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29 <h1 align="center">FAQ for grml</h1>
31 <p><strong>Up2date:</strong> 2011-05-28 - applies to Grml releases version 2011.05</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="#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="#cifsshare">Booting grml-small via PXE using a CIFS share fails</a></li>
78 <li><a href="#missingfiles">I noticed some files are missing on grml</a></li>
79 <li><a href="#bugreport">Bugreport</a></li>
82 <p class="toc"><a href="#system">System</a>:</p>
84 <li><a href="#isolinux">Where's the old bootsplash?</a></li>
85 <li><a href="#configure">Which tools exist to configure grml?</a></li>
86 <li><a href="#password">What are the passwords of users on grml?</a></li>
87 <li><a href="#version">How do I find out the version of grml</a></li>
88 <li><a href="#remove_cd">Is it possible to run LiveCD and eject CD-ROM?</a></li>
89 <li><a href="#language">How do I change the language/keyboard settings?</a></li>
90 <li><a href="#kde_and_foo">KDE, Gnome, $FOO and $BAR</a></li>
91 <li><a href="#wms">Which window managers can I use?</a></li>
92 <li><a href="#usbmount">How do I mount a USB device / USB stick?</a></li>
93 <li><a href="#lvm">Where are my LVM devices?</a></li>
94 <li><a href="#swraid">Where are my Software-RAID devices?</a></li>
95 <li><a href="#libata">Why doesn't grml find my disks / doesn't boot?</a></li>
96 <li><a href="#booting">Which ways exist to boot grml?</a></li>
97 <li><a href="#timezone">How do I configure timezone on my grml system?</a></li>
98 <li><a href="#hdinstall">Is it possible to install grml to harddisk?</a></li>
99 <li><a href="#aptgethangs">'apt-get install foo' seems to freeze after a while</a></li>
102 <p class="toc"><a href="#kernel">Kernel</a>:</p>
104 <li><a href="#kernelconfig">Where can I find the configuration for the kernel used on grml?</a></li>
105 <li><a href="#kernelpatches">Are there any special components/patches in the kernel used on grml?</a></li>
106 <li><a href="#platform">For which platforms is the grml kernel optimized?</a></li>
109 <p class="toc"><a href="#software">Software:</a></p>
111 <li><a href="#sw_general">General</a></li>
112 <li><a href="#sw_version">Which package(s) and which version is available?</a></li>
113 <li><a href="#init">Init-System</a></li>
114 <li><a href="#zsh">Why is zsh the default shell?</a></li>
115 <li><a href="#zsh_binsh">Wasn't zsh the /bin/sh interpreter?</a></li>
116 <li><a href="#bash">Is a bash available?</a></li>
117 <li><a href="#configuration">Where can I find the configuration of zsh, GNU screen,...?</a></li>
118 <li><a href="#truecrypt">Why isn't Truecrypt available within grml?</a></li>
119 <li><a href="#grub">grub does not work on my system?!</a></li>
122 <p class="toc"><a href="#xserver">X-Server</a></p>
124 <li><a href="#xstart">How do I start the X server?</a></li>
125 <li><a href="#xproblem">X does not start on my box?!</a></li>
126 <li><a href="#xresolution">I don't like the resolution of X!</a></li>
129 <p class="toc"><a href="#stuff">Support / Unanswered stuff</a></p>
131 <li><a href="#questions">Further questions?</a></li>
132 <li><a href="#support">Commercial Support</a></li>
135 <h2><a name="general"></a><a href="#toc">General</a></h2>
137 <h3><a name="whatis"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml?</a></h3>
139 <p>Grml is a bootable CD (Live-CD) based on <a
140 href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>. Grml includes a collection of
141 GNU/Linux software especially for system administrators and users of
142 texttools. Grml provides automatic hardware detection. You can use grml
143 as a rescue system, for analyzing systems/networks, or as a working
144 environment. It is not necessary to install anything to a harddisk. Due
145 to on-the-fly decompression grml includes more than 2GB of software and
146 documentation on the CD.</p>
148 <h3><a name="get"></a><a href="#toc">Where do I get grml?</a></h3>
150 <p>Grml is open source, you can download it from the mirrors listed at
151 <a href="/download">grml.org/download/</a>. If you want to get an
152 original grml-CD including <a href="/files/#covers">the grml-cover</a>,
153 need a special amount of CDs or want your own special grml-CD (including
154 your logo, your software and/or special settings) <a
155 href="/contact/">please don't hesitate to contact us</a>. Take a look at
156 <a href="http://grml-solutions.com/">Grml Solutions</a> if you're
157 interested in commercial support.</p>
159 <h3><a name="whatmeans"></a><a href="#toc">What does grml mean?</a></h3>
161 <p>Grml comes close to 'argl' or 'grrr' in English. People use this when
162 they want to express their dissatisfaction/discontentedness with
163 software (amongst other things):</p>
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 2011.05 is "Just Mari". It's a dedication to someone special.
