">Where do I get grml?</a></h3>
163 <p>You can download grml of course: take a look at <a
164 href="/download">grml.org/download/</a>. If you want
165 to get an original grml-CD including <a
166 href="/files/#covers">the grml-cover</a>, need a
167 special amount of CDs or want your own special grml-CD (including
168 your logo, your software and/or special settings) <a
169 href="/contact/">please don't hesitate to contact
170 us</a>! Take a look at <a
171 href="http://solutions.grml.org/">grml-solutions</a> for more
172 information regarding our offers.</p>
174 <h3><a name="whatmeans"></a><a href="#toc">What does grml mean?</a></h3>
176 <p>grml is short for 'grummel' and comes close to 'argl' or 'grrr' in English. People
177 use this when they want to express their dissatisfaction/discontentedness with software
178 (amongst other things):</p>
181 $ grep -ch grml .centericq/**/history | xargs echo | \
182 sed 's/[0-9]*/& + /g' | sed 's/+ $//g' | bc -l
185 <h3><a name="pronounce"></a><a href="#toc">How do you pronounce grml?</a></h3>
188 % flite -o play -t gremel</pre>
191 $ echo 'ghroummel' | festival \-\-tts
194 <h3><a name="releasename"></a><a href="#toc">What about the release name?</a></h3>
196 <p>Codename of grml 2008.11 is Schluchtenscheisser (thanks to <a
197 href="http://marcbrockschmidt.de/">HE</a>). People from germany
198 (especially from the southern part) call Austrian people
199 Schluchtenscheisser. Hey, in austria we have the Alps!</p>
201 <h3><a name="requirements"></a><a href="#toc">Requirements for running grml</a></h3>
205 <li>Intel-compatible CPU (i586 or later, preferably Pentium class or higher)</li>
207 <li>at least 64MB of RAM (for stable use with ramdisks for unionfs and udev
208 and running X window system we recommend at least 128MB)</li>
210 <li>grml-small: at least 32MB RAM should be available</li>
212 <li>bootable CD-ROM drive (or <a
213 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=tips">a boot floppy</a> and standard
214 CD-ROM [IDE/ATAPI or SCSI]) [or network - see <a
215 href="#terminalserver">grml-terminalserver</a>]</li>
219 <h3><a name="why"></a><a href="#toc">Why another Linux distribution?</a></h3>
221 <p>There already exist "<a
222 href="http://www.distrowatch.com/">some</a>" distributions. We decided
223 to base our work on the existing infrastructure of <a
224 href="http://debian.org/">Debian</a> and <a
225 href="http://www.knoppix.net/">Knoppix</a> because we don't want to reinvent
226 the wheel. Some admins already use their own rescue-CD and Knoppix works but
227 does not bring that many important tools for admins and users of texttools
228 out of the box, so we decided to share our work with others.</p>
230 <h3><a name="license"></a><a href="#toc">What's the license of grml?</a></h3>
232 <p>Anything written by the grml team is published under the GPL (<a
233 href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GNU General Public License</a>).
234 You don't have to pay anything for running grml. <a
235 href="/donations/">Donations</a> and <a href="/contact/">feedback</a> are
236 welcome of course. If you want a special LiveCD or need support, take a
237 look at <a href="http://solutions.grml.org/">grml-solutions</a>.</p>
239 <h3><a name="difference"></a><a href="#toc">What's the difference between grml and
240 $OTHER-DISTRIBUTION? What are your main goals?</a></h3>
242 <p>The main goal of grml is to be a distribution well suited for
243 users of texttools and sysadmins. grml includes many important
244 texttools (of course awk, sed, grep, ... but also zsh, mutt[ng],
245 slrn, vim and many others) and useful programs for admin's
246 daily work. grml uses the existing infrastructure of <a
247 href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>. grml was once based on <a
248 href="http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/">Knoppix</a> (see '<a
249 href="#knoppix">What's the difference between grml and
250 Knoppix?</a>' for more details). We are also merging
251 useful things from other distributions/live-cds to provide a
252 perfect environment.</p>
254 <h3><a name="knoppix"></a><a href="#toc">What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?</a></h3>
256 <p>grml comes with a vastly different set of software. Missing KDE
257 and OpenOffice provides the opportunity of shipping more than 800
258 packages which Knoppix does not provide on its CD version. grml
259 boots a 2.6.x kernel but no X for faster startup. Knoppix is based
260 on Debian/testing-experimental (using apt-pinning), but grml is
261 basically based on plain Debian/unstable providing more current
262 versions of software and less painfull upgrades. grml was once
263 based on Knoppix but nowadays (except for a similar initial
264 ramdisk) has nothing in common with Knoppix:</p>
268 # find / -iname \*knoppix\*
271 <p>We consider Knoppix as a brand name for live-cds nowadays and
272 provide most of Knoppix' features as well. grml uses (mostly) the
273 same cheatcodes for booting as Knoppix and even provides some extra
274 ones. So if you are used to the basic Knoppix features you might
275 find them on the grml-system as well. Ripping out the Knoppix
276 stuff makes it possible to create a grml system out of a
277 Debian system and vice versa. Running 'apt-get install grml' on a
278 Debian box will be officially supported in an upcoming version of
