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29 <h1 align="center">FAQ for grml</h1>
31 <p><strong>Up2date:</strong> 20100126 - applies to grml releases version 2009.10</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 the 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="#bootoptions">Which bootoptions does grml support?</a></li>
49 <li><a href="#emulation">Is it possible to run grml with $EMULATOR?</a></li>
50 <li><a href="#usbboot">How do I boot grml from a USB stick?</a></li>
51 <li><a href="#store">Is it possible to store my settings?</a></li>
52 <li><a href="#persistency">Is a persistency feature available?</a></li>
55 <p class="toc"><a href="#grmlmedium">grml-medium</a> / <a
56 href="#grmlsmall">grml-small</a> / <a
57 href="#grml64">grml64</a>:</p>
59 <li><a href="#whatismedium">What is grml-medium?</a></li>
60 <li><a href="#whatissmall">What is grml-small?</a></li>
61 <li><a href="#whatisgrml64">What is grml64?</a></li>
62 <li><a href="#whatismedium64">What is grml64-medium?</a></li>
63 <li><a href="#whatissmall64">What is grml64-small?</a></li>
64 <li><a href="#grml64vsnormal">What is the difference between 32 bit grml and 64 bit grml?</a></li>
65 <li><a href="#smallvsnormal">What is the difference between 'normal' grml and grml-small?</a></li>
66 <li><a href="#grmlvsdsl">What is the difference between grml-small and DSL?</a></li>
69 <p class="toc"><a href="#problems">Problems</a>:</p>
71 <li><a href="#known_issues">Are there any known issues with this release?</a></li>
72 <li><a href="#hardware">I have problems with my hardware!</a></li>
73 <li><a href="#boot">grml does not boot on my computer!</a></li>
74 <li><a href="#fbprobs">I don't see anything when booting grml?!</a></li>
75 <li><a href="#utf8">I have problems with UTF-8 / Unicode</a></li>
76 <li><a href="#grml2hdhang">grml2hd seems to hang?!</a></li>
77 <li><a href="#missingfiles">I noticed some files are missing on grml</a></li>
78 <li><a href="#bugreport">Bugreport</a></li>
81 <p class="toc"><a href="#system">System</a>:</p>
83 <li><a href="#isolinux">Where's the old bootsplash?</a></li>
84 <li><a href="#configure">Which tools exist to configure grml?</a></li>
85 <li><a href="#password">What are the passwords of users on grml?</a></li>
86 <li><a href="#version">How do I find out the version of grml</a></li>
87 <li><a href="#remove_cd">Is it possible to run LiveCD and eject CD-ROM?</a></li>
88 <li><a href="#language">How do I change the language/keyboard settings?</a></li>
89 <li><a href="#kde_and_foo">KDE, Gnome, $FOO and $BAR</a></li>
90 <li><a href="#wms">Which window managers can I use?</a></li>
91 <li><a href="#usbmount">How do I mount a USB device / USB stick?</a></li>
92 <li><a href="#lvm">Where are my LVM devices?</a></li>
93 <li><a href="#swraid">Where are my Software-RAID devices?</a></li>
94 <li><a href="libata">Why doesn't grml find my disks / doesn't boot?</a></li>
95 <li><a href="#booting">Which ways exist to boot grml?</a></li>
96 <li><a href="#timezone">How do I configure timezone on my grml system?</a></li>
97 <li><a href="#hdinstall">Is it possible to install grml to harddisk?</a></li>
100 <p class="toc"><a href="#kernel">Kernel</a>:</p>
102 <li><a href="#kernelconfig">Where can I find the configuration for the kernel used on grml?</a></li>
103 <li><a href="#kernelpatches">Are there any special components/patches in the kernel used on grml?</a></li>
104 <li><a href="#platform">For which platforms is the grml kernel optimized?</a></li>
107 <p class="toc"><a href="#software">Software:</a></p>
109 <li><a href="#sw_general">General</a></li>
110 <li><a href="#sw_version">Which package(s) and which version is available?</a></li>
111 <li><a href="#init">Init-System</a></li>
112 <li><a href="#zsh">Why is zsh the default shell?</a></li>
113 <li><a href="#zsh_binsh">Wasn't zsh the /bin/sh interpreter?</a></li>
114 <li><a href="#bash">Is a bash available?</a></li>
115 <li><a href="#configuration">Where can I find the configuration of zsh, GNU screen,...?</a></li>
116 <li><a href="#truecrypt">Why isn't Truecrypt available within grml?</a></li>
117 <li><a href="#grub">grub does not work on my system?!</a></li>
118 <li><a href="#fdisk">fdisk/parted/... complains with something like 'unable to open /dev/sda - unrecognised disk label'?!</a></li>
121 <p class="toc"><a href="#xserver">X-Server</a></p>
123 <li><a href="#xstart">How do I start the X server?</a></li>
124 <li><a href="#xproblem">X does not start on my box?!</a></li>
125 <li><a href="#xresolution">I don't like the resolution of X!</a></li>
128 <p class="toc"><a href="#stuff">Support / Unanswered stuff</a></p>
130 <li><a href="#questions">Further questions?</a></li>
131 <li><a href="#support">Commercial Support</a></li>
134 <h2><a name="general"></a><a href="#toc">General</a></h2>
136 <h3><a name="whatis"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml?</a></h3>
138 <p>Grml is a bootable CD (Live-CD) based on <a
139 href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>. Grml includes a collection of
140 GNU/Linux software especially for system administrators and users of
141 texttools. Grml provides automatic hardware detection. You can use grml
142 as a rescue system, for analyzing systems/networks, or as a working
143 environment. It is not necessary to install anything to a harddisk. Due
144 to on-the-fly decompression grml includes more than 2GB of software and
145 documentation on the CD.</p>
147 <h3><a name="get"></a><a href="#toc">Where do I get grml?</a></h3>
149 <p>Grml is open source, you can download it from the mirrors listed at
150 <a href="/download">grml.org/download/</a>. If you want to get an
151 original grml-CD including <a href="/files/#covers">the grml-cover</a>,
