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29 <h1 align="center">FAQ for grml</h1>
31 <p><strong>Up2date:</strong> applies to Grml version 2017.05</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="#flavours">What are grml32 / grml64 and grml96?</a></li>
39 <li><a href="#grmlsmall">What is the difference between grml-full and grml-small?</a></li>
40 <li><a href="#get">Where do I get Grml?</a></li>
41 <li><a href="#whatmeans">What does Grml mean?</a></li>
42 <li><a href="#releasename">What about the release name?</a></li>
43 <li><a href="#requirements">Requirements for running Grml</a></li>
44 <li><a href="#bootoptions">Which bootoptions does Grml support?</a></li>
45 <li><a href="#systemd">Why is Grml using systemd?</a></li>
46 <li><a href="#known_issues">Are there any known issues with this release? How about reporting bugs?</a></li>
49 <p class="toc"><a href="#features">Features</a>:</p>
51 <li><a href="#usbboot">How do I boot Grml from a USB stick?</a></li>
52 <li><a href="#persistency">Is it possible to store my settings?</a></li>
53 <li><a href="#password">What are the passwords of users on Grml?</a></li>
54 <li><a href="#version">How do I find out the version of Grml</a></li>
55 <li><a href="#language">How do I change the language/keyboard settings?</a></li>
56 <li><a href="#wms">Which window managers can I use?</a></li>
57 <li><a href="#lvm">Where are my LVM devices?</a></li>
58 <li><a href="#swraid">Where are my Software-RAID devices?</a></li>
59 <li><a href="#booting">Which ways exist to boot Grml?</a></li>
60 <li><a href="#timezone">How do I configure timezone on my Grml system?</a></li>
61 <li><a href="#hdinstall">Is it possible to install Grml to harddisk?</a></li>
64 <p class="toc"><a href="#software">Software:</a></p>
66 <li><a href="#sw_version">Which package(s) and which version is available?</a></li>
67 <li><a href="#zsh">Why is Zsh the default shell?</a></li>
71 <p class="toc"><a href="#stuff">Support / Unanswered stuff:</a></p>
73 <li><a href="#questions">Further questions?</a></li>
74 <li><a href="#support">Commercial Support</a></li>
77 <h2><a name="general"></a><a href="#toc">General</a></h2>
79 <h3><a name="whatis"></a><a href="#toc">What is Grml?</a></h3>
81 <p>Grml is a bootable live system (Live-CD) based
82 on <a href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>. It is not
83 necessary to install anything to a harddisk. Grml includes a
84 collection of GNU/Linux software especially for system
85 administrators. It specializes on administrative tasks like
86 installation, deployment and system rescue.</p>
88 <h3><a name="flavours"></a><a href="#toc">What are grml32 / grml64 and grml96?</a></h3>
91 <li>grml32-full: 32bit version (kernel and userspace)</li>
92 <li>grml64-full: 64bit version (kernel and userspace)</li>
93 <li>grml96-full: multi boot version (featuring the grml32-full and grml64-full ISOs combined on one ISO)</li>
96 <p>Unless you've a good reason to really choose the 32bit flavour we
97 <em>strongly</em> encourage you to use either the grml64 or the grml96
100 <h3><a name="grmlsmall"></a><a href="#toc">What is the difference between grml-full and grml-small?</a></h3>
102 <p>grml-small provides a reduced set of available software compared to
103 grml-full. It provides the same Linux kernel image as grml-full and is
104 fully binary compatible. Choose the grml-small flavour if size - for
105 whatever reason - really matters to you.</p>
107 <h3><a name="get"></a><a href="#toc">Where do I get Grml?</a></h3>
109 <p>Grml is open source, you can download it from the mirrors
110 listed at <a href="/download">grml.org/download/</a>.</p>
112 <h3><a name="whatmeans"></a><a href="#toc">What does Grml mean?</a></h3>
114 <p>Grml comes close to 'argl' or 'grrr' in English. People use
115 this when they want to express their dissatisfaction with
116 software (amongst other things).</p>
118 <h3><a name="releasename"></a><a href="#toc">What about the release name?</a></h3>
120 <p>Codename of Grml 2017.05 is "Freedatensuppe", which is
121 a wordplay (free data soup) on an austrian dish called <a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frittatensuppe">Frittatensuppe</a>.
