Release Notes:
grml64 0.2 - codename Schwammerlklauber (20080224)
About
grml is a Debian-based Live-CD. It includes a collection of GNU/Linux software especially for users of texttools and system administrators. grml provides automatic hardware detection. You can use grml for example as a rescue system, for analyzing systems/networks or as a working environment. It is not necessary to install anything to a harddisk, you don't even need a harddisk to run it, unless you want to (use grml2hd for this). Due to on-the-fly decompression grml includes about 2.1GB of software and documentation on the CD.
Whereas grml is meant for use on 32 bit systems, grml64 provides support for 64 bit platforms. It is based on the amd64 port of Debian. Take a look at the 'Debian-Information'-section if you are searching for the package list.
Bugfixes
Fixed several bugs and issues reported on grml64_0.1 @ grml-wiki.
New features
Several improved, updated and extended configuration files.
New grml-scripts:
- arename.pl: rename audio files by looking at a file's tagging information
- grml-live: build framework based on FAI for generating a grml and Debian based Linux Live system (CD/ISO)
- grml-paste: command line interface for paste.grml.org
- grml-vnet: create persistent tun/tap devices with bridge handling
New bootparameters/cheatcodes:
- micvol: configure mixer/ volume settings of microphone channel; usage: micvol=$number
- noconsolefont: skip setting console font via consolechars
- nogrmlacpi: disable acpi stuff inside grml-autoconfig without having to boot using noacpi (which triggers kernel code actions)
- lvm: activate present Logical Volumes (LVM)
- nolvm: completely disable LVM code/checks; by default (so without using a special bootoption) grml runs 'lvdisplay' and if something can be found the user gets a hint to execute 'Start lvm2' to set it up
grml2hd (install grml to harddisk):
- use --insecure for passwordbox so user gets feedback when typing password (it's '***' of course and not plaintext).
- check for dmraid signatures
- support installation on LVM devices. Usage example: 'LVM=/dev/mapper/grml2hd-lvm grml2hd'
See grml.org/grml2hd/ for more details regarding grml2hd.
grml-terminalserver (boot grml via network)
- updated initrd generation for use with live-initramfs, providing a reworked initial bootprocess
See grml.org/terminalserver/ for more details regarding grml-terminalserver.
Special new features:
- all grml ISOs are automatically generated using the new grml-live framework
- completely reworked initial bootprocess, based on live-initramfs now
- Squashfs with LZMA support
- optimised the system to have as few wakeups as possible (<25 wakeups/s in default startup)
- updated to X.org 7.3
- updated to libc6 2.7
- added support for loop-aes
- the lang=-bootoption supports dvorak keyboard layouts (using parameters dvorak, dvorak-iso or dvorak-utf8)
Kernel
Based on vanilla kernel 2.6.23.16 including several patches and additional modules:
acx100 at76-usb atl2 aufs drbd8 exmap gspca ipw3945 iscsitarget ivtv kqemu loop-aes lzma madwifi ndiswrapper nozomi openafs qc-usb realtime-lsm rt2400 rt2500 squashfs sysprof truecrypt
Notice: some more modules (like fglrx and nvidia) are not pre-installed but available through the grml-repository.
See grml.org/kernel/ for more details regarding the grml-kernel.
Important Changes
To avoid problems with isolinux/syslinux on older hardware (see syslinux mailinglist) we decided to put several files like kernel and initrd from /boot/isolinux/ into a new directory named /boot/$GRML_FLAVOUR/. This should improve the possibility for supporting multiboot in the future as well.
Due to the new initial bootprocess (which is based on live-initramfs) some bootoptions might not work as expected or changed its behaviour. The grml team is working on merging outstanding features. If you think you found a bootoption that does not work as expected/documented please report it.
The bootoption expert has been dropped. It is deprecated nowadays. The bootoption splash has been renamed into textsplash to avoid clashes with graphical bootsplashes.
Packages / Software
Details about shipped packages and their versions on grml are available at the Debian section. See dpkg_get_selections for a main package listing and dpkg_list for a more detailed list of packages shipped with grml 1.1.
Updates
Updated all packages to Debian Unstable branch by 20071225 (plus some further selected updates).