152 need a special amount of CDs or want your own special grml-CD (including
153 your logo, your software and/or special settings) <a
154 href="/contact/">please don't hesitate to contact us</a>. Take a look at
155 <a href="http://grml-solutions.com/">Grml Solutions</a> if you're
156 interested in commercial support.</p>
158 <h3><a name="whatmeans"></a><a href="#toc">What does grml mean?</a></h3>
160 <p>Grml is short for 'grummel' and comes close to 'argl' or 'grrr' in
161 English. People use this when they want to express their
162 dissatisfaction/discontentedness with software (amongst other
166 $ grep -ch grml .centericq/**/history | xargs echo | \
167 sed 's/[0-9]*/& + /g' | sed 's/+ $//g' | bc -l
170 <h3><a name="pronounce"></a><a href="#toc">How do you pronounce grml?</a></h3>
173 % flite -o play -t gremel</pre>
175 $ echo 'ghroummel' | festival \-\-tts
178 <h3><a name="releasename"></a><a href="#toc">What about the release name?</a></h3>
180 <p>Codename of grml 2009.10 is Hello-Wien. Wien is the German language
181 name for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna">Vienna</a>, the
182 city and federal state in Austria. Pronounce Wien like 'ween', take a
183 look at the <a href="http://grml.org/screenshots/#grml0910">release
184 screenshot</a>, think of 31st of october as release date and you should
187 <h3><a name="requirements"></a><a href="#toc">Requirements for running grml</a></h3>
191 <li>Intel-compatible CPU (i586 or later, preferably Pentium class or higher)</li>
193 <li>grml/grml-medium: at least 64MB of RAM (for stable use with
194 ramdisks for aufs and udev and when running X window system we
195 recommend at least 128MB)</li>
197 <li>grml-small: at least 32MB RAM should be available</li>
199 <li>either a bootable CD-ROM drive or <a href="#usbboot">USB-boot
200 capabable system</a> (for booting via network/PXE check out <a
201 href="#terminalserver">grml-terminalserver</a>)</li>
205 <h3><a name="why"></a><a href="#toc">Why another Linux distribution?</a></h3>
207 <p>There already exist "<a
208 href="http://www.distrowatch.com/">some</a>" distributions. We
209 decided to base our work on the existing infrastructure of <a
210 href="http://debian.org/">Debian</a> because we don't want to reinvent
211 the wheel. Some admins already use their own rescue CD, Knoppix works
212 but does not bring that many important tools for admins and users of
213 texttools out of the box. Therefor we decided to share our work with
214 others and provide the swiss army knife for sysadmins and texttool
217 <h3><a name="license"></a><a href="#toc">What's the license of grml?</a></h3>
219 <p>Anything written by the grml team is published under the GPL (<a
220 href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GNU General Public
221 License</a>). You don't have to pay anything for using grml. If you want
222 a special Live-CD or need commercial support, take a look at <a
223 href="http://grml-solutions.com/">Grml Solutions</a>.</p>
225 <h3><a name="difference"></a><a href="#toc">What's the difference between grml and
226 $OTHER-DISTRIBUTION? What are the main goals?</a></h3>
228 <p>The main goal of grml is to be a distribution well suited for
229 sysadmins and users of texttools. Grml includes all the tools for
230 admin's daily work (lvm, mdadm, dd/ddrescue,...) as well as many
231 important texttools (of course awk, sed, grep, ... but also zsh,
232 mutt[ng], slrn, vim and many others). Grml uses the existing
233 infrastructure of <a href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>. Grml was
234 once based on <a href="http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/">Knoppix</a> (see
235 '<a href="#knoppix">What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?</a>'
236 for more details). We are also merging useful things from other
237 distributions/live-cds to provide a perfect environment.</p>
239 <h3><a name="knoppix"></a><a href="#toc">What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?</a></h3>
241 <p>Grml comes with a vastly different set of software. Missing KDE and
242 OpenOffice provides the opportunity of shipping more than 800 packages
243 which Knoppix does not provide on its CD version. Grml boots a recent
244 2.6 kernel but no X by default for faster startup. Knoppix is based on
245 Debian/testing-experimental (using apt-pinning), but grml is basically
246 based on plain Debian/unstable providing more current versions of
247 software. Grml was once based on Knoppix but nowadays has nothing in
248 common with Knoppix:</p>
252 # find / -iname \*knoppix\*
255 <p>We consider Knoppix as a brand name for live-cds nowadays and provide
256 most of Knoppix' features as well. Grml uses (mostly) the same <a
257 href="http://git.grml.org/?p=grml-live.git;a=blob_plain;f=templates/GRML/grml-cheatcodes.txt;hb=HEAD">cheatcodes</a>
258 for booting as Knoppix and even provides some extra ones. So if you are
259 used to the basic Knoppix features you usually find them on the
260 grml system as well.</p>
262 <h3><a name="accessibility"></a><a href="#toc">What does accessibility at grml mean?</a></h3>
264 <p>The Grml kernel includes <a href="/kernel/#speakup">support for
265 speakup</a> and provides software like brltty (using bootoption 'grml
266 blind brltty=type,port,tbl') and flite.</p>
268 <h3><a name="bootoptions"></a><a href="#toc">Which bootoptions does Grml support?</a></h3>
271 href="http://git.grml.org/?p=grml-live.git;a=blob_plain;f=templates/GRML/grml-cheatcodes.txt;hb=HEAD">grml-cheatcodes
272 file</a> (also available via <a href="http://grml.org/cheatcodes/">grml.org/cheatcodes/</a>). Of
274 href="http://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt">kernel-parameters.txt</a>