281 <h3><a name="accessibility"></a><a href="#toc">What does accessibility at grml mean?</a></h3>
283 <p>The grml kernel includes <a href="/kernel/#speakup">support for
284 speakup</a> and provides software like brltty (using bootoption 'grml blind
285 brltty=type,port,tbl'), emacspeak and flite.</p>
287 <h3><a name="emulation"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to run grml with $EMULATOR?</a></h3>
289 <p><a href="http://www.vmware.com/">VMware</a> should work without any
290 problems. It's also possible to run grml with <a
291 href="http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/qemu/">QEMU</a>, an emulator for various
292 CPUs which works on Linux, Windows, FreeBSD and Mac OS X. Running grml with
293 QEMU has been tested successfully on Windows and Linux. Take a look at <a
294 href="/qemu/">the QEMU-grml-webpage</a>.</p>
296 <h3><a name="usbboot"></a><a href="#toc">How do I boot grml from a USB stick?</a></h3>
298 <p>Take a look at the script <a
299 href="/scripts/grml2usb">grml2usb</a>. For more
300 details, take a look at the <a
301 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb">usb-webpage in the
304 <h3><a name="store"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to store my settings?</a></h3>
306 <p>Yes. grml provides a powerful config framework. See <a
307 href="/config/">grml.org/config/</a>, <a
308 href="file:///usr/share/doc/grml-saveconfig/grml-config.html">/usr/share/doc/grml-saveconfig/grml-config.html</a>
309 and 'man save-config restore-config mkpersistenthome' for more
312 <h2><a name="grml64"></a><a href="#toc">grml64?</a></h2>
314 <h3><a name="whatisgrml64"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml64?</a></h3>
316 <p>grml64 is a 64bit-version of grml, based on <a
317 href="http://www.debian.org/ports/amd64/">the amd64 port of
320 <h3><a name="grml64vsnormal"></a><a href="#toc">What is the difference between 32 bit grml and 64 bit grml?</a></h3>
322 <p>The main difference of course is that grml64 is a 64bit-version
323 whereas (normal) grml is 32bit-only. grml64 provides a 64bit kernel
324 which supports 32bit userspace applications. grml64 also provides
325 libc6-i386, libc6-dev-i386, several lib32* packages and ia32-libs. Due
326 to space reasons and because some packages aren't available for amd64
327 yet some packages are missing on grml64 compared to (normal, 32bit)
328 grml. For more details please take a look at <a
329 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml64">the grml64 webpage in the
332 <h2><a name="grmlmedium"></a><a href="#toc">grml-medium?</a></h2>
334 <h3><a name="whatismedium"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml-medium?</a></h3>
336 <p>grml-medium is a grml-flavour which tries to close the gap between <a
337 href="#whatissmall">grml-small</a> and <a href="#whatis">normal/large/full
338 version of grml</a>. grml-medium is an ISO with a maximum size of ~200MB
339 providing the most important packages a sysadmin usually needs. It
340 provides the same <a href="/kernel/">kernel version</a> as normal grml
341 does so you can easily integrate and use some further existing external
342 modules as well. The X.org server is shipped as well as the window
344 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=accessibility">accessibility
345 features</a> are <strong>not</strong> available/supported (currently) on
346 grml-medium though.</p>
348 <h3><a name="whatismedium64"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml64-medium?</a></h3>
350 <p>grml64-medium is the 64bit version of <a href="#whatismedium">grml-medium</a>.</p>
352 <h2><a name="grmlsmall"></a><a href="#toc">grml-small?</a></h2>
354 <h3><a name="whatissmall"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml-small?</a></h3>
356 <p>Whereas grml provides about 2.1 GB of software on a 700 MB ISO, grml-small
357 is a flavor with online ~58 MB ISO-size (~200 MB uncompressed). It does not
358 provide a lot of software but the essential stuff for being a rescue system
359 on a business card CD-ROM or a small USB device. You can use the Debian
360 package management system to install software on the fly (assuming you have
361 network access to a Debian mirror). Take a look at the <a
362 href="/files/">'Debian-Information'-section</a> if you are
363 searching for the package list.</p>
365 <h3><a name="whatissmall64">What is grml64-small?</a></h3>
367 <p>grml64-small is the 64bit version of <a href="#whatissmall">grml-small</a>.</p>
369 <h3><a name="smallvsnormal"></a><a href="#toc">What is the
370 difference between 'normal' grml and grml-small?</a></h3>
372 <p>The 700 MB-grml brings more than 2500 packages of software and a <a
373 href="/kernel/">full-featured kernel</a>. grml-small
374 includes about 215 software packages, lacks documentation and manpages
375 on the ISO and has a stripped-down <a
376 href="/kernel/">kernel</a> (but still provides hardware
377 detection of course). <a href="#terminalserver">grml-terminalserver</a>
379 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=accessibility">accessibility
380 features</a> are <strong>not</strong> available/supported on
383 <h3><a name="grmlvsdsl"></a><a href="#toc">What is the
384 difference between grml-small and DSL?</a></h3>
386 <p>DSL and grml-small have different target audiences. <a
387 href="http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/">Damn Small Linux</a> (DSL) uses