183 <h3><a name="requirements"></a><a href="#toc">Requirements for running grml</a></h3>
187 <li>Intel-compatible CPU (i586 or later, preferably Pentium class or higher)</li>
189 <li>grml/grml-medium: at least 64MB of RAM (for stable use with
190 ramdisks for aufs and udev and when running X window system we
191 recommend at least 128MB)</li>
193 <li>grml-small: at least 32MB RAM should be available</li>
195 <li>either a bootable CD-ROM drive or <a href="#usbboot">USB-boot
196 capable system</a> (for booting via network/PXE check out <a
197 href="#terminalserver">grml-terminalserver</a>)</li>
201 <h3><a name="why"></a><a href="#toc">Why another Linux distribution?</a></h3>
203 <p>There already exist "<a
204 href="http://www.distrowatch.com/">some</a>" distributions. We
205 decided to base our work on the existing infrastructure of <a
206 href="http://debian.org/">Debian</a> because we don't want to reinvent
207 the wheel. Some admins already use their own rescue CD, Knoppix works
208 but does not bring that many important tools for admins and users of
209 texttools out of the box. Therefor we decided to share our work with
210 others and provide the swiss army knife for sysadmins and texttool
213 <h3><a name="license"></a><a href="#toc">What's the license of grml?</a></h3>
215 <p>Anything written by the grml team is published under the GPL (<a
216 href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GNU General Public
217 License</a>). You don't have to pay anything for using grml. If you want
218 a special Live-CD or need commercial support, take a look at <a
219 href="http://grml-solutions.com/">Grml Solutions</a>.</p>
221 <h3><a name="difference"></a><a href="#toc">What's the difference between grml and
222 $OTHER-DISTRIBUTION? What are the main goals?</a></h3>
224 <p>The main goal of grml is to be a distribution well suited for
225 sysadmins and users of texttools. Grml includes all the tools for
226 admin's daily work (lvm, mdadm, dd/ddrescue,...) as well as many
227 important texttools (of course awk, sed, grep, ... but also zsh,
228 mutt[ng], slrn, vim and many others). Grml uses the existing
229 infrastructure of <a href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>. Grml was
230 once based on <a href="http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/">Knoppix</a> (see
231 '<a href="#knoppix">What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?</a>'
232 for more details). We are also merging useful things from other
233 distributions/live-cds to provide a perfect environment.</p>
235 <h3><a name="knoppix"></a><a href="#toc">What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?</a></h3>
237 <p>Grml comes with a vastly different set of software. Missing KDE and
238 OpenOffice provides the opportunity of shipping more than 800 packages
239 which Knoppix does not provide on its CD version. Grml boots a recent
240 2.6 kernel but no X by default for faster startup. Knoppix is based on
241 Debian/testing-experimental (using apt-pinning), but grml is basically
242 based on plain Debian/unstable providing more current versions of
243 software. Grml was once based on Knoppix but nowadays has nothing in
244 common with Knoppix:</p>
248 # find / -iname \*knoppix\*
251 <p>We consider Knoppix as a brand name for live-cds nowadays and provide
252 most of Knoppix' features as well. Grml uses (mostly) the same <a
253 href="http://git.grml.org/?p=grml-live.git;a=blob_plain;f=templates/GRML/grml-cheatcodes.txt;hb=HEAD">cheatcodes</a>
254 for booting as Knoppix and even provides some extra ones. So if you are
255 used to the basic Knoppix features you usually find them on the
256 grml system as well.</p>
258 <h3><a name="accessibility"></a><a href="#toc">What does accessibility at grml mean?</a></h3>
260 <p>The Grml kernel includes <a href="/kernel/#speakup">support for
261 speakup</a> and provides software like brltty (using bootoption 'grml
262 blind brltty=type,port,tbl') and flite.</p>
264 <h3><a name="bootoptions"></a><a href="#toc">Which bootoptions does Grml support?</a></h3>
267 href="http://git.grml.org/?p=grml-live.git;a=blob_plain;f=templates/GRML/grml-cheatcodes.txt;hb=HEAD">grml-cheatcodes
268 file</a> (also available via <a href="http://grml.org/cheatcodes/">grml.org/cheatcodes/</a>). Of
270 href="http://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt">kernel-parameters.txt</a>
271 of the Linux kernel applies to Grml as well.</p>
273 <h3><a name="emulation"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to run Grml with $EMULATOR?</a></h3>
275 <p>Sure, Grml works with(in) several emulators and virtual environments,
277 <a href="http://www.linux-kvm.org/">KVM</a>,
278 <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/">MS Virtual PC</a>,
279 <a href="http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/qemu/">QEMU</a>
280 <a href="http://www.virtualbox.org/">Virtualbox</a> and
281 <a href="http://www.vmware.com/">VMware</a>.