275 of the Linux kernel applies to Grml as well.</p>
277 <h3><a name="emulation"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to run grml with $EMULATOR?</a></h3>
279 <p>Sure, Grml works with <a href="http://www.vmware.com/">VMware</a>, <a
280 href="http://www.virtualbox.org/">Virtualbox</a>, <a
281 href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/">MS Virtual PC</a>,
282 <a href="http://www.linux-kvm.org/">KVM</a>... It's also possible to run
283 grml with <a href="http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/qemu/">QEMU</a>, an
284 emulator for various CPUs which works on Linux, Windows, FreeBSD and Mac
285 OS X. Take a look at <a href="/qemu/">grml's QEMU webpage</a>.</p>
287 <h3><a name="usbboot"></a><a href="#toc">How do I boot grml from a USB stick?</a></h3>
290 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb#grml2usb">grml2usb</a> at the
291 <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb">usb webpage in the
294 <h3><a name="store"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to store my settings?</a></h3>
296 <p>Yes. Grml provides a config framework, check out <a
297 href="/config/">grml.org/config/</a>, <a
298 href="file:///usr/share/doc/grml-saveconfig/grml-config.html">/usr/share/doc/grml-saveconfig/grml-config.html</a>
299 and 'man grml-autoconfig save-config restore-config mkpersistenthome' for more
300 details. Starting with release 2009.05 a <a
301 href="#persistency">persistency option</a> is
304 <h3><a name="persistency"></a><a href="#doc">Is a persistency feature available?</a></h3>
306 <p>Starting with release 2009.05 a persistency feature is available. Use
308 href="http://grml.org/online-docs/live-snapshot.en.1.html">live-snapshot</a>
309 (man live-snapshot) and the bootoption 'persistent' for enabling
312 <a name="grmlmedium"></a><a name="grmlsmall"></a><a name="grml64"></a>
313 <h2></a><a href="#toc">grml-medium / grml-small / grml64?</a></h2>
315 <h3><a name="whatismedium"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml-medium?</a></h3>
317 <p>grml-medium is a grml-flavour which tries to close the gap between <a
318 href="#whatissmall">grml-small</a> and <a
319 href="#whatis">normal/large/full version of grml</a>. grml-medium is an
320 ISO with a size of ~200MB providing the most important packages a
321 sysadmin usually needs. It provides the same <a href="/kernel/">kernel
322 version</a> as normal grml does so you can easily integrate and use some
323 further existing external modules as well. The X.org server is shipped
324 as well as the window manager fluxbox. Take a look at the <a
325 href="/files/">'Debian-Information'-section</a> if you are searching for
327 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=accessibility">accessibility
328 features</a> are <strong>NOT</strong> available/supported on grml-medium
331 <h3><a name="whatissmall"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml-small?</a></h3>
333 <p>Whereas grml provides about 2.3GB of software on a 700 MB ISO,
334 grml-small is a flavor with about 100 MB ISO-size (~275 MB
335 uncompressed). It does not provide a lot of software (for example no
336 X.org and no man pages) but the essential stuff for being a rescue
337 system on a business card CD-ROM or a small USB device. You can use the
338 Debian package management system to install software on the fly
339 (assuming you have network access to a Debian mirror). It provides the
340 same <a href="/kernel/">kernel version</a> as normal grml does so you
341 can easily integrate and use some further existing external modules as
342 well. Take a look at the <a
343 href="/files/">'Debian-Information'-section</a> if you are searching for
344 the package list.</p>
346 <h3><a name="whatisgrml64"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml64?</a></h3>
348 <p>grml64 is a 64bit-version of grml, based on <a
349 href="http://www.debian.org/ports/amd64/">the amd64 port of
352 <h3><a name="whatismedium64"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml64-medium?</a></h3>
354 <p>grml64-medium is the 64bit version of <a href="#whatismedium">grml-medium</a>.</p>
356 <h3><a name="whatissmall64">What is grml64-small?</a></h3>
358 <p>grml64-small is the 64bit version of <a href="#whatissmall">grml-small</a>.</p>
360 <h3><a name="grml64vsnormal"></a><a href="#toc">What is the difference between 32 bit grml and 64 bit grml?</a></h3>
362 <p>The main difference of course is that grml64 is a 64bit-version
363 whereas (normal) grml is 32bit-only. grml64 provides a 64bit kernel
364 which supports 32bit userspace applications. grml64 also provides
365 libc6-i386 and libc6-dev-i386. Due to space reasons and because some
366 packages aren't available for amd64 yet some packages are missing on
367 grml64 compared to (normal, 32bit) grml. For more details please take a
368 look at <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml64">the grml64
369 webpage in the grml-wiki</a>.</p>
371 <h3><a name="smallvsnormal"></a><a href="#toc">What is the
372 difference between 'normal' grml and grml-small?</a></h3>
374 <p>The 700MB-grml brings more than 2500 software packages. grml-small
375 includes about 300 software packages, lacks documentation and manpages
376 on the ISO. <a href="#terminalserver">grml-terminalserver</a> and <a
377 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=accessibility">accessibility
378 features</a> are <strong>not</strong> available/supported on
381 <h3><a name="grmlvsdsl"></a><a href="#toc">What is the
382 difference between grml-small and DSL?</a></h3>
384 <p>DSL (Damns Small Linux) and grml-small have different target
385 audiences. <a href="http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/">Damn Small Linux</a>