388 kernel version 2.4 whereas grml-small provides a recent version of
389 kernel version 2.6. DSL provides the X window system which grml-small
390 does not. grml-small on the other hand provides the most important
391 packages for sysadmins and ships the original Debian package management
392 which allows you to install packages of the Debian pool with no
395 <h2><a name="system"></a><a href="#toc">System</a></h2>
397 <h3><a name="configure"></a><a href="#toc">Which tools exist to configure grml?</a></h3>
399 <p>grml provides several scripts and tools which should make life
400 easier. See 'dpkg -L grml-scripts' to get an overview of some main
401 scripts. Run 'grml-config' to get a dialog interface for the most
402 important scripts and tasks. Or just type 'grml-' and press tab-key to
403 get a completion menu.</p>
405 <h3><a name="password"></a><a href="#toc">What are the passwords of users on grml?</a></h3>
407 <p>There are no default passwords. All accounts are locked by
408 default. Even local logins are not possible (unless you set a
409 password or create new user accounts as root). You can create
410 valid passwords using "sudo passwd [username]" from the shell
413 <h3><a name="version"></a><a href="#toc">How do I find out the version of grml</a></h3>
415 <p>Run 'grml-version' or use the following command:</p>
418 $ cat /etc/grml_version</pre>
420 <h3><a name="remove_cd"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to run LiveCD and eject CD-ROM?</a></h3>
423 $ sudo umount -l /cdrom
424 $ sudo eject /dev/cdrom # now don't run any new programs ;)
425 $ mount /dev/cdrom # mount it again if needed ;)
428 <h3><a name="language"></a><a href="#toc">How do I change the language/keyboard settings?</a></h3>
430 <p>By default grml uses English settings. But it is possible to
431 change the settings via using either the bootparam(s) lang,
432 keyboard and xkeyboard or via running grml-lang when grml is
433 already running. Usage examples:</p>
436 grml lang=de # enter this at the bootprompt and you will get
437 # German keyboard layout and German $LANG, $LC_ALL,
439 grml keyboard=de xkeyboard=de lang=at # enter this at the bootprompt
440 # and you will get German keyboard and Austrian
442 % grml-lang de # enter this in the shell to switch keyboard layout
443 # and $LANG settings in a running grml-system
446 <p>If you are running grml from harddisk (using <a
447 href="#hdinstall">grml2hd</a>) you have several options how to set
448 language options:</p>
452 <li>adjust /etc/default/locale to configure global language and
453 environment settings</li>
455 <li>set environment variables like $LC_ALL, $LANG, $LANGUAGE in your
456 personal configuration files (like ~/.zshrc.local, see <a
457 href="/zsh/">grml zsh reference card</a> for details)
458 if you do not want to use them system wide/global</li>
460 <li>adjust /etc/sysconfig/keyboard to configure keyboard layout
461 on console, or run 'loadkeys $KEYTABLE' manually</li>
463 <li>add "setxkbmap $LANGUAGE" to the keybindings section in
464 your ~/.xinitrc to configure keyboard setup for the X window system
465 (deactivate the xmodmap lines if necessary)</li>
469 <p>Notice: run grml-setlang to get a dialog based frontend for
470 /etc/default/locale and grml-setkeyboard to get a dialog based frontend
471 for /etc/sysconfig/keyboard.</p>
473 <h3><a name="kde_and_foo"></a><a href="#toc">KDE, Gnome, $FOO and $BAR</a></h3>
475 <p>Why isn't KDE, Gnome, $FOO or $BAR part of grml? grml is a
476 distribution for users of texttools and sysadmins. If you would like to
477 run KDE with Debian use e.g. <a href="http://sidux.com/">Sidux</a>, <a
478 href="http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/">Knoppix</a> or <a
479 href="http://www.kubuntu.org/">Kubuntu</a>. Gnome users might find <a
480 href="http://www.ubuntulinux.org/">Ubuntu</a> useful. If you would like
481 to see a specific (software) package added to grml please <a
482 href="/report/">report it to us</a>!</p>
484 <h3><a name="wms"></a><a href="#toc">Which window managers can I use?</a></h3>
486 <p>grml is shipped only with window managers which are lightweight and
487 fast - so well suited for a live-CD. At the moment, grml provides the
488 following window managers:
489 <a href="http://wmii.de/dwm/">dwm</a>,
490 <a href="http://www.6809.org.uk/evilwm/">evilwm</a>,
491 <a href="http://www.fluxbox.org/">fluxbox</a>,
492 <a href="http://www.fvwm.org/">fvwm</a>,
493 <a href="http://fvwm-crystal.org/">fvwm-crystal</a>,
494 <a href="http://modeemi.cs.tut.fi/~tuomov/ion/">ion3</a>,
495 <a href="http://joewing.net/programs/jwm/index.shtml">jwm</a>,
496 <a href="http://pekwm.org/">pekwm</a>,
497 <a href="http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/">ratpoison</a>,
498 <a href="http://www.plig.org/xwinman/vtwm.html">twm</a>,
499 <a href="http://www.grassouille.org/code/w9wm/README">w9wm</a>,
500 <a href="http://www.nickgravgaard.com/windowlab/">windowlab</a> and
501 <a href="http://www.suckless.org/wiki/wmii">wmii</a>.</p>
503 <p>If you are new to grml and/or prefer an easy-to-use-desktop run 'grml-x
504 wm-ng' for starting fluxbox with idesk and gkrellm.</p>
506 <h3><a name="usbmount"></a><a href="#toc">How do I mount a USB device / USB stick?</a></h3>
508 <p>Run 'mount /mnt/usb-sda1' for example if you want to mount /dev/sda1.
