Release Notes for grml64 2010.04 - codename Grmlmonster
+ +About
+ +Grml is a bootable live system (Live-CD) based on Debian. It + includes a collection of GNU/Linux software especially for system + administrators and users of texttools. 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. Due to on-the-fly decompression Grml includes about + 2 GB 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.
+ +New features
+ +Special new features:
+ +-
+
+
- vnc bootoption: booting with vnc=yourpassword and + the startx bootoption automatically starts the vnc service for user + 'grml' using graphical remote access with provided password + +
- dmraid related bootoptions: nodmraid to not + enable present dmraid devices, + dmraid=on to automatically enable any present dmraid devices and + dmraid=off to actively try to stop any possibly present dmraid + devices. + +
- New bootoption bootid for improving reliability + of boot process. The specified argument to the bootoption is matched + against a token on the ISO to make sure that only the correct Grml + version gets booted. + +
- More robust network booting: The last Grml + release (2009.10) already invented the ethdevice= bootoption which + allows you to specify a specific NIC for booting. The bootoption + ethdevice and its surrounding code has been extended so it is possible to specify + multiple devices at once that should be configured. If you don't have + any specific configuration all present NICs will be used for + configuration via DHCP automatically. Visit the + Grml developer blog for further information + +
- Providing an improved default configuration for + top(1) utility when running as (non-root) user + +
- Improved serial console handling through + /etc/inittab*. Using normal getty instead of mgetty and several baud + rate settings (115200,57600,38400,19200,9600,4800,2400,1200) to let + getty figure out which mode should be used. + +
- Reworked xinitrc handling: modularize the code into ~/.xinitrc.d/ + and support configuration through ~/.config/grml/xinitrc. + +
New features in Grml's Zsh
+ +-
+
+
- new function changed() + +
- zshrc: map backtab to reverse-menu-complete + +
- smarter C-z shortcut + +
- Switch `minimal-shell()' from ksh93 to mksh + +
- Use wrapper functions for changing title/screen + +
- Some minor bugfixes and code enhancements + +
Major changes in grml-scripts:
+ +-
+
+
- grml-quickconfig: rewritten from scratch with proper customisation support, now being shipped through + new Debian package grml-quickconfig + +
- Remove deprecated bt-audio script + +
- grml-lock: add support for graphical version via gdialog/zenity + +
- grml-setlang: do not set LC_CTYPE any longer + +
- grml-hostname: address xauth issue + +
- zsh-login: do not disable grml-quickconfig for serial console + +
- grml-info: improve support for customisation + +
grml2usb (install Grml ISO(s) on usb device for booting):
+ +-
+
+
- Mount vfat devices with explicit iocharset option +
- Support bootid bootoption +
- Also set GRML_DEFAULT when running with --dry-run +
- Make sure that --grub-mbr requires --grub +
- ... some minor bugfixes + +
Visit the usb webpage + in the Grml wiki and grml.org/grml2usb for + more details regarding grml2usb.
+ +grml-debootstrap (wrapper around debootstrap for installing plain Debian via Grml):
+ +-
+
+
- Add support for specifying filesystem + provide /etc/network/interfaces.examples +
- Introduce option --nopackages +
- Display executed debootstrap cmdline when running it +
- Introduce --pre-scripts to be executed before chroot-scripts +
- Remove cached debs by default to reduce diskpace during bootstrap +
- Support and enable per default --keyring option +
- ... plus some bugfixes and minor enhancements + +
Visit grml.org/grml-debootstrap/ for more + details regarding grml-debootstrap.
+ +grml-live (build system for creating a + Grml (based) Linux live system):
+ +-
+
+
- Support for logging build information to database via grml-live-db +
- Support new option '-d <date>' to use specified date instead of build time as date of release +
- Add support for /boot/isolinux/submenu*.cfg files +
- Add persistency feature to boot menu +
- Simplify syslinux.cfg +
- Disable PDiffs by default via /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/20pdiffs +
- Support DEFAULT_BOOTOPTIONS via configuration file +
- Store package list on ISO +
- Ignore $EXIT_ON_MISSING_PACKAGES if running a dirty build through -B +
- Rename /etc/grml/fai/files to /etc/grml/fai/config/files and move /etc/grml/fai/live-initramfs to /etc/grml/fai/config +
- Provide buildd as separate Debian package buildd, use nail instead of mutt in buildd for sending mails +
- .... plus several software related updates and bugfixes - check out the changelog for details + +
Visit grml.org/grml-live for + more details regarding grml-live.
+ +Kernel
+ +Based on vanilla kernel 2.6.33.2 including several patches and additional modules:
+ ++ aufs iscsitarget loop-aes lzma ndiswrapper + speakup squashfs sysprof xtables-addons ++ +
Visit grml.org/kernel/ for more details + regarding Grml's kernel.
+ +Bugfixes
+ +Fixed several bugs and issues reported on grml64_2009.10 @ + grml-wiki and in the bug + tracking system.