386 (DSL) uses kernel version 2.4 whereas grml-small provides a recent
387 version of kernel version 2.6. DSL provides the X window system which
388 grml-small does not. grml-small on the other hand provides the most
389 important packages for sysadmins and ships the original Debian package
390 management which allows you to install packages of the Debian pool with
391 no modifications.</p>
393 <h2><a name="problems"></a><a href="#toc">Problems</a></h2>
395 <a name="release"></a> <!-- old anchor -->
396 <h3><a name="known_issues"></a><a href="#toc">Are there any known issues with this release?</a></h3>
398 <p>We won't hide anything. Therefore, we do provide all known
399 issues/bugs publicly available:</p>
403 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml_2009.10">issues regarding
404 grml 2009.10</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the grml-wiki</a></li>
406 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml64_2009.10">issues
407 regarding grml64 2009.10</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
410 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml-medium_2009.10">issues
411 regarding grml-medium 2009.10</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
414 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml64-medium_2009.10">issues
415 regarding grml64-medium 2009.10</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
418 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml-small_2009.10">issues
419 regarding grml-small 2009.10</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
422 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml64-small_2009.10">issues
423 regarding grml64-small 2009.10</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
428 <p>If you find another bug, or consider something a problem not yet
429 mentioned <a href="#bugreport">please it</a>.</p>
431 <h3><a name="hardware"></a><a href="#toc">I have problems with my hardware!</a></h3>
433 <p>Take a look at the script grml-hwinfo. This script generates a file
434 named info.tar.bz2 which contains important information about your
435 hardware. If you think we might help, please run grml-hwinfo and <a
436 href="/contact/">send us the file</a> with additional, relevant
437 information regarding your problem.</p>
439 <h3><a name="boot"></a><a href="#toc">grml does not boot on my computer!</a></h3>
441 <p>Please take a look at <a
442 href="http://git.grml.org/?p=grml-live.git;a=blob_plain;f=templates/GRML/grml-cheatcodes.txt;hb=HEAD">the
443 available bootparamters and cheatcodes</a> and '<a href="#booting">Which
444 ways exist to boot grml?</a>'. Especially booting with 'acpi=off noapm
445 noapic' might help. The bootparameter 'failsafe' provides minimal
446 hardware detection using some special bootoptions (please do NOT boot
447 with 'grml failsafe' but with 'failsafe' as first word of the boot
448 commandline) . If booting hangs during stage "Waiting for /dev to
449 be fully populated" please try booting with 'grml noudev'. If you
450 don't even see the bootsplash of the grml-ISO your BIOS might be broken
451 (pretty common especially on old hardware). Please consider using <a
452 href="http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/">btmgr</a> then for booting your
453 system. Also check out the <a
454 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=problems">problems webpage</a> in
455 <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the grml-wiki</a>. You still have
456 problems? Feel free to <a href="/contact/">contact us</a>.</p>
458 <h3><a name="fbprobs"></a><a href="#toc">I don't see anything when booting grml?!</a></h3>
460 <p>Likely, this is a problem with the vesafb framebuffer. Try to boot
461 with the 'Disable Framebuffer' menuentry (available behind the submenu
462 'Boot options for ...') or manually ad 'vga=normal' to the kernel
463 command line (press TAB to edit a menu entry and add 'vga=normal'
466 <h3><a name="utf8"></a><a href="#toc">I have problems with UTF-8 / Unicode</a></h3>
469 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=utf8">UTF8-webpage in the
472 <h3><a name="grml2hdhang"></a><a href="#toc">grml2hd seems to hang?!</a></h3>
474 <p>grml2hd seems to hang? Switch to tty12 and take a look at the syslog output.
475 If you see something like:</p>
478 SQUASHFS error: zlib_fs returned unexpected result 0x........
479 SQUASHFS error: Unable to read cache block [.....]
480 SQUASHFS error: Unable to read inode [.....]</pre>
482 <p>your ISO/CD-ROM <em>very</em> probably is NOT ok. Verify it via
483 booting with grml testcd if that works, or even better check your CD
484 low-level via running:</p>
487 # readcd -c2scan dev=/dev/cdrom</pre>
489 <p>If the medium really is ok and it still fails try to boot with
490 DMA deactivated via 'grml nodma ide=nodma libata.dma=0' at the bootprompt.</p>
493 <h3><a name="missingfiles"></a><a href="#toc">I noticed some files are missing on grml</a></h3>
495 <p>Yes, output of 'debsums -a 1>/dev/null' might output some
496 failures. The reason is pretty simple: some few modification have been
497 done either because they are required for the provided environment or
498 because of space limitiations on the ISO. The failures are nothing to
499 really care about, but as we don't hide anything we thought it might be
500 worth mentioning.</p>
502 <h3><a name="bugreport"></a><a href="#toc">Bugreport</a></h3>
504 <p>Searching for a bug? Want to report a bug? Take a look at the <a
505 href="/bugs/">bugs webpage</a>.</p>
507 <h2><a name="system"></a><a href="#toc">System</a></h2>
509 <h3><a name="isolinux"></a><a href="#toc">Where's the old bootsplash?</a></h3>
511 <p>Starting with release 2009.10 Grml provides a menu based bootsplash.