122 (We stumbled upon this wordplay through <a href="https://twitter.com/shroombab/status/715650750689517568">a tweet from Barbara Wimmer</a>,
123 referencing a flyer based on a <a href="https://zwerkstatt.at/index.php/produkt/freedaten_h_indiaink/">shirt by zwerkstatt</a>.</p>
125 <h3><a name="requirements"></a><a href="#toc">Requirements for running Grml</a></h3>
129 <li>Intel-compatible CPU (i586 or later, preferably Pentium class or higher)</li>
131 <li>>=256MB of RAM (>=512MB recommended)</p>
133 <li>either a bootable CD-/DVD-ROM drive,
134 a <a href="#usbboot">USB-boot capable system</a> or a
135 network card for booting via network/PXE (check
136 out <a href="#terminalserver">grml-terminalserver</a>)</li>
140 <h3><a name="accessibility"></a><a href="#toc">What does accessibility at Grml mean?</a></h3>
142 <p>The Grml kernel includes support for speakup. For software,
143 brltty and espeakup are included.</p>
145 <h3><a name="bootoptions"></a><a href="#toc">Which bootoptions does Grml support?</a></h3>
148 href="http://git.grml.org/?p=grml-live.git;a=blob_plain;f=templates/GRML/grml-cheatcodes.txt;hb=HEAD">grml-cheatcodes
149 file</a> (also available via <a href="http://grml.org/cheatcodes/">grml.org/cheatcodes/</a>). Of
151 href="http://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt">kernel-parameters.txt</a>
152 of the Linux kernel applies to Grml as well.</p>
154 <h3><a name="systemd"></a><a href="#toc">Why is Grml using systemd?</a></h3>
156 <p>The switch from file-rc to systemd happened for various reasons.
157 Grml used file-rc for many years, mainly because it provided a better
158 way to control startup behavior via its /etc/runlevel.conf configuration
159 than with using sysvinit. Though for us Grml developers this also meant
160 that whenever there have been any changes in Debian's startup
161 configuration we had to compare our /etc/runlevel.conf setup with what a
162 normal Debian system would give us. Users who wanted to remaster Grml
163 with a custom startup procedure as well had to practically fork
164 maintenance of the /etc/runlevel.conf file. This didn't only mean
165 tracking new features/services, but also solve any possible issues
166 around it - duplicating efforts and wasting developers time
167 unnecessarily. Lately we also started to see problems that no one else
168 seemed to have (or care about enough), for example with multiple network
169 cards we ran into race-conditions with resolvconf. Problems like that
170 turned out to be release stoppers for us.</p>
172 <p>systemd on the other hand provides great documentation, service
173 supervision, takes care of parallel service startup and is the default
174 init system on most Linux distributions nowadays. This means more users,
175 better testing and integration. Logging, startup time investigation (to
176 get a fast boot procedure) and identifying failed service startups with
177 sysvinit/file-rc was always hard, unreliable or even impossible under
178 certain conditions. bootlogd was unreliable (while `journalctl -b` is
179 available out-of-the-box with systemd), bootchart not nicely integrated
180 (while systemd-analyze blame/critical-chain works out-of-the-box) and we
181 aren't aware of any equivalence for e.g. `systemctl --failed`.</p>
183 <p>While migrating our stack to systemd is <em>not</em> fully finished
184 yet, its switch - at least so far - was easier than expected. It also
185 turns out that it gives users who want to remaster Grml (or build their
186 very own ISOs from scratch using grml-live) more flexibility and control
187 over the startup process. systemd's override.conf mechanism and preset
188 feature provides the flexibility to overwrite unwanted behavior, without
189 losing the option to use existing defaults.</p>
191 <p>Last but not least we think it's good that systemd is actively
192 maintained and receives attention. The sysvinit/file-rc ecosystem was
193 stagnating/non-existend for too many years. Grml used its own initrd
194 implementation in its very beginnings, until a more broadly available
195 initramfs-tools/ live-boot solution appeared, broadening the user base,
196 sharing goals amongst different (live) distributions. Back in the days
197 Grml - like many other live distributions - had to implement hardware
198 recognition on its own. While udev received lots of complaints back
199 then, its integration actually solved all the hardware recognition for
200 the good. systemd's vision of stateless systems is something which helps
201 building live systems like Grml.</p>
203 <p>While we don't claim that systemd is perfect and doesn't have its
204 issues and drawbacks (like any software), we're happy about its
205 existence and more than happy about development and support by Debian's
208 <a name="release"></a> <!-- old anchor -->
209 <a name="bugreport"></a> <!-- old anchor -->