+ +Important Changes
+ +-
+
+
- Bootoption home has been dropped, the persistency + feature present since 2009.10 replaces this option. + +
- Grml uses lang=en as default instead of lang=us + if no 'lang' bootoption has been specified. + +
- CPU frequency scaling enabled on all hardware + by default so it's no longer limited to laptops + only. + +
- Grml's udev package has been dropped in favour of Debian's plain + version and adding Grml specified configuration and scripts through + Debian package grml-udev-config. + +
- As the bootoption bootid is used as default + bootoption you need to make sure that you've an according and valid + bootid=... entry in your kernel cmdline or use the ignore_bootid + bootoption to skip the boot id check. This is especially relevant for + grml2usb installations (make sure to use a recent grml2usb version) as + well as booting with isofrom/findiso bootoptions from harddisks. + +
Packages / Software
+ +Details about shipped packages and their versions on grml are + available at the Debian section. Visit dpkg_get_selections + for a main package listing and dpkg_list for a more + detailed list of packages shipped with grml64 2010.04.
+ +Updates
+ +Updated all packages to Debian Unstable branch by 24st of march + 2010 (plus some further selected updates).
+ +Removed 56 packages (excluding lib* and *2.6.31-grml64*) - please + notice that some of them are available under + different names/in different packages:
+ ++ *2.6.31-grml64* lib* + + 3ware-cli-binary aria2 aufs-tools bash-minimal + bluez-audio bluez-gstreamer console-setup + consolekit cpp-4.3 dpkg-ftp dpkg-multicd elmo + emacs22 emacs22-bin-common emacs22-common + fatsort g++-4.3 gcc-4.2-base gcc-4.3 + gcc-4.3-base gcc-4.3-multilib gcc-multilib gcom + gconf2-common gfs-tools gfs2-tools + grml-mercurial-utils grml-scanpartitions + heirloom-mailx iceweasel-webdeveloper igal2 + keynav lomoco metamail mirrordir naim openipmi + policykit python-celementtree python-elementtree + python2.4 python2.4-minimal rar ras sdd sfind + sl-modem-daemon snmp star vcdtools wacom-tools + webcam-server xar xlockmore + xserver-xorg-input-hyperpen zenmap ++ +
Added 79 new packages (exluding lib* and *2.6.33-grml*):
+ ++ aesutil apt-xapian-index bfa cifs-utils cmospwd + cpp-4.4 ctris deletemail docbook2odf dupseek ex + ext3rminator fakechroot fbterm febootstrap + fsarchiver ftpbackup g++-4.4 gateguardian + gcal-common gcc-4.4 gdbserver gdisk genisoimage + gifshuffle gkrellm-x86info glipper-nognome + grml-quickconfig grml-quickconfig-standard + grml-udev-config histring htcheck hwloc i855crt + icedax icmp-mtu icmp-quench icmp-reset + infiniband-diags keyboard-configuration lxc + mbuffer modem-cmd nbd-client nbd-server ncp + netsniff-ng nginx numactl perf podracer prosilla + ptfinder pyneighborhood python-glade2 + python-libxml2 python-openssl python-rpm + python-sqlite python-sqlitecachec + python-urlgrabber python-xapian python2.6 + python2.6-minimal qemu-kvm rootsh ruby1.9.1 + secvpn shadowfs shish shmux sudosh tal ufsutils + usb-modeswitch usb-modeswitch-data xz-utils yum + zerofree ++ +
Major changes since release 2009.10 (20091031)
+ +-
+
+
- Grml goes microblogging. +
- New Grml developer mailinglist. + +
Known issues
+ +Take a look at grml64_2010.04 @ grml-wiki. + Please report problems using information on grml.org/bugs/.
+ +Download grml64 2010.04
+ +grml64 2010.04 can be downloaded from the mirrors listed on grml.org/download/.
+ +Feedback
+ +Your comments, bug reports, patches, and suggestions will help + fixing bugs and improving future releases. If you find a problem with + the release please check grml64_2010.04 @ + grml-wiki and report problems using information on grml.org/bugs/. Please send your feedback and + feature requests to the grml-team!
+ + + +Thanks
+ +Many thanks (alphabetically) in this release go to + Alexander Menk, + Andras Korn, + Axel Beckert, + Christoph Biedl, + Christian Hofstaedtler, + Daniel Borkmann, + Gregor Perner, + Jordan Uggla, + Mark Jonas, + Moritz Augsburger, + Pawel Sadkowski, + Richard Hartmann, + Sedat Dilek, + Stefan Weiss, + Suhanov Maxim, + Timo Boettcher, + Thomas Arendsen Hein, + Tong Sun, + Xuân Baldauf and + Zoran Dzelajlija + for their contributions.
+ +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.
+ +If you are interested in development releases grab the daily ISOs + from daily.grml.org.
+ +Further Questions?
+ +Please feel free to contact us.
+ +