509 udev on grml does multiplexing for USB block devices, so /dev/usb-sda1
510 (device for mountpoint /mnt/usb-sda1) is a symlink to /dev/sda1.</p>
512 <h3><a name="lvm"></a><a href="#toc">Where are my LVM devices?</a></h3>
514 <p>LVM (Logival Volumes) is <strong>not</strong> started by default to
515 avoid any possible damage to your data. To get access to present LVM
516 devices just execute:</p>
519 # /etc/init.d/lvm2 start
521 or use the shorter version:
526 <p>If you want to enable LVM by default just boot using the 'lvm'
527 bootoption which automatically activates LVM.</p>
529 <h3><a name="swraid"></a><a href="#toc">Where are my Software-RAID devices?</a></h3>
531 <p>Software-RAID (usually known as the mdadm stuff) is
532 <strong>not</strong> started by default to avoid any possible damage to
533 your data. To get access to present SW-RAID devices just execute:</p>
536 # /etc/init.d/mdadm-raid start
538 or use the shorter version:
543 <p>If you want to enable SW-RAID by default just boot using the 'swraid'
544 bootoption which enables automatic assembling of software raid arrays.</p>
546 <h3><a name="nodma"></a><a href="#toc">Why does grml not use DMA mode?</a></h3>
548 <p>The harddisk is very slow and not using DMA mode? Check out whether
549 your S-ATA drive is detected as /dev/hda (this is a common problem with
550 ICH7 chipsets for example) and you can't set DMA mode:</p>
553 # hdparm -d1 /dev/hda
556 setting using_dma to 1 (on)
557 HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Operation not permitted
561 <p>Workaround: boot with the bootoptions 'hda=noprobe hda=none'. The
562 drive should be handled by the libata driver then (ata_piix for ICH7 for
563 example) and should show up as /dev/sda. (grml supports the old IDE
564 drivers as well as libata currently; this issue should be fixed with an
565 upcoming version of grml where libata is used more exclusively.)</p>
567 <a name="terminalserver"></a>
568 <h3><a name="booting"></a><a href="#toc">Which ways exist to boot grml?</a></h3>
570 <p>The most common way to boot grml is, of course, running from
571 CD-ROM, but grml provides many more ways to boot grml:</p>
573 <p>It is possible to boot grml via USB (e.g. USB stick or harddisk),
574 firewire, or running from a Compact Flash disk. It works out of the
575 box; you don't need to modify anything. If accessing the device
576 fails, use the 'scandelay' cheatcode on bootprompt. So, boot with
577 'grml scandelay'. If the timeout is still not long enough add the
578 time to wait in seconds as parameter: 'grml scandelay=15'. See <a
579 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb">usb-webpage in the
580 grml-wiki</a> for more details.</p>
582 <p>Your computer can not boot from CD-ROM but provides a floppy
583 disk? Take a look at <a
584 href="http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/">btmgr</a>, <a
585 href="http://ubcd4win.com/faq.htm#floppy">ubcd4win</a> or <a
586 href="http://linux.simple.be/tools/sbm">sbm</a>. They provide
587 support for booting from CD-ROM via a special floppy disk.</p>
589 <p>grml-terminalserver makes it possible to boot your system via
590 network. If you have a floppy drive, you can even boot your system over
591 network when your network card does not provide PXE-support! For more
592 information, refer to the <a
593 href="/terminalserver/">grml-terminalserver-webpage</a>.</p>
595 <h3><a name="timezone"></a><a href="#toc">How do I configure
596 timezone on my grml system?</a></h3>
598 <h4>Available bootoptions relevant in live-cd mode:</h4>
601 <li>utc: set UTC, if your system clock is set to UTC (GMT)
602 <li>gmt: set UTC, if your system clock is set to UTC (GMT) [like bootoption utc]
603 <li>tz=$option: set timezone to corresponding $option, usage example:
607 <h4>Configuration options relevant on harddisk installation:</h4>
612 # dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
615 <p>to adjust /etc/timezone and /etc/localtime according to the
616 provided information.</p>
618 <p><strong>/etc/default/rcS:</strong> set variable UTC according
619 to your needs, whether your system clock is set to UTC
620 (UTC='yes') or not (UTC='no')</p>
622 <p><strong>/etc/localtime:</strong> adjust zoneinfo according to
626 # ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/$WHATEVER_YOU_WANT /etc/localtime
629 <p>The zoneinfo directory contains the time zone files that were
630 compiled by zic. The files contain information such as rules
631 about DST. They allow the kernel to convert UTC UNIX time into
632 appropriate local dates and times. Use the zdump utility to
633 print current time and date (in the specified time zone).</p>
635 <p><strong>/etc/adjtime:</strong> This file is used e.g. by the
636 adjtimex function, which can smoothly adjust system time while
639 <p>If you change the time (using 'date --set ...', ntpdate,...)