512 To adjust boot options just press the TAB-key. To directly switch to the
513 old-style isolinux cmdline just press the escape key within 30 seconds. If you
514 still need access to the old bootsplash layout (including the f2, f3,...
515 pages with further information regarding available bootoptions)
516 select the entry 'Isolinux prompt' in the menu based bootsplash (just
517 press 'i' and ENTER for direct access to it). The timeout until either
518 the selected entry is booted (if specified) or until the system will
519 restore from the cmdline to the menu based bootsplash is 30 seconds.</p>
521 <h3><a name="configure"></a><a href="#toc">Which tools exist to configure grml?</a></h3>
523 <p>Grml provides several scripts and tools which should make life
524 easier. See 'dpkg -L grml-scripts' to get an overview of some main
525 scripts. Run 'grml-config' to get a dialog interface for the most
526 important scripts and tasks. Or just type 'grml-' and press tab-key to
527 get a completion menu in the shell.</p>
529 <h3><a name="password"></a><a href="#toc">What are the passwords of users on grml?</a></h3>
531 <p>There are no default passwords - all accounts are locked by default
532 for security reasons. Even local logins are not possible (unless you set
533 a password or create new user accounts as root). You can create valid
534 passwords using "sudo passwd [username]" from the shell
537 <h3><a name="version"></a><a href="#toc">How do I find out the version of grml</a></h3>
539 <p>Run 'grml-version' or use the following command:</p>
542 $ cat /etc/grml_version</pre>
544 <h3><a name="remove_cd"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to run LiveCD and eject CD-ROM?</a></h3>
547 % sudo umount -l /live/image
548 % sudo eject /dev/cdrom # now don't run any new programs unless you booted using 'toram'
549 % mount /dev/cdrom # mount it again if needed
552 <h3><a name="language"></a><a href="#toc">How do I change the language/keyboard settings?</a></h3>
554 <p>By default grml uses english settings. But it is possible to
555 change the settings via using either the bootparam(s) lang,
556 keyboard and xkeyboard or via executing grml-lang when grml is
557 already running. Usage examples:</p>
560 grml lang=de # enter this at the bootprompt and you will get
561 # german keyboard layout and german $LANG, $LC_ALL,
563 grml keyboard=de xkeyboard=de lang=at # enter this at the bootprompt
564 # and you will get german keyboard and austrian
566 % grml-lang de # enter this in the shell to switch keyboard layout
567 # and $LANG settings in a running grml-system
570 <p>If you are running grml from harddisk (using <a
571 href="#hdinstall">grml2hd</a>) you have several options how to set
572 language options:</p>
576 <li>adjust /etc/default/locale to configure global language and
577 environment settings</li>
579 <li>set environment variables like $LC_ALL, $LANG, $LANGUAGE in your
580 personal configuration files (like ~/.zshrc.local, see <a
581 href="/zsh/">grml zsh reference card</a> for details)
582 if you do not want to use them system wide/global</li>
584 <li>adjust /etc/sysconfig/keyboard to configure keyboard layout
585 on console, or run 'loadkeys $KEYTABLE' manually</li>
587 <li>add "setxkbmap $LANGUAGE" to the keybindings section in
588 your ~/.xinitrc to configure keyboard setup for the X window system
589 (deactivate the xmodmap lines if necessary)</li>
593 <p>Note: run grml-setlang to get a dialog based frontend for
594 /etc/default/locale. Run grml-setkeyboard to get a dialog based frontend
595 for /etc/sysconfig/keyboard.</p>
597 <h3><a name="kde_and_foo"></a><a href="#toc">KDE, Gnome, $FOO and $BAR</a></h3>
599 <p>Why isn't KDE, Gnome, $FOO or $BAR part of grml? grml is a
600 distribution for users of texttools and sysadmins. If you would like to
601 run KDE with Debian use e.g. <a href="http://sidux.com/">Sidux</a> or <a
602 href="http://www.kubuntu.org/">Kubuntu</a>. Gnome users might find <a
603 href="http://www.ubuntulinux.org/">Ubuntu</a> useful. If you would like
604 to see a specific (software) package added to grml please <a
605 href="/report/">report it to us</a>!</p>
607 <h3><a name="wms"></a><a href="#toc">Which window managers can I use?</a></h3>
609 <p>Grml is shipped only with window managers which are lightweight and
610 fast - so well suited for a live system. At the moment, grml provides the
611 following window managers:</p>
613 <li><a href="http://awesome.naquadah.org/">awesome</a>
614 <li><a href="http://wmii.de/dwm/">dwm</a>
615 <li><a href="http://www.6809.org.uk/evilwm/">evilwm</a>
616 <li><a href="http://www.fluxbox.org/">fluxbox</a>
617 <li><a href="http://www.fvwm.org/">fvwm</a>
618 <li><a href="http://fvwm-crystal.org/">fvwm-crystal</a>
619 <li><a href="http://joewing.net/programs/jwm/index.shtml">jwm</a>
620 <li><a href="http://icculus.org/openbox/index.php/Main_Page">openbox</a>
621 <li><a href="http://pekwm.org/">pekwm</a>
622 <li><a href="http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/">ratpoison</a>
623 <li><a href="http://www.plig.org/xwinman/vtwm.html">twm</a>
624 <li><a href="http://www.grassouille.org/code/w9wm/README">w9wm</a>
625 <li><a href="http://www.nickgravgaard.com/windowlab/">windowlab</a>
626 <li><a href="http://www.suckless.org/wiki/wmii">wmii</a>
629 <p>Tip: If you are new to grml and/or prefer an easy-to-use-desktop run 'grml-x
630 wm-ng' for starting fluxbox with idesk and gkrellm.</p>
632 <h3><a name="usbmount"></a><a href="#toc">How do I mount a USB device / USB stick?</a></h3>
634 <p>Run 'mount /mnt/usb-sda1' for example if you want to mount /dev/sda1.