210 <h3><a name="known_issues"></a><a href="#toc">Are there any known issues? How about reporting bugs?</a></h3>
212 <p>Please visit the <a href="/bugs/">bug webpage</a>.</p>
214 <h2><a name="features"></a><a href="#toc">Features</a></h2>
216 <!-- TODO: needs to be improved! -->
217 <h3><a name="usbboot"></a><a href="#toc">How do I boot Grml from a USB stick?</a></h3>
220 out <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb#grml2usb">grml2usb</a>
222 <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb">usb webpage in the
225 <h3><a name="store"></a><a name="persistency"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to store my settings?</a></h3>
228 a <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=persistency">persistency
231 <h3><a name="password"></a><a href="#toc">What are the passwords of users on Grml?</a></h3>
233 <p>There are no default passwords - all accounts are locked by
234 default for security reasons. Even local logins are not
235 possible (unless you set a password or create new user
236 accounts as root). You can create valid passwords using "sudo
237 passwd [username]" from the shell individually. To set a password
238 for users 'root' and 'grml' and enable SSH login you can use the 'ssh'
239 boot option, like 'ssh=yourpassword'.</p>
241 <h3><a name="version"></a><a href="#toc">How do I find out the version of Grml</a></h3>
243 <p>Run 'grml-version' or use the following command:</p>
246 $ cat /etc/grml_version</pre>
248 <h3><a name="language"></a><a href="#toc">How do I change the language/keyboard settings?</a></h3>
250 <p>By default Grml uses english settings. But it is possible to
251 change the settings via using either the bootparam(s) lang,
252 keyboard and xkeyboard or via executing grml-lang when Grml is
253 already running. Usage examples:</p>
256 grml lang=de # enter this at the bootprompt and you will get
257 # german keyboard layout and german $LANG, $LC_ALL,
259 grml keyboard=de xkeyboard=de lang=at # enter this at the bootprompt
260 # and you will get german keyboard and austrian
262 % grml-lang de # enter this in the shell to switch keyboard layout
263 # and $LANG settings in a running Grml system
266 <p>Note: run grml-setlang to get a dialog based frontend for
267 /etc/default/locale. Run grml-setkeyboard to get a dialog
268 based frontend for /etc/sysconfig/keyboard.</p>
271 <h3><a name="wms"></a><a href="#toc">Which window managers can I use?</a></h3>
273 <p>Starting with the 2011.12 release Grml provides <a
274 href="http://www.fluxbox.org/">Fluxbox</a> as window manager.</p>
276 <h3><a name="lvm"></a><a href="#toc">Where are my LVM devices?</a></h3>
278 <p>LVM (Logival Volumes) is <strong>not</strong> started by default to
279 avoid any possible damage to your data. To get access to present LVM
280 devices just execute:</p>
283 # /etc/init.d/lvm2 start
286 <p>If you want to enable LVM by default just boot using the 'lvm'
287 bootoption which automatically enables LVM.</p>
289 <h3><a name="swraid"></a><a href="#toc">Where are my Software-RAID devices?</a></h3>
291 <p>Software-RAID (usually known as the mdadm stuff) is
292 <strong>not</strong> started by default to avoid any possible damage to
293 your data. To get access to present SW-RAID devices just execute:</p>
296 # /etc/init.d/mdadm-raid start
299 <p>If you want to enable SW-RAID by default just boot using
300 the 'swraid' bootoption which enables automatic assembling of
301 software raid arrays.</p>
303 <a name="terminalserver"></a>
304 <h3><a name="booting"></a><a href="#toc">Which ways exist to boot Grml?</a></h3>
306 <!-- TODO: needs rework -->
308 <p>Of course running from CD/DVD is a common way to boot
309 Grml. But Grml provides many more ways to boot:</p>
311 <p>It is possible to boot Grml via USB (e.g. USB stick or
312 harddisk), firewire, or running from a Compact Flash disk. It
313 works out of the box; you don't need to modify anything. Check
314 out <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb">the usb
315 webpage in the grml-wiki</a> for more details.</p>
317 <p>Your computer can not boot from CD-ROM but provides a
318 floppy disk? Take a look
319 at <a href="http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/">btmgr</a>, <a href="http://ubcd4win.com/faq.htm#floppy">ubcd4win</a>
320 or <a href="http://linux.simple.be/tools/sbm">sbm</a>. They
321 provide support for booting from CD-ROM via a special floppy
324 <p>grml-terminalserver makes it possible to boot your system
326 using <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preboot_Execution_Environment">PXE</a>
327 (Preboot Execution Environment). If your network card does not
328 provide support for booting via PXE you can still boot it
329 either using the provided grub image by grml-terminalserver
330 (for example via floppy drive) or
331 using <a href="http://etherboot.org/wiki/index.php">gPXE</a>.