Removed 91 packages [please notice that some of them are available under different names/in different packages]:
*2.6.20-grml64* lib* airsnort artwiz-cursor attacker autofs bandwidthd-pgsql centericq centericq-common check clvm cogito crywrap dbengine ddd debtags defrag discover discover-data dnsdoctor dvgrab emacs21 emacs21-bin-common emacs21-common emelfm fbgetty findimagedupes flac123 fvwm-crystal gnuplot gnuplot-nox gnuplot-x11 gnus gnus-bonus-el grep-dctrl gs gs-common gs-esp gs-gpl gscanbus ia32-libs idn ation-report ion3 ion3-mod-xinerama ion3-scripts irssi-text jail kiss lckdo linux-kernel-headers linux-kernel-headers-grml linux32 lshw-common mobilemesh modutils mozilla-firefox msort ncftp2 nessus netdude netpipes nmapfe openbsd-inetd pdns python-mode python-semanage rhapsody rt2400 rt2500 schedutils sound-recorder sqlrelay sqlrelay-postgresql sqlrelay-sqlite surfraw tdb-dev tinysnmp-tools twin unison2.9.1 user-de uswsusp valgrind vde vifm vncommand w3-el-e21 w3-url-e21 xdebconfigurator xfonts-artwiz xpdf-utils xtla xzgv
Added 229 new packages (exluding lib* and *2.6.23-grml64*):
2vcard 3ware-cli-binary aamath ack-grep acpi-support-base acpitail afflib aggregate amap aosd-cat apt-transport-https ascii asql auctex awesome balance base64 bittwist bochsbios bsd-mailx catdvi centerim-common centerim-utf8 cereal conky cpp-4.2 ctioga ctorrent dcfldd detox dir2ogg dns2tcp doc-base docbook-xml dpkg-ruby duplicity dupmerge dvipng dzen2 edac-utils elfkickers emacs22 emacs22-bin-common emacs22-common epdfview espeak espeak-data etckeeper exifprobe exmap fai-client fai-doc fai-server fatsort firmware-iwlwifi firmware-ralink flashrom fuseiso g++-4.2 gcc-4.2 gcc-4.2-base gcc-4.2-multilib gcc-multilib gconf2 gconf2-common ghostscript ghostscript-x git-svn gitpkg gksu gnome-keyring gnu-fdisk gnupg-pkcs11-scd gparted grml-debian-keyring grml-live grml-paste gzrt haproxy hdaps-utils hdapsd heirloom-sh hfsprogs hgsvn hplip hplip-data iceweasel-webdeveloper ifupdown-extra inoticoming iodine ipw-firmware irqbalance irssi-plugin-xmpp iscsitarget itop jp2a kanif kpartx latex-beamer latex-xcolor latexmk lcdtest ldnsutils linux-libc-dev linux-wlan-ng live-initramfs logapp loop-aes-testsuite lzma mailplate metastore minised mkelfimage mlocate mr nat-traverse nessusclient netrw netsurf nscd nttcp nvclock obconf olsrd-plugins op open-iscsi open-vm-tools openafs-client openafs-krb5 openbios-sparc openbox openhackware packeth pamusb-tools paperkey paris-traceroute pcaputils pdfjam pekwm pgf pip pm-utils pmailq pngtools polipo poppler-utils preview-latex-style prism54-firmware pristine-tar privbind proll pssh python-dbus python-gnupginterface python-gobject python-pycallgraph python-setuptools python-urlgrabber qemu rainbowcrack rcov rinse rofs runit rutilt s3cmd scamper scanmem scrollkeeper shorewall-common shorewall-shell sitar sl sm smap snort-common-libraries splint-data supercat svgalibg1 sysutils taktuk tasksel tasksel-data tetex-base tetex-bin tex-common texlive texlive-base texlive-base-bin texlive-common texlive-doc-base texlive-fonts-recommended texlive-lang-german texlive-latex-base texlive-latex-recommended texpower tgt thinkfinger-tools timelimit ttf-dejavu-core ttf-dejavu-extra uml-utilities unhide uniutils unsort vgabios vim-tiny wacom-tools wamerican wapiti x11-apps x11-session-utils x11-utils x11-xfs-utils x11-xkb-utils x11-xserver-utils xar xauth xbacklight xdelta3 xdg-utils xinit xrestop xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd xsteg yatm yeahconsole yersinia zfs-fuse
Upgrade notes
As usual you can upgrade your grml harddisk system to the latest grml version running 'apt-get update; apt-get install grml'. Take a look at the upgrading webpage in the grml-wiki as well. Notice: If you are using grml in a productive environment and/or use a grml2hd installation we strongly recommend to subscribe to the grml-user mailinglist!
Changes since release 1.0 (20070518)
- Alexander Steinboeck joined the grml-team.
- Daily builds available: automatically generated ISOs of grml (using the grml-live framework) are available at daily.grml.org.
- Results of the grml user survey are available.
Known issues
Take a look at grml64_0.2 @ grml-wiki. Please report problems using information on grml.org/bugs/.
Download grml64 0.2
grml64 0.2 can be downloaded from mirrors listed on grml.org/download/.
Feedback
Your comments, bug reports, patches, and suggestions will help fix bugs and improve future releases. If you find a problem with the release please check grml64_0.2 @ grml-wiki and report problems using information on grml.org/bugs/. Please send your feedback, feature requests and bug reports to the grml-team!
Thanks
Many thanks in this release go to Henning Sprang, Thomas Lange, Michael Schmitt, Daniel Baumann, Karl Voit, Norbert Tretkowski, Jan-Pieter Jacobs, Wolfgang Karall, Darshaka Pathirana, Andrea Mayr and Wernfried Haas for their contributions. Many thanks also to the ones of you who donated something to the grml-team and of course to all those who have sent feedback since the last release!
More Information
You can find out more about grml on our website, IRC channel, and wiki.
To sign up for future grml announcements, please subscribe to grml's announcement list.