284 <h3><a name="usbboot"></a><a href="#toc">How do I boot Grml from a USB stick?</a></h3>
287 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb#grml2usb">grml2usb</a> at the
288 <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb">usb webpage in the
291 <h3><a name="store"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to store my settings?</a></h3>
293 <p>Yes. Grml provides a config framework, check out <a
294 href="/config/">grml.org/config/</a>, <a
295 href="file:///usr/share/doc/grml-saveconfig/grml-config.html">/usr/share/doc/grml-saveconfig/grml-config.html</a>
296 and 'man grml-autoconfig save-config restore-config mkpersistenthome' for more
297 details. Starting with release 2009.05 a <a
298 href="#persistency">persistency option</a> is
301 <h3><a name="persistency"></a><a href="#doc">Is a persistency feature available?</a></h3>
303 <p>Starting with release 2009.05 a persistency feature is available. Use
305 href="http://grml.org/online-docs/live-snapshot.en.1.html">live-snapshot</a>
306 (man live-snapshot) and the bootoption 'persistent' for enabling
309 <a name="grmlmedium"></a><a name="grmlsmall"></a><a name="grml64"></a>
310 <h2></a><a href="#toc">grml-medium / grml-small / grml64?</a></h2>
312 <h3><a name="whatismedium"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml-medium?</a></h3>
314 <p>grml-medium is a grml-flavour which tries to close the gap between <a
315 href="#whatissmall">grml-small</a> and <a
316 href="#whatis">normal/large/full version of grml</a>. grml-medium is an
317 ISO with a size of ~200MB providing the most important packages a
318 sysadmin usually needs. It provides the same <a href="/kernel/">kernel
319 version</a> as normal grml does so you can easily integrate and use some
320 further existing external modules as well. The X.org server is shipped
321 as well as the window manager fluxbox. Take a look at the <a
322 href="/files/">'Debian-Information'-section</a> if you are searching for
324 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=accessibility">accessibility
325 features</a> are <strong>NOT</strong> available/supported on grml-medium
328 <h3><a name="whatissmall"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml-small?</a></h3>
330 <p>Whereas grml provides about 2.3GB of software on a 700 MB ISO,
331 grml-small is a flavor with about 100 MB ISO-size (~275 MB
332 uncompressed). It does not provide a lot of software (for example no
333 X.org and no man pages) but the essential stuff for being a rescue
334 system on a business card CD-ROM or a small USB device. You can use the
335 Debian package management system to install software on the fly
336 (assuming you have network access to a Debian mirror). It provides the
337 same <a href="/kernel/">kernel version</a> as normal grml does so you
338 can easily integrate and use some further existing external modules as
339 well. Take a look at the <a
340 href="/files/">'Debian-Information'-section</a> if you are searching for
341 the package list.</p>
343 <h3><a name="whatisgrml64"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml64?</a></h3>
345 <p>grml64 is a 64bit-version of grml, based on <a
346 href="http://www.debian.org/ports/amd64/">the amd64 port of
349 <h3><a name="whatismedium64"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml64-medium?</a></h3>
351 <p>grml64-medium is the 64bit version of <a href="#whatismedium">grml-medium</a>.</p>
353 <h3><a name="whatissmall64">What is grml64-small?</a></h3>
355 <p>grml64-small is the 64bit version of <a href="#whatissmall">grml-small</a>.</p>
357 <h3><a name="grml64vsnormal"></a><a href="#toc">What is the difference between 32 bit grml and 64 bit grml?</a></h3>
359 <p>The main difference of course is that grml64 is a 64bit-version
360 whereas (normal) grml is 32bit-only. grml64 provides a 64bit kernel
361 which supports 32bit userspace applications. grml64 also provides
362 libc6-i386 and libc6-dev-i386. Due to space reasons and because some
363 packages aren't available for amd64 (yet) some few packages are missing on
364 grml64 compared to (normal, 32bit) grml.</p>
366 <h3><a name="smallvsnormal"></a><a href="#toc">What is the
367 difference between 'normal' grml and grml-small?</a></h3>
369 <p>The 700MB-grml brings more than 2500 software packages. grml-small
370 includes about 300 software packages, lacks documentation and manpages
371 on the ISO. <a href="#terminalserver">grml-terminalserver</a> and <a
372 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=accessibility">accessibility
373 features</a> are <strong>not</strong> available/supported on
376 <h3><a name="grmlvsdsl"></a><a href="#toc">What is the
377 difference between grml-small and DSL?</a></h3>
379 <p>DSL (Damns Small Linux) and grml-small have different target
380 audiences. <a href="http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/">Damn Small Linux</a>
381 (DSL) uses kernel version 2.4 whereas grml-small provides a recent
382 version of kernel version 2.6. DSL provides the X window system which
383 grml-small does not. grml-small on the other hand provides the most
384 important packages for sysadmins and ships the original Debian package
385 management which allows you to install packages of the Debian pool with
386 no modifications.</p>