635 udev on grml does multiplexing for USB block devices, so /dev/usb-sda1
636 (device for mountpoint /mnt/usb-sda1) is a symlink to /dev/sda1.</p>
638 <h3><a name="lvm"></a><a href="#toc">Where are my LVM devices?</a></h3>
640 <p>LVM (Logival Volumes) is <strong>not</strong> started by default to
641 avoid any possible damage to your data. To get access to present LVM
642 devices just execute:</p>
645 # /etc/init.d/lvm2 start
647 or use the shorter version:
652 <p>If you want to enable LVM by default just boot using the 'lvm'
653 bootoption which automatically enables LVM.</p>
655 <h3><a name="swraid"></a><a href="#toc">Where are my Software-RAID devices?</a></h3>
657 <p>Software-RAID (usually known as the mdadm stuff) is
658 <strong>not</strong> started by default to avoid any possible damage to
659 your data. To get access to present SW-RAID devices just execute:</p>
662 # /etc/init.d/mdadm-raid start
664 or use the shorter version:
669 <p>If you want to enable SW-RAID by default just boot using the 'swraid'
670 bootoption which enables automatic assembling of software raid arrays.</p>
672 <h3><a name="libata"></a><a href="#toc">Why doesn't grml find my disks / doesn't boot?</a></h3>
674 <p>Since release 2008.11 grml uses <a
675 href="http://linux-ata.org/faq.html">libata</a> exclusively (so no
676 longer any old IDE code). Sadly some few (usually pretty old) systems
677 don't boot with libata-only kernels anymore. If you think you've such a
678 system please provide output of 'lspci' <a href="/contact/">to
681 <a name="terminalserver"></a>
682 <h3><a name="booting"></a><a href="#toc">Which ways exist to boot grml?</a></h3>
684 <p>The most common way to boot grml is, of course, running from
685 CD-ROM, but grml provides many more ways to boot grml:</p>
687 <p>It is possible to boot grml via USB (e.g. USB stick or harddisk),
688 firewire, or running from a Compact Flash disk. It works out of the box;
689 you don't need to modify anything. Check out <a
690 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb">the usb webpage in the
691 grml-wiki</a> for more details.</p>
693 <p>Your computer can not boot from CD-ROM but provides a floppy
694 disk? Take a look at <a
695 href="http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/">btmgr</a>, <a
696 href="http://ubcd4win.com/faq.htm#floppy">ubcd4win</a> or <a
697 href="http://linux.simple.be/tools/sbm">sbm</a>. They provide
698 support for booting from CD-ROM via a special floppy disk.</p>
700 <p>grml-terminalserver makes it possible to boot your system via network
702 href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preboot_Execution_Environment">PXE</a>
703 (Preboot Execution Environment). If your network card does not provide
704 support for booting via PXE you can still boot it either using the
705 provided grub image by grml-terminalserver (for example via floppy
706 drive) or using <a href="http://etherboot.org/wiki/index.php">gPXE</a>.
707 For more information, refer to the <a
708 href="/terminalserver/">grml-terminalserver webpage</a>.</p>
710 <h3><a name="timezone"></a><a href="#toc">How do I configure
711 timezone on my grml system?</a></h3>
713 <h4>Available bootoptions relevant in live-cd mode:</h4>
716 <li>utc: set UTC, if your system clock is set to UTC (GMT)
717 <li>gmt: set UTC, if your system clock is set to UTC (GMT) [like bootoption utc]
718 <li>tz=$option: set timezone to corresponding $option, usage example:
722 <h4>Configuration options relevant on harddisk installation:</h4>
727 # dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
730 <p>to adjust /etc/timezone and /etc/localtime according to the
731 provided information.</p>
733 <p><strong>/etc/default/rcS:</strong> set variable UTC according
734 to your needs, whether your system clock is set to UTC
735 (UTC='yes') or not (UTC='no')</p>
737 <p><strong>/etc/localtime:</strong> adjust zoneinfo according to
741 # ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/$WHATEVER_YOU_WANT /etc/localtime
744 <p>The zoneinfo directory contains the time zone files that were
745 compiled by zic. The files contain information such as rules
746 about DST. They allow the kernel to convert UTC UNIX time into
747 appropriate local dates and times. Use the zdump utility to
748 print current time and date (in the specified time zone).</p>
750 <p><strong>/etc/adjtime:</strong> This file is used e.g. by the
751 adjtimex function, which can smoothly adjust system time while
754 <p>If you change the time (using 'date --set ...', ntpdate,...)