640 it is worth setting also the hardware clock to the correct
644 # hwclock --systohc [--utc]
647 <p>Remember to add the --utc -option if the hardware clock is set to
650 <h4>Still problems?</h4>
652 <p>Check your current settings via:</p>
659 grep hwclock /etc/runlevel.conf
660 grep '^UTC' /etc/default/rc
663 <h4>Further information:</h4>
665 <p>Manpages: hwclock(8) tzselect(1) tzconfig(8); <a
666 href="http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/system-administrator/ch-sysadmin-time.html">Debian
667 GNU/Linux System Administrator's Manual Chapter 16 - Time</a> and <a
668 href="http://wiki.debian.org/TimeZoneChanges">TimeZoneChanges in the
671 <h3><a name="utf8"></a><a href="#toc">I have problems with UTF-8 / Unicode</a></h3>
674 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=utf8">UTF8-webpage in the
677 <h3><a name="missingfiles"></a><a href="#toc">I noticed some files are missing on grml</a></h3>
679 <p>Yes, output of 'debsums -a 1>/dev/null' might output some
680 failures. The reason is pretty simple: some modification have been done
681 because of space limitiations on the ISO. The failures are nothing to
682 really care about, but as we don't hide anything we document them of
685 <p>On <strong>grml</strong> the following modifications have been done:
689 <li>linux-headers-2.6.20-grml: include files
690 (/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.20-grml/include/) of foreign (!x86)
691 architectures have been removed
693 <li>texlive-base-bin: documentation directory
694 /usr/share/doc/texlive-base-bin/pdftex/thanh/ has been removed
696 <li>texlive-latex-base: documentation directories
697 /usr/share/doc/texlive-latex-base/latex/base/,
698 /usr/share/doc/texlive-latex-base/latex/hyperref/ and
699 /usr/share/doc/texlive-latex-base/generic/babel/ have been removed
701 <li>texlive-latex-recommended: documentation directory
702 /usr/share/doc/texlive-latex-recommended/latex/koma-script/ has been
707 <p>On <strong>grml64</strong> the following modifications have been done:</p>
711 <li>some files of valgrind (/usr/lib/valgrind/x86-linux/*) have been stripped
713 <li>.so files of ion3 (/usr/lib/ion3/*.so) have been stripped
718 <p>On <strong>grml-small</strong> nearly all the documentation has been
719 removed to be able to provide a ~60MB iso with kernel 2.6 and all the
720 provided software.</p>
722 <p>Please notice that grml ships a script named
723 <strong>grml2hd-fix</strong> as part of package grml2hd-utils which
724 should fix the relevant of the above errors if you <a
725 href="#hdinstall">use grml as a harddisk installation</a>.</p>
727 <h3><a name="bugreport"></a><a href="#toc">Bugreport</a></h3>
729 <p>Take a look at the <a href="/bugs/">bugs-webpage</a>.</p>
731 <h3><a name="hdinstall"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to install grml to harddisk?</a></h3>
733 <p>Yes. grml provides a tool called grml2hd (see '<a
734 href="/grml2hd/grml2hd.html">man grml2hd</a>'). grml is
735 developed on a box running the grml-system itself, and we - the
736 grml-developers - especially like grml2hd because it gives us a working
737 Linux box within 10 to 30 minutes. grml2hd is perfect for prototyping:
738 test hardware support of Linux, test a specific setup, ... You can even
739 use grml2hd in a fully automatic mode without any further interaction.
740 More information is available on <a
741 href="/grml2hd/">grml.org/grml2hd/</a> and <a
742 href="/grml2hd/grml2hd.html">man grml2hd</a>. Notice: If
743 you are using grml in a production environment and/or use a grml2hd
744 installation, we strongly recommend you subscribe to <a
745 href="/mailinglist/">the grml user mailinglist</a>! Note
746 that grml is based on Debian unstable, so you should be familiar with
747 Debian unstable if you plan to use grml as a harddisk system. If you
748 want to get a plain Debian system take a look at <a
749 href="/grml-debootstrap/">grml-debootstrap</a>.</p>
751 <h3><a name="grml2hdhang"></a><a href="#toc">grml2hd seems to hang?!</a></h3>
753 <p>grml2hd seems to hang? Switch to tty12 and take a look at the syslog output.