388 <h2><a name="problems"></a><a href="#toc">Problems</a></h2>
390 <a name="release"></a> <!-- old anchor -->
391 <h3><a name="known_issues"></a><a href="#toc">Are there any known issues with this release?</a></h3>
393 <p>We won't hide anything. Therefore, we do provide all known
394 issues/bugs publicly available:</p>
398 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml_2011.05">issues regarding
399 grml 2011.05</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the grml-wiki</a></li>
400 <li><a href="http://bts.grml.org/">Grml bug tracking system</a></li>
404 <p>If you find another bug, or consider something a problem not yet
405 mentioned <a href="#bugreport">please report it</a>.</p>
407 <h3><a name="hardware"></a><a href="#toc">I have problems with my hardware!</a></h3>
409 <p>Take a look at the script grml-hwinfo. This script generates a file
410 named info.tar.bz2 which contains important information about your
411 hardware. If you think we might help, please run grml-hwinfo and <a
412 href="/contact/">send us the file</a> with additional, relevant
413 information regarding your problem.</p>
415 <h3><a name="boot"></a><a href="#toc">grml does not boot on my computer!</a></h3>
417 <p>Please take a look at <a
418 href="http://git.grml.org/?p=grml-live.git;a=blob_plain;f=templates/GRML/grml-cheatcodes.txt;hb=HEAD">the
419 available bootparamters and cheatcodes</a> and '<a href="#booting">Which
420 ways exist to boot grml?</a>'. Especially booting with 'acpi=off noapm
421 noapic' might help. The bootparameter 'failsafe' provides minimal
422 hardware detection using some special bootoptions (please do NOT boot
423 with 'grml failsafe' but with 'failsafe' as first word of the boot
424 commandline) . If booting hangs during stage "Waiting for /dev to
425 be fully populated" please try booting with 'grml noudev'. If you
426 don't even see the bootsplash of the grml-ISO your BIOS might be broken
427 (pretty common especially on old hardware). Please consider using <a
428 href="http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/">btmgr</a> then for booting your
429 system. Also check out the <a
430 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=problems">problems webpage</a> in
431 <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the grml-wiki</a>. You still have
432 problems? Feel free to <a href="/contact/">contact us</a>.</p>
434 <h3><a name="fbprobs"></a><a href="#toc">I don't see anything when booting grml?!</a></h3>
436 <p>Likely, this is a problem with the vesafb framebuffer. Try to boot
437 with the 'Disable Framebuffer' menuentry (available behind the submenu
438 'Boot options for ...') or manually ad 'vga=normal' to the kernel
439 command line (press TAB to edit a menu entry and add 'vga=normal'
442 <h3><a name="utf8"></a><a href="#toc">I have problems with UTF-8 / Unicode</a></h3>
445 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=utf8">UTF8-webpage in the
448 <h3><a name="grml2hdhang"></a><a href="#toc">grml2hd seems to hang?!</a></h3>
450 <p>grml2hd seems to hang? Switch to tty12 and take a look at the syslog output.
451 If you see something like:</p>
454 SQUASHFS error: zlib_fs returned unexpected result 0x........
455 SQUASHFS error: Unable to read cache block [.....]
456 SQUASHFS error: Unable to read inode [.....]</pre>
458 <p>your ISO/CD-ROM <em>very</em> probably is NOT ok. Verify it via
459 booting with grml testcd if that works, or even better check your CD
460 low-level via running:</p>
463 # readcd -c2scan dev=/dev/cdrom</pre>
465 <p>If the medium really is ok and it still fails try to boot with
466 DMA deactivated via 'grml nodma ide=nodma libata.dma=0' at the bootprompt.</p>
468 <h3><a name="cifsshare"></a><a href="#toc">Booting grml-small via PXE using a CIFS share fails</a></h3>
470 <p>When trying to boot grml-small[64] via PXE (network boot) using a
471 CIFS share this will fail because grml-small[64] lacks cifs-utils.
472 cifs-utils would consume >14MB of additional disk space - that's why
473 it isn't part of the release. But there's a simple workaround: you can
474 take the initrd and kernel from the regular grml flavour and use just
475 the squashfs from grml-small[64].</p>
477 <h3><a name="missingfiles"></a><a href="#toc">I noticed some files are missing on grml</a></h3>
479 <p>Yes, output of 'debsums -a 1>/dev/null' might output some
480 failures. The reason is pretty simple: some few modification have been
481 done either because they are required for the provided environment or
482 because of space limitiations on the ISO. The failures are nothing to
483 really care about, but as we don't hide anything we thought it might be
484 worth mentioning.</p>
486 <h3><a name="bugreport"></a><a href="#toc">Bugreport</a></h3>
488 <p>Searching for a bug? Want to report a bug? Take a look at the <a
489 href="/bugs/">bugs webpage</a>.</p>
491 <h2><a name="system"></a><a href="#toc">System</a></h2>
493 <h3><a name="isolinux"></a><a href="#toc">Where's the old bootsplash?</a></h3>
495 <p>Starting with release 2009.10 Grml provides a menu based bootsplash.
496 To adjust boot options just press the TAB-key. To directly switch to the
497 old-style isolinux cmdline just press the escape key within 30 seconds. If you
498 still need access to the old bootsplash layout (including the f2, f3,...