755 it is worth setting also the hardware clock to the correct
759 # hwclock --systohc [--utc]
762 <p>Remember to add the --utc -option if the hardware clock is set to
765 <h4>Still problems?</h4>
767 <p>Check your current settings via:</p>
774 grep hwclock /etc/runlevel.conf
775 grep '^UTC' /etc/default/rc
778 <h4>Further information:</h4>
780 <p>Manpages: hwclock(8) tzselect(1) tzconfig(8); <a
781 href="http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/system-administrator/ch-sysadmin-time.html">Debian
782 GNU/Linux System Administrator's Manual Chapter 16 - Time</a> and <a
783 href="http://wiki.debian.org/TimeZoneChanges">TimeZoneChanges in the
786 <h3><a name="hdinstall"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to install grml to harddisk?</a></h3>
788 <p>Yes. Grml provides a tool called <a href="/grml2hd/">grml2hd</a> (see
789 '<a href="/grml2hd/grml2hd.html">man grml2hd</a>'). grml is developed
790 on a box running the grml-system itself, and we - the grml-developers -
791 especially like grml2hd because it gives us a working Linux box within
792 10 to 30 minutes. grml2hd is perfect for prototyping: test hardware
793 support of Linux, test a specific setup, ... You can even use grml2hd in
794 a fully automatic mode without any further interaction.</p>
796 <p>But <strong>please note</strong>: grml2hd does <strong>NOT</strong>
797 provide a Linux distribution for newbies and should be installed to hard
798 disk only if really know what you are doing (or don't care about
799 maintainability, seriously). Please install grml using grml2hd only if
800 can answer all of the following questions with 'sure, YES':</p>
803 <li>Are you used to work with Debian/unstable?
804 <li>Do you know how to report bugs to Debian?
805 <li>Are you aware of the differences between plain Debian and grml?
808 <p><strong>Tip</strong>: If you want to get a plain Debian system take
809 a look at <a href="/grml-debootstrap/">grml-debootstrap</a>.</p>
811 <p><strong>Note:</strong> If you are using grml in a production
812 environment and/or use a grml2hd installation, we strongly recommend you
813 subscribe to <a href="/mailinglist/">the grml user mailinglist</a>!</p>
815 <h2><a name="kernel"></a><a href="#toc">Kernel</a></h2>
817 <h3><a name="kernelconfig"></a><a href="#toc">Where can I find the configuration for the kernel used on
820 <p>See /boot/config-`uname -r` and on <a href="/kernel/">the kernel-webpage</a>.</p>
822 <h3><a name="kernelpatches"></a><a href="#toc">Are there any special components/patches in the kernel
823 used on grml?</a></h3>
825 <p>Grml uses the most current stable vanilla Linux kernel from <a
826 href="http://www.kernel.org/">www.kernel.org</a> with some
827 additional patches. More information and an all-in-one patch is
829 href="/kernel/">kernel-page</a>.</p>
831 <h3><a name="platform"></a><a href="#toc">For which platforms is the grml kernel optimized?</a></h3>
833 <p>Plain i586 compatibility-mode with SMP enabled. (Note: of course it
834 works for uniprocessor systems as well)</p>
836 <h2><a name="software"></a><a href="#toc">Software</a></h2>
838 <h3><a name="sw_general"></a><a href="#toc">General</a></h3>
840 <p>Want to run a program as root? Just use "sudo $PROGRAM". To get a
841 root-shell run "sudo -i".</p>
843 <p>Problems with a specific package? Please try "dpkg-reconfigure $foo".
844 Still encountering difficulties? Please send us a <a
845 href="/bugs/">bugreport</a>.</p>
847 <h3><a name="sw_version"></a><a href="#toc">Which package(s) and which
848 version is available?</a></h3>
850 <p>If you want to get details about the provided packages and the
851 package versions without booting the grml ISO check out the dpkg_...
852 files in the <a href="/files/#debian">Debian-Information section on
853 grml.org/files/</a>.</p>
855 <h3><a name="init"></a><a href="#toc">Init-System</a></h3>
857 <p>Why is grml using runlevel 2 as default? Because runlevel 2 is 'the
858 textonly one' and it is Debian's default.</p>
860 <p>Where are all the /etc/rc#.d-directories? grml doesn't use sysv-rc
861 but <a href="http://packages.debian.org/sid/file-rc">file-rc</a>. This
862 means you can configure the init system in one single file named
863 /etc/runlevel.conf with your favourite editor. No symlink-hell
866 <h3><a name="zsh"></a><a href="#toc">Why is zsh the default shell?</a></h3>
868 <p>Short answer: because <a href="/zsh/">Zsh rocks</a>, really!</p>
870 <p>Longer answer taken from <a
871 href="http://zsh.sunsite.dk/FAQ/zshfaq01.html#l3">ZSH FAQ: 1.2: What is
874 <cite> Zsh is a UNIX command interpreter (shell) which of the standard shells most
875 resembles the Korn shell (ksh); its compatibility with the 1988 Korn shell has been
876 gradually increasing. It includes enhancements of many types, notably in the
877 command-line editor, options for customising its behaviour, filename globbing, features
878 to make C-shell (csh) users feel more at home and extra features drawn from tcsh
879 (another `custom' shell).</cite>
881 <p>If you don't know zsh take a look at <a
882 href="http://zsh.sunsite.dk/FAQ/zshfaq02.html#l9">ZSH FAQ: How does zsh
883 differ from ...?</a>, 'man zsh | less -p COMPATIBILITY', the <a
884 href="/zsh/">grml zsh reference card</a> and '<a
885 href="/zsh/">man zsh-lovers</a>'.</p>
887 <p>If you are a bash user and don't know zsh yet, don't be afraid. bash
888 is largely a subset of zsh and you don't have to throw away your
889 knowledge about shell stuff.</p>
891 <h3><a name="zsh_binsh"></a><a href="#toc">Wasn't zsh the /bin/sh interpreter?</a></h3>
893 <p>Yes, until grml 0.6 zsh was the interpreter for /bin/sh. Starting
894 with release 0.7 grml used /bin/bash as /bin/sh and nowadays /bin/dash
895 is used for /bin/sh (that's what Debian does as well). The reason?