754 If you see something like:</p>
757 SQUASHFS error: zlib_fs returned unexpected result 0x........
758 SQUASHFS error: Unable to read cache block [.....]
759 SQUASHFS error: Unable to read inode [.....]</pre>
761 <p>your ISO/CD-ROM very probably is not ok. Verify it via booting with
762 grml testcd. Check your CD low-level via running:</p>
765 # readcd -c2scan dev=/dev/cdrom</pre>
767 <p>If the medium really is ok and it still fails try to boot with
768 DMA deactivated via 'grml nodma ide=nodma' at the bootprompt.</p>
770 <h3><a name="hardware"></a><a href="#toc">I have problems with my hardware!</a></h3>
772 <p>Take a look at the script grml-hwinfo. This script generates a
773 file named info.tar.bz2 which contains important information about
774 your hardware. If you think we might help, please run
775 grml-hwinfo and send us the file with additional, relevant
776 information regarding your problem.</p>
778 <h3><a name="boot"></a><a href="#toc">grml does not boot on my computer!</a></h3>
780 <p>Please take a look at <a
781 href="http://git.grml.org/?p=grml-live.git;a=blob_plain;f=templates/GRML/grml-cheatcodes.txt;hb=HEAD">the
782 available bootparamters and cheatcodes</a> and '<a href="#booting">Which
783 ways exist to boot grml?</a>'. Especially booting with 'acpi=off noapm
784 noapic' might help. Bootparameter 'failsafe' provides minimal hardware
785 detection using some special bootoptions. If booting hangs during stage
786 "Waiting for /dev to be fully populated" please try booting
787 with 'grml noudev'. If you don't even see the bootsplash of the grml-ISO
788 your BIOS seems to be broken (pretty common especially on old hardware).
789 Please consider using <a href="http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/">btmgr</a>
790 then for booting your system. Also check out the <a
791 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=problems">problems webpage</a> in
792 <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the grml-wiki</a>. You still have
793 problems? Please <a href="/contact/">contact us</a>!</p>
795 <h2><a name="kernel"></a><a href="#toc">Kernel</a></h2>
797 <h3><a name="kernelconfig"></a><a href="#toc">Where can I find the configuration for the kernel used on
800 <p>See /boot/config-`uname -r` and on <a href="/kernel/">the kernel-webpage</a>.</p>
802 <h3><a name="kernelpatches"></a><a href="#toc">Are there any special components/patches in the kernel
803 used on grml?</a></h3>
805 <p>grml uses the most current stable vanilla Linux kernel from <a
806 href="http://www.kernel.org/">www.kernel.org</a> with some
807 additional patches. More information and an all-in-one patch is
809 href="/kernel/">kernel-page</a>.</p>
811 <h3><a name="platform"></a><a href="#toc">For which platforms is the grml kernel optimized?</a></h3>
813 <p>Plain i586 compatibility-mode with SMP enabled. (Notice: this works
814 for uniprocessor systems as well, thanks to <a
815 href="http://lwn.net/Articles/164121/">SMP alternatives</a>.)</p>
817 <h2><a name="software"></a><a href="#toc">Software</a></h2>
819 <h3><a name="sw_general"></a><a href="#toc">General</a></h3>
821 <p>Want to run a program as root? Just use "sudo $PROGRAM". To get a
822 root-shell run "sudo su".</p>
824 <p>Problems with a specific package? Please try "dpkg-reconfigure $foo".
825 Still encountering difficulties? Please send us a <a
826 href="/bugs/">bugreport</a>!</p>
828 <h3><a name="sw_version"></a><a href="#toc">What version of $PACKAGE is
831 <p>Take a look at the dpkg_... files in the <a
832 href="/files/#debian">Debian-Information section on
833 grml.org/files/</a>. </p>
835 <h3><a name="init"></a><a href="#toc">Init-System</a></h3>
837 <p>Why is grml using runlevel 2 as default? Because runlevel 2 is 'the
838 textonly one' and it's debian's default.</p>
840 <p>Where are all the /etc/rc#.d-directories? grml doesn't use
841 sysv-rc but file-rc. This means you can configure the init system
842 in one single file named /etc/runlevel.conf with your favourite
843 editor. No symlink-hell anymore.</p>
845 <h3><a name="zsh"></a><a href="#toc">Why is zsh the default shell (/bin/sh)?</a></h3>
847 <p>Short answer: because zsh rocks.</p>
849 <p>Longer answer taken from <a href="http://zsh.sunsite.dk/FAQ/zshfaq01.html#l3">ZSH
850 FAQ: 1.2: What is it?</a>:</p>
852 <cite> Zsh is a UNIX command interpreter (shell) which of the standard shells most
853 resembles the Korn shell (ksh); its compatibility with the 1988 Korn shell has been
854 gradually increasing. It includes enhancements of many types, notably in the
855 command-line editor, options for customising its behaviour, filename globbing, features
856 to make C-shell (csh) users feel more at home and extra features drawn from tcsh
857 (another `custom' shell).</cite>
859 <p>If you don't know zsh take a look at <a
860 href="http://zsh.sunsite.dk/FAQ/zshfaq02.html#l9">ZSH FAQ: How does zsh
861 differ from ...?</a>, 'man zsh | less -p COMPATIBILITY', the <a
862 href="/zsh/">grml zsh reference card</a> and '<a
863 href="/zsh/">man zsh-lovers</a>'.</p>
865 <p>If you are a bash user and don't know zsh yet, don't be afraid. bash is largely a
866 subset of zsh and you don't have to throw away your knowledge about shell stuff.</p>
868 <h3><a name="zsh_binsh"></a><a href="#toc">Wasn't zsh the /bin/sh interpreter?</a></h3>
870 <p>Yes, until grml 0.6 zsh was the intepreter for /bin/sh. Starting
871 with release 0.7 grml uses /bin/bash as /bin/sh. The reason?