499 pages with further information regarding available bootoptions)
500 select the entry 'Isolinux prompt' in the menu based bootsplash (just
501 press 'i' and ENTER for direct access to it). The timeout until either
502 the selected entry is booted (if specified) or until the system will
503 restore from the cmdline to the menu based bootsplash is 30 seconds.</p>
505 <h3><a name="configure"></a><a href="#toc">Which tools exist to configure grml?</a></h3>
507 <p>Grml provides several scripts and tools which should make life
508 easier. See 'dpkg -L grml-scripts' to get an overview of some main
509 scripts. Run 'grml-config' to get a dialog interface for the most
510 important scripts and tasks. Or just type 'grml-' and press tab-key to
511 get a completion menu in the shell.</p>
513 <h3><a name="password"></a><a href="#toc">What are the passwords of users on grml?</a></h3>
515 <p>There are no default passwords - all accounts are locked by default
516 for security reasons. Even local logins are not possible (unless you set
517 a password or create new user accounts as root). You can create valid
518 passwords using "sudo passwd [username]" from the shell
521 <h3><a name="version"></a><a href="#toc">How do I find out the version of grml</a></h3>
523 <p>Run 'grml-version' or use the following command:</p>
526 $ cat /etc/grml_version</pre>
528 <h3><a name="remove_cd"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to run LiveCD and eject CD-ROM?</a></h3>
531 % sudo umount -l /live/image
532 % sudo eject /dev/cdrom # now don't run any new programs unless you booted using 'toram'
533 % mount /dev/cdrom # mount it again if needed
536 <h3><a name="language"></a><a href="#toc">How do I change the language/keyboard settings?</a></h3>
538 <p>By default grml uses english settings. But it is possible to
539 change the settings via using either the bootparam(s) lang,
540 keyboard and xkeyboard or via executing grml-lang when grml is
541 already running. Usage examples:</p>
544 grml lang=de # enter this at the bootprompt and you will get
545 # german keyboard layout and german $LANG, $LC_ALL,
547 grml keyboard=de xkeyboard=de lang=at # enter this at the bootprompt
548 # and you will get german keyboard and austrian
550 % grml-lang de # enter this in the shell to switch keyboard layout
551 # and $LANG settings in a running grml-system
554 <p>If you are running grml from harddisk (using <a
555 href="#hdinstall">grml2hd</a>) you have several options how to set
556 language options:</p>
560 <li>adjust /etc/default/locale to configure global language and
561 environment settings</li>
563 <li>set environment variables like $LC_ALL, $LANG, $LANGUAGE in your
564 personal configuration files (like ~/.zshrc.local, see <a
565 href="/zsh/">grml zsh reference card</a> for details)
566 if you do not want to use them system wide/global</li>
568 <li>adjust /etc/sysconfig/keyboard to configure keyboard layout
569 on console, or run 'loadkeys $KEYTABLE' manually</li>
571 <li>add "setxkbmap $LANGUAGE" to the keybindings section in
572 your ~/.xinitrc to configure keyboard setup for the X window system
573 (deactivate the xmodmap lines if necessary)</li>
577 <p>Note: run grml-setlang to get a dialog based frontend for
578 /etc/default/locale. Run grml-setkeyboard to get a dialog based frontend
579 for /etc/sysconfig/keyboard.</p>
581 <h3><a name="kde_and_foo"></a><a href="#toc">KDE, Gnome, $FOO and $BAR</a></h3>
583 <p>Why isn't KDE, Gnome, $FOO or $BAR part of grml? grml is a
584 distribution for users of texttools and sysadmins. If you would like to
585 run KDE with Debian use e.g. <a href="http://sidux.com/">Sidux</a> or <a
586 href="http://www.kubuntu.org/">Kubuntu</a>. Gnome users might find <a
587 href="http://www.ubuntulinux.org/">Ubuntu</a> useful. If you would like
588 to see a specific (software) package added to grml please <a
589 href="/report/">report it to us</a>!</p>
591 <h3><a name="wms"></a><a href="#toc">Which window managers can I use?</a></h3>
593 <p>Grml is shipped with a few selected window managers which are
594 lightweight and fast - so well suited for a live system. At the moment,
595 Grml provides the following window managers:</p>
598 <li><a href="http://awesome.naquadah.org/">awesome</a>
599 <li><a href="http://www.fluxbox.org/">fluxbox</a>
600 <li><a href="http://i3.zekjur.net/">i3</a>
601 <li><a href="http://icculus.org/openbox/index.php/Main_Page">openbox</a>
602 <li><a href="http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/">ratpoison</a>
603 <li><a href="http://www.suckless.org/wiki/wmii">wmii</a>
608 <li><a href="http://awesome.naquadah.org/">awesome</a>
609 <li><a href="http://wmii.de/dwm/">dwm</a>
610 <li><a href="http://www.6809.org.uk/evilwm/">evilwm</a>
611 <li><a href="http://www.fluxbox.org/">fluxbox</a>
612 <li><a href="http://www.fvwm.org/">fvwm</a>
613 <li><a href="http://fvwm-crystal.org/">fvwm-crystal</a>
614 <li><a href="http://joewing.net/programs/jwm/index.shtml">jwm</a>
615 <li><a href="http://icculus.org/openbox/index.php/Main_Page">openbox</a>
616 <li><a href="http://pekwm.org/">pekwm</a>
617 <li><a href="http://www.plig.org/xwinman/vtwm.html">twm</a>
618 <li><a href="http://www.grassouille.org/code/w9wm/README">w9wm</a>
619 <li><a href="http://www.nickgravgaard.com/windowlab/">windowlab</a>
620 <li><a href="http://www.suckless.org/wiki/wmii">wmii</a>
624 <p>Tip: If you are new to grml and/or prefer an easy-to-use-desktop run 'grml-x
625 wm-ng' for starting fluxbox with idesk and gkrellm.</p>
627 <h3><a name="usbmount"></a><a href="#toc">How do I mount a USB device / USB stick?</a></h3>
629 <p>Run 'mount /mnt/usb-sda1' for example if you want to mount /dev/sda1.