332 For more information, refer to
333 the <a href="/terminalserver/">grml-terminalserver
336 <h3><a name="timezone"></a><a href="#toc">How do I configure
337 timezone on my Grml system?</a></h3>
339 <p>Available bootoptions relevant in live-cd mode:</p>
342 <li>utc: set UTC, if your system clock is set to UTC (GMT)
343 <li>gmt: set UTC, if your system clock is set to UTC (GMT) [like bootoption utc]
344 <li>tz=$option: set timezone to corresponding $option, usage example:
348 <p>Further information: manpages hwclock(8), tzselect(1) and tzconfig(8); <a
349 href="http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/system-administrator/ch-sysadmin-time.html">Debian
350 GNU/Linux System Administrator's Manual Chapter 16 - Time</a> and <a
351 href="http://wiki.debian.org/TimeZoneChanges">TimeZoneChanges in the
354 <h3><a name="hdinstall"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to install Grml to harddisk?</a></h3>
356 <p>Short anwer: No.</p>
358 <p>If you want to get a plain Debian system take a look at <a
359 href="/grml-debootstrap/">grml-debootstrap</a>.</p>
361 <p>Long(er) answer: yes it's possible to install Grml. But it's not
362 supported and you'll be on your own. That's why we decided to make it
363 not-so-obvious. If you really know what you're doing you'll find out on
364 your own. Reminder: use <a
365 href="/grml-debootstrap/">grml-debootstrap</a> or <a
366 href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian Installer</a> instead.</p>
368 <h2><a name="software"></a><a href="#toc">Software</a></h2>
370 <h3><a name="sw_version"></a><a href="#toc">Which package(s) and which
371 version is available?</a></h3>
373 <p>If you want to get details about the provided packages and the
374 package versions without booting the Grml ISO check out the dpkg_...
375 files in the <a href="/files/#debian">Debian-Information section on
376 grml.org/files/</a>.</p>
378 <h3><a name="zsh"></a><a href="#toc">Why is Zsh the default shell?</a></h3>
380 <p>Short answer: because <a href="/zsh/">Zsh rocks</a>, really!</p>
382 <p>Long(er) answer: If you don't know Zsh take a look the <a
383 href="/zsh/">Grml Zsh reference card</a>.</p>
385 <p>If you are a Bash user and don't know Zsh yet, don't be
386 afraid. Bash is largely a subset of Zsh and you don't have to
387 throw away your knowledge about shell stuff.</p>
389 <h2><a name="stuff"></a><a href="#toc">Support / Unanswered stuff</a></h2>
391 <h3><a name="questions"></a><a href="#toc">Further questions</a></h3>
393 <p>Do you have a question which is not answered in the FAQ or
394 in the provided <a href="/docs/">documentation</a> (execute
395 "grml-info" on your Grml system for offline
396 documentation)? Also check out 'grml-tips $KEYWORD' on your
397 Grml system. Take a look at
398 <a href="/">the Grml website</a> and <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
399 grml-wiki</a>. A good place to become part of the community is the <a
400 href="/mailinglist/">Grml mailinglist</a>.</p>
402 <h3><a name="support"></a><a href="#toc">Commercial Support</a></h3>
404 <p>You want to deploy Grml in your data center, use it as part of your
405 business or have an emergency case? You're happy with Grml but would
406 like to get your very own live cd (providing your favourite software
407 selection, special configuration, setup and your bootsplash)?
408 Please get in <a href="/contact/">touch with us</a>.</p>
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