872 Debian does not support zsh as /bin/sh. Take a look at <a
873 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=329288">#329288</a>
875 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=340058">#340058</a>
878 <h3><a name="bash"></a><a href="#toc">Is a bash available?</a></h3>
880 <p>grml uses <a href="#zsh">zsh</a> as the default interactive shell
881 but, of course, a current version of bash (and many other shells as
882 well) is provided by grml.</p>
884 <h3><a name="configuration"></a><a href="#toc">Where can I find the configuration of zsh, GNU screen,...?</a></h3>
887 href="http://michael-prokop.at/blog/2007/12/22/make-console-work-comfortable/">'Make
888 console work comfortable'</a>.</p>
890 <h3><a name="truecrypt">Why isn't Truecrypt available within grml?</a></h3>
892 <p>Because Truecrypt is licensed under a specific license named
893 'TrueCrypt License 2.6' which doesn't permit us to distribute
895 href="http://www.truecrypt.org/legal/license">section VI/4 of the
896 license</a> for details.</p>
898 <h3><a name="fdisk"></a><a href="#toc">fdisk/parted/... complains with
899 something like 'unable to open /dev/sda - unrecognised disk
902 <p>The 'disk label' is libparted's word for 'partition table'. It looks
903 like you installed gnu-fdisk on your system. To work around this problem
904 you might want to try one the following options:</p>
907 <li>use /sbin/fdisk.distrib from util-linux</li>
908 <li>switch to sfdisk, cfdisk,...</li>
909 <li>use parted's mklabel command (but please read the <a
910 href="http://www.gnu.org/software/parted/manual/">parted manual</a>
911 before executing this command)</li>
914 <h3><a name="setuid"></a><a href="#toc">setuid/SUID</a></h3>
916 <p>If you set a programm SUID (setuid/mode 4755), unprivileged users on your system will
917 be able to run it. This <em>could</em> be a potentially security hole, so by default the
918 packages are configured not to install binaries with setuid. If you want to use the
919 binaries with setuid please run 'dpkg-reconfigure $packagename' or 'chmod 4755
920 =programm'. The following packages are well known to have a programm with not set
933 <h3><a name="bitchx"></a><a href="#toc">bitchx</a></h3>
935 <p>Why isn't bitchx part of grml? <a
936 href="http://www.google.com/search?q=bitchx+sucks">bitchx
937 sucks</a>. Please use a better alternative like <a
938 href="http://irssi.org/">irssi</a> or <a
939 href="http://weechat.flashtux.org/index.php?lang=en">weechat</a>
940 which are part of grml.</p>
942 <h3><a name="ispell"></a><a href="#toc">ispell</a></h3>
944 <p>You don't want to use the preselected default for ispell? Run
945 'select-default-ispell' for changing it.</p>
947 <h3><a name="latex"></a><a href="#toc">LaTeX</a></h3>
949 <p>auctex and preview-latex are loaded by default in emacs. If you want to load
950 auctex based on your personal settings put the string "(require 'tex-site)" in your
951 ~/.emacs, for preview-latex use the string '(load "preview-latex")'.<br />
952 To change this run 'dpkg-reconfigure auctex' and/or 'dpkg-reconfigure
955 <h3><a name="slapd"></a><a href="#toc">slapd</a></h3>
957 <p>The password for the admin entry in the LDAP directory is 'grml'.</p>
959 <h2><a name="release"></a><a href="#toc">Release related issues</a></h2>
961 <h3><a name="known_issues"></a><a href="#toc">Are there any known issues with this release?</a></h3>
963 <p>We won't hide anything. Therefore, we do provide all known
964 issues/bugs publicly available:</p>
968 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml_1.1">issues regarding
969 grml 1.1</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the grml-wiki</a></li>
971 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml64_0.2">issues
972 regarding grml64 0.2</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
975 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml-medium_0.1">issues
976 regarding grml-medium 0.1</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
979 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml64-medium_0.1">issues
980 regarding grml64-medium 0.1</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
983 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml-small_0.4">issues
984 regarding grml-small 0.4</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
989 <p>If you find another bug, or consider something a problem not yet
990 mentioned <a href="#bugreport">please report it to us</a>!</p>
992 <h3><a name="proc_usb"></a><a href="#toc">Why isn't /proc/bus/usb mounted anymore?</a></h3>
994 <p>Starting with kernel 2.6.14, /dev/bus/usb replaces usbfs.