630 Udev on Grml does multiplexing for USB block devices, so /dev/usb-sda1
631 (device for mountpoint /mnt/usb-sda1) is a symlink to /dev/sda1.</p>
633 <h3><a name="lvm"></a><a href="#toc">Where are my LVM devices?</a></h3>
635 <p>LVM (Logival Volumes) is <strong>not</strong> started by default to
636 avoid any possible damage to your data. To get access to present LVM
637 devices just execute:</p>
640 # /etc/init.d/lvm2 start
642 or use the shorter version:
647 <p>If you want to enable LVM by default just boot using the 'lvm'
648 bootoption which automatically enables LVM.</p>
650 <h3><a name="swraid"></a><a href="#toc">Where are my Software-RAID devices?</a></h3>
652 <p>Software-RAID (usually known as the mdadm stuff) is
653 <strong>not</strong> started by default to avoid any possible damage to
654 your data. To get access to present SW-RAID devices just execute:</p>
657 # /etc/init.d/mdadm-raid start
659 or use the shorter version:
664 <p>If you want to enable SW-RAID by default just boot using the 'swraid'
665 bootoption which enables automatic assembling of software raid arrays.</p>
667 <h3><a name="libata"></a><a href="#toc">Why doesn't grml find my disks / doesn't boot?</a></h3>
669 <p>Starting with release 2008.11 grml uses <a
670 href="http://linux-ata.org/faq.html">libata</a> exclusively (so no
671 longer any old IDE code). Sadly some few (usually pretty old) systems
672 don't boot with libata-only kernels anymore. If you think you've such a
673 system please provide output of 'lspci' <a href="/contact/">to
676 <a name="terminalserver"></a>
677 <h3><a name="booting"></a><a href="#toc">Which ways exist to boot grml?</a></h3>
679 <p>The most common way to boot grml is, of course, running from
680 CD-ROM, but grml provides many more ways to boot grml:</p>
682 <p>It is possible to boot grml via USB (e.g. USB stick or harddisk),
683 firewire, or running from a Compact Flash disk. It works out of the box;
684 you don't need to modify anything. Check out <a
685 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb">the usb webpage in the
686 grml-wiki</a> for more details.</p>
688 <p>Your computer can not boot from CD-ROM but provides a floppy
689 disk? Take a look at <a
690 href="http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/">btmgr</a>, <a
691 href="http://ubcd4win.com/faq.htm#floppy">ubcd4win</a> or <a
692 href="http://linux.simple.be/tools/sbm">sbm</a>. They provide
693 support for booting from CD-ROM via a special floppy disk.</p>
695 <p>grml-terminalserver makes it possible to boot your system via network
697 href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preboot_Execution_Environment">PXE</a>
698 (Preboot Execution Environment). If your network card does not provide
699 support for booting via PXE you can still boot it either using the
700 provided grub image by grml-terminalserver (for example via floppy
701 drive) or using <a href="http://etherboot.org/wiki/index.php">gPXE</a>.
702 For more information, refer to the <a
703 href="/terminalserver/">grml-terminalserver webpage</a>.</p>
705 <h3><a name="timezone"></a><a href="#toc">How do I configure
706 timezone on my grml system?</a></h3>
708 <h4>Available bootoptions relevant in live-cd mode:</h4>
711 <li>utc: set UTC, if your system clock is set to UTC (GMT)
712 <li>gmt: set UTC, if your system clock is set to UTC (GMT) [like bootoption utc]
713 <li>tz=$option: set timezone to corresponding $option, usage example:
717 <h4>Configuration options relevant on harddisk installation:</h4>
722 # dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
725 <p>to adjust /etc/timezone and /etc/localtime according to the
726 provided information.</p>
728 <p><strong>/etc/default/rcS:</strong> set variable UTC according
729 to your needs, whether your system clock is set to UTC
730 (UTC='yes') or not (UTC='no')</p>
732 <p><strong>/etc/localtime:</strong> adjust zoneinfo according to
736 # ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/$WHATEVER_YOU_WANT /etc/localtime
739 <p>The zoneinfo directory contains the time zone files that were
740 compiled by zic. The files contain information such as rules
741 about DST. They allow the kernel to convert UTC UNIX time into
742 appropriate local dates and times. Use the zdump utility to
743 print current time and date (in the specified time zone).</p>
745 <p><strong>/etc/adjtime:</strong> This file is used e.g. by the
746 adjtimex function, which can smoothly adjust system time while
749 <p>If you change the time (using 'date --set ...', ntpdate,...)