896 Using zsh as default /bin/sh interpreter leads to some problems,
897 especially since Debian does not care to support zsh as /bin/sh overall.
899 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=329288">#329288</a>
901 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=340058">#340058</a>
904 <h3><a name="bash"></a><a href="#toc">Is a bash available?</a></h3>
906 <p>Grml uses <a href="#zsh">zsh</a> as the default interactive shell
907 but, of course, a current version of bash (and many other shells as
908 well) is provided by grml.</p>
910 <h3><a name="configuration"></a><a href="#toc">Where can I find the configuration of zsh, GNU screen,...?</a></h3>
913 href="http://michael-prokop.at/blog/2007/12/22/make-console-work-comfortable/">'Make
914 console work comfortable'</a>.</p>
916 <h3><a name="truecrypt">Why isn't Truecrypt available within grml?</a></h3>
918 <p>Because Truecrypt is licensed under a specific license named
919 'TrueCrypt License' which doesn't permit us to distribute Truecrypt (since at least
920 license version 2.6).
921 See <a href="http://www.truecrypt.org/legal/license">section VI/4 of the
922 license</a> for details. The Ubuntu version from <a
923 href="http://www.truecrypt.org/downloads">truecrypt.org/downloads</a> is
924 known to work under grml.</p>
926 <h3><a name="grub"></a><a href="#toc">grub does not work on my system?!</a></h3>
928 <p>Looks like you used mkfs.ext3 from grml but are using an old grub
929 version. Notice that older versions of grub do not support 256 byte
930 inodes on ext3, being the default in recent versions of mkfs/e2fsprogs.
931 More information is available at <a
932 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=463236">#463236</a>
933 in the Debian bug tracking system.</p>
935 <h3><a name="fdisk"></a><a href="#toc">fdisk/parted/... complains with
936 something like 'unable to open /dev/sda - unrecognised disk
939 <p>The 'disk label' is libparted's word for 'partition table'. It looks
940 like you installed gnu-fdisk on your system. To work around this problem
941 you might want to try one the following options:</p>
944 <li>use /sbin/fdisk.distrib from util-linux</li>
945 <li>switch to sfdisk, cfdisk,...</li>
946 <li>use parted's mklabel command (but please read the <a
947 href="http://www.gnu.org/software/parted/manual/">parted manual</a>
948 before executing this command)</li>
951 <h2><a name="xserver"></a><a href="#toc">X-Server</a></h2>
953 <h3><a name="xstart"></a><a href="#toc">How do I start the X server?</a></h3>
955 <p>Please use 'grml-x' as user grml for starting X on the live-cd. It
956 generates the config file /etc/X11/xorg.conf and lets you start commands on
957 startup (see ~/.xinitrc). Use it, for example, via switching to TTY4 (press
958 Alt+F4) and run the following command to start wm-ng (window manager fluxbox
959 with idesk and gkrellm):</p>
964 <p>If you have /etc/X11/xorg.conf already you can use 'startx' instead of
965 grml-x of course. Adjust ~/.xinitrc to your needs.</p>
967 <h3><a name="xproblem"></a><a href="#toc">X does not start on my box?!</a></h3>
969 <p>grml-x supports several options. If you want to set some special options
970 please take a look at the grml-x manpage (man grml-x). Some usage examples:</p>
973 grml-x -module vesa fluxbox # start fluxbox and use vesa module
974 grml-x -mode '800x600' fluxbox # set resolution to 800x600 and start fluxbox
975 grml-x -display 8 fluxbox # start fluxbox on display 8
976 grml-x -force -nostart fluxbox # force creation of xconfig file and don't start X server
977 grml-x -hsync 60 fluxbox # set horizontal frequency and start fluxbox
978 grml-x -hsync 60 -vsync 40 fluxbox # set horizontal and vertical sync frequencies and start fluxbox
981 <h3><a name="xresolution"></a><a href="#toc">I don't like the resolution of X!</a></h3>
983 <p>Just run xrandr to switch the resolution during runtime of X. For
984 example: 'xrandr -s 1024x768'.</p>
986 <h2><a name="stuff"></a><a href="#toc">Support / Unanswered stuff</a></h2>
988 <h3><a name="questions"></a><a href="#toc">Further questions</a></h3>
990 <p>Do you have a question which is not answered in the FAQ or in the
991 provided <a href="/docs/">documentation</a> (execute
992 "grml-info" on your grml-system for offline documentation)?
993 Also check out 'grml-tips $KEYWORD' on your grml-system. Take a look at
994 <a href="/">the grml website</a> and <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
995 grml-wiki</a>. A good place to become part of the community is the <a
996 href="/mailinglist/">grml mailinglist</a>. Please don't hesitate to <a
997 href="/contact/">contact us</a>.</p>
999 <h3><a name="support"></a><a href="#toc">Commercial Support</a></h3>
1001 <p>You want to deploy grml in your data center, use it as part of your
1002 business or have an emergency case? You're happy with grml but would
1003 like to get your very own live cd (providing your favourite software
1004 selection, special configuration, setup and your bootsplash)? As part of
1005 our business we do provide commercial support, feel free to <a
1006 href="http://grml-solutions.com/">contact us at Grml
1011 <?php include '../static_bottom.inc'; ?>