995 Current versions of libusb check for /dev/bus/usb's existence and
996 /proc/bus/usb is not necessary anymore (see <a
997 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=336596">#336596</a>).
998 Of course 'mount /proc/bus/usb' still works; it is just not mounted
999 by default anymore. If you see any problems please <a
1000 href="#bugreport">report them</a>.</p>
1002 <h2><a name="xserver"></a><a href="#toc">X-Server</a></h2>
1004 <h3><a name="xstart"></a><a href="#toc">How do I start the X server?</a></h3>
1006 <p>Please use 'grml-x' as user grml for starting X on the live-cd. It
1007 generates the config file /etc/X11/xorg.conf and lets you start commands on
1008 startup (see ~/.xinitrc). Use it, for example, via switching to TTY4 (press
1009 Alt+F4) and run the following command to start wm-ng (window manager fluxbox
1010 with idesk and gkrellm):</p>
1012 <pre class="rahmen">
1015 <p>If you have /etc/X11/xorg.conf already you can use 'startx' instead of
1016 grml-x of course. Adjust ~/.xinitrc to your needs.</p>
1018 <h3><a name="xproblem"></a><a href="#toc">X does not start on my box?!</a></h3>
1020 <p>grml-x supports several options. If you want to set some special options
1021 please take a look at the grml-x manpage (man grml-x)! Some usage examples:</p>
1023 <pre class="rahmen">
1024 grml-x -display 8 fluxbox # start fluxbox on display 8
1025 grml-x -force -nostart fluxbox # force creation of xconfig file and don't start X server
1026 grml-x -hsync 60 fluxbox # set horizontal frequency and start fluxbox
1027 grml-x -hsync 60 -vsync 40 fluxbox # set horizontal and vertical sync frequencies and start fluxbox
1028 grml-x -mode '800x600' fluxbox # set resolution to 800x600 and start fluxbox
1029 grml-x -module vesa fluxbox # start fluxbox and use vesa module
1032 <h3><a name="xresolution"></a><a href="#toc">I don't like the resolution of X!</a></h3>
1034 <p>Just run xrandr to switch the resolution during runtime of X. For
1035 example: 'xrandr -s 1024x768'.</p>
1037 <h2><a name="framebuffer"></a><a href="#toc">Framebuffer</a></h2>
1039 <h3><a name="video"></a><a href="#toc">The boot option video does not work as
1040 expected anymore</a></h3>
1042 <p>grml versions 0.4 and 0.5 provided <a
1043 href="/kernel/#vesafbtng">vesafb-tng</a> instead of
1044 normal vesafb. Starting with grml 0.6 and grml-small 0.2 vesafb-tng
1045 is not part of the grml-kernel anymore because it caused too many
1046 problems. Therefore, you can use the 'normal' vga=... option
1049 <h3><a name="fbprobs"></a><a href="#toc">I don't see anything when booting grml?!</a></h3>
1051 <p>Likely, this is a problem with vesafb framebuffer. Try to boot
1052 with bootoption 'nofb' or 'grml vga=normal'.</p>
1054 <h2><a name="question"></a><a href="#toc">Further questions</a></h2>
1056 <p>Do you have a question which is not answered in the FAQ or in the
1057 provided <a href="/docs/">documentation</a> (also run
1058 "grml-info" on your grml-system)? Run 'grml-tips $KEYWORD' on
1059 your grml-system. Take a look at <a href="/">the
1060 grml-website</a> and <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
1061 grml-wiki</a>. Please don't hesitate to <a
1062 href="/contact/">contact us</a>, a good place to start
1063 is the <a href="/mailinglist/">grml mailinglist</a>.</p>
1065 <h3><a name="donate"></a><a href="#toc">You like grml? Make a donation
1066 to support our work!</a></h3>
1068 <p>grml is, as every other Open-Source project, driven by the many
1069 contributions made by many developers. The grml-team spends a great
1070 deal of their time and money toward this project.</p>
1072 <p>If you have been using grml you will come to remember how much money you
1073 or your company saves by using it and how you have been supported via
1074 the project mailing list, personal mail or irc.</p>
1076 <p>Now you can contribute by donating to grml. Your donation could either
1077 be money or hardware that one of the developers or the project as a whole
1078 needs. A donation would enable us to either support a specific
1079 hardware/software either at all or simply better.</p>
1081 <p>See <a href="/donations/">grml.org/donations/</a> for
1082 details. Thank you for helping us to work on grml!</p>
1085 <?php include '../static_bottom.inc'; ?>