750 it is worth setting also the hardware clock to the correct
754 # hwclock --systohc [--utc]
757 <p>Remember to add the --utc -option if the hardware clock is set to
760 <h4>Still problems?</h4>
762 <p>Check your current settings via:</p>
769 grep hwclock /etc/runlevel.conf
770 grep '^UTC' /etc/default/rc
773 <h4>Further information:</h4>
775 <p>Manpages: hwclock(8) tzselect(1) tzconfig(8); <a
776 href="http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/system-administrator/ch-sysadmin-time.html">Debian
777 GNU/Linux System Administrator's Manual Chapter 16 - Time</a> and <a
778 href="http://wiki.debian.org/TimeZoneChanges">TimeZoneChanges in the
781 <h3><a name="hdinstall"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to install grml to harddisk?</a></h3>
783 <p>Yes. Grml provides a tool called <a href="/grml2hd/">grml2hd</a> (see
784 '<a href="/grml2hd/grml2hd.html">man grml2hd</a>'). grml is developed
785 on a box running the grml-system itself, and we - the grml-developers -
786 especially like grml2hd because it gives us a working Linux box within
787 10 to 30 minutes. grml2hd is perfect for prototyping: test hardware
788 support of Linux, test a specific setup, ... You can even use grml2hd in
789 a fully automatic mode without any further interaction.</p>
791 <p>But <strong>please note</strong>: grml2hd does <strong>NOT</strong>
792 provide a Linux distribution for newbies and should be installed to hard
793 disk only if really know what you are doing (or don't care about
794 maintainability, seriously). Please install grml using grml2hd only if
795 can answer all of the following questions with 'sure, YES':</p>
798 <li>Are you used to work with Debian/unstable?
799 <li>Do you know how to report bugs to Debian?
800 <li>Are you aware of the differences between plain Debian and grml?
803 <p><strong>Tip</strong>: If you want to get a plain Debian system take
804 a look at <a href="/grml-debootstrap/">grml-debootstrap</a>.</p>
806 <p><strong>Note:</strong> If you are using grml in a production
807 environment and/or use a grml2hd installation, we strongly recommend you
808 subscribe to <a href="/mailinglist/">the grml user mailinglist</a>!</p>
810 <h3><a name="aptgethangs"></a><a href="#toc">'apt-get install foo' seems to freeze after a while</a></h3>
812 <p>It seems you are running out of RAM - see 'free' while running 'apt-get…'. UnionFS and the debian packetmanagement require some more RAM for the ramdisk. Some tests showed that at least 164 MB RAM should be present for live-installation, otherwise you might run into a freeze.</p>
814 <h2><a name="kernel"></a><a href="#toc">Kernel</a></h2>
816 <h3><a name="kernelconfig"></a><a href="#toc">Where can I find the configuration for the kernel used on
819 <p>See /boot/config-`uname -r` and on <a href="/kernel/">the kernel-webpage</a>.</p>
821 <h3><a name="kernelpatches"></a><a href="#toc">Are there any special components/patches in the kernel
822 used on grml?</a></h3>
824 <p>Grml uses the most current stable vanilla Linux kernel from <a
825 href="http://www.kernel.org/">www.kernel.org</a> with some
826 additional patches. More information and an all-in-one patch is
828 href="/kernel/">kernel-page</a>.</p>
830 <h3><a name="platform"></a><a href="#toc">For which platforms is the grml kernel optimized?</a></h3>
832 <p>Plain i586 compatibility-mode with SMP enabled. (Note: of course it
833 works for uniprocessor systems as well)</p>
835 <h2><a name="software"></a><a href="#toc">Software</a></h2>
837 <h3><a name="sw_general"></a><a href="#toc">General</a></h3>
839 <p>Want to run a program as root? Just use "sudo $PROGRAM". To get a
840 root-shell run "sudo -i".</p>
842 <p>Problems with a specific package? Please try "dpkg-reconfigure $foo".
843 Still encountering difficulties? Please send us a <a
844 href="/bugs/">bugreport</a>.</p>
846 <h3><a name="sw_version"></a><a href="#toc">Which package(s) and which
847 version is available?</a></h3>
849 <p>If you want to get details about the provided packages and the
850 package versions without booting the grml ISO check out the dpkg_...
851 files in the <a href="/files/#debian">Debian-Information section on
852 grml.org/files/</a>.</p>
854 <h3><a name="init"></a><a href="#toc">Init-System</a></h3>
856 <p>Why is grml using runlevel 2 as default? Because runlevel 2 is 'the
857 textonly one' and it is Debian's default.</p>
859 <p>Where are all the /etc/rc#.d-directories? grml doesn't use sysv-rc
860 but <a href="http://packages.debian.org/sid/file-rc">file-rc</a>. This
861 means you can configure the init system in one single file named
862 /etc/runlevel.conf with your favourite editor. No symlink-hell
865 <h3><a name="zsh"></a><a href="#toc">Why is zsh the default shell?</a></h3>
867 <p>Short answer: because <a href="/zsh/">Zsh rocks</a>, really!</p>
869 <p>Longer answer taken from <a
870 href="http://zsh.sourceforge.net/FAQ/zshfaq01.html#l3">ZSH FAQ: 1.2: What is
873 <cite> Zsh is a UNIX command interpreter (shell) which of the standard shells most
874 resembles the Korn shell (ksh); its compatibility with the 1988 Korn shell has been
875 gradually increasing. It includes enhancements of many types, notably in the
876 command-line editor, options for customising its behaviour, filename globbing, features
877 to make C-shell (csh) users feel more at home and extra features drawn from tcsh
878 (another `custom' shell).</cite>
880 <p>If you don't know zsh take a look at <a
881 href="http://zsh.sourceforge.net/FAQ/zshfaq02.html#l9">ZSH FAQ: How does zsh
882 differ from ...?</a>, 'man zsh | less -p COMPATIBILITY', the <a
883 href="/zsh/">grml zsh reference card</a> and '<a
884 href="/zsh/">man zsh-lovers</a>'.</p>
886 <p>If you are a bash user and don't know zsh yet, don't be afraid. bash
887 is largely a subset of zsh and you don't have to throw away your
888 knowledge about shell stuff.</p>
890 <h3><a name="zsh_binsh"></a><a href="#toc">Wasn't zsh the /bin/sh interpreter?</a></h3>
892 <p>Yes, until Grml 0.6 zsh was the interpreter for /bin/sh. Starting
893 with release 0.7 Grml used /bin/bash as /bin/sh and nowadays /bin/dash
894 is used for /bin/sh (that's what Debian does as well). The reason?
895 Using zsh as default /bin/sh interpreter leads to some problems,
896 especially since Debian does not care to support zsh as /bin/sh overall.
898 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=329288">#329288</a>
900 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=340058">#340058</a>
903 <h3><a name="bash"></a><a href="#toc">Is a bash available?</a></h3>
905 <p>Grml uses <a href="#zsh">zsh</a> as the default interactive shell
906 but, of course, a current version of bash (and many other shells as
907 well) is provided by grml.</p>
909 <h3><a name="configuration"></a><a href="#toc">Where can I find the configuration of zsh, GNU screen,...?</a></h3>
912 href="http://michael-prokop.at/blog/2007/12/22/make-console-work-comfortable/">'Make
913 console work comfortable'</a>.</p>
915 <h3><a name="truecrypt">Why isn't Truecrypt available within grml?</a></h3>
917 <p>Because Truecrypt is licensed under a specific license named
918 'TrueCrypt License' which doesn't permit us to distribute Truecrypt (since at least
919 license version 2.6).
920 See <a href="http://www.truecrypt.org/legal/license">section VI/4 of the
921 license</a> for details. The Ubuntu version from <a
922 href="http://www.truecrypt.org/downloads">truecrypt.org/downloads</a> is
923 known to work under Grml.</p>
925 <h3><a name="grub"></a><a href="#toc">grub does not work on my system?!</a></h3>
927 <p>Looks like you used mkfs.ext3 from grml but are using an old grub
928 version. Notice that older versions of grub do not support 256 byte
929 inodes on ext3, being the default in recent versions of mkfs/e2fsprogs.
930 More information is available at <a
931 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=463236">#463236</a>
932 in the Debian bug tracking system.</p>
934 <h2><a name="xserver"></a><a href="#toc">X-Server</a></h2>
936 <h3><a name="xstart"></a><a href="#toc">How do I start the X server?</a></h3>
938 <p>Please use 'grml-x' as user grml for starting X on the live-cd. It
939 will, if necessary, generate the config file /etc/X11/xorg.conf and lets you start commands on
940 startup (see ~/.xinitrc). Use it, for example, via switching to TTY4 (press
941 Alt+F4) and run the following command to start wm-ng (window manager fluxbox
942 with idesk and gkrellm):</p>
947 <p>If you have want to start X with the deault options you can use
948 'startx' instead of grml-x. Adjust ~/.xinitrc to your needs.</p>
950 <h3><a name="xproblem"></a><a href="#toc">X does not start on my box?!</a></h3>
952 <p>grml-x supports several options. If you want to set some special options
953 please take a look at the grml-x manpage (man grml-x). Some usage examples:</p>
956 grml-x --module vesa wm-ng # start wm-ng and use vesa module
957 grml-x --mode '800x600' wm-ng # set resolution to 800x600 and start wm-ng
958 grml-x --display 8 wm-ng # start wm-ng on display 8
959 grml-x --force --nostart wm-ng # force creation of xconfig file and don't start X server
960 grml-x --hsync 60 wm-ng # set horizontal frequency and start wm-ng
961 grml-x --hsync 60 --vsync 40 wm-ng # set horizontal and vertical sync frequencies and start wm-ng
964 <h3><a name="xresolution"></a><a href="#toc">I don't like the resolution of X!</a></h3>
966 <p>Just run xrandr to switch the resolution during runtime of X. For
967 example: '<code>xrandr -s 1024x768</code>'.</p>
969 <h2><a name="stuff"></a><a href="#toc">Support / Unanswered stuff</a></h2>
971 <h3><a name="questions"></a><a href="#toc">Further questions</a></h3>
973 <p>Do you have a question which is not answered in the FAQ or in the
974 provided <a href="/docs/">documentation</a> (execute
975 "grml-info" on your grml-system for offline documentation)?
976 Also check out 'grml-tips $KEYWORD' on your grml-system. Take a look at
977 <a href="/">the grml website</a> and <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
978 grml-wiki</a>. A good place to become part of the community is the <a
979 href="/mailinglist/">grml mailinglist</a>. Please don't hesitate to <a
980 href="/contact/">contact us</a>.</p>
982 <h3><a name="support"></a><a href="#toc">Commercial Support</a></h3>
984 <p>You want to deploy Grml in your data center, use it as part of your
985 business or have an emergency case? You're happy with Grml but would
986 like to get your very own live cd (providing your favourite software
987 selection, special configuration, setup and your bootsplash)? As part of
988 our business we do provide commercial support, feel free to <a
989 href="http://grml-solutions.com/">contact us at Grml
994 <?php include '../static_bottom.inc'; ?>