Behavior in current Grml versions --------------------------------- This section applies to all Grml versions newer than release 2009.05. The central concept of grml-autoconfig is the DCS directory which holds debs, configuration and scripts which are used during system startup. Determination of DCS directory ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The DCS directory defaults to the root directory of the GRML live image. If a file system labeled GRMLCFG is found, the DCS directory is the root directory of that file system. Alternatively, the myconfig boot parameter can be used to directly specify a device which is then taken as DCS directory (myconfig=/dev/sda1, for example). Without any additional boot parameters, the GCA at DCSDIR/config.tbz is automatically unpacked and DCSDIR/scrips/grml.sh is automaitcally executed on system startup. The 'noautoconfig' boot parameter disables this automatic behavior. Boot Parameters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The following boot parameters are supported. Use them at the (isolinux) bootprompt as documented here. myconfig:: This parameter directly sets DCSDIR to the root directory of the specified device. Usage examples: myconfig=/dev/sda1 => read DCS from usb-device myconfig=/dev/fd0 => read DCS from floppy-disk home:: This parameter is for setting a specific partition as home directory. Usage examples: home=/dev/sda3 => use /dev/sda3 as the homepartition home=scan => scan through the available partitions and search for file grml.img partconf:: This parameter mounts the specified device in read-only mode and tries to copy all files specified in /etc/grml/partconf to the Grml system. This provides the possibility to use the configuration of a harddisk installation. For example using the network configuration (which is specified in /etc/network) is possible using this boot parameter. Usage example: partconf=/dev/sda2 => try to mount /dev/sda2 and copy files specified in /etc/grml/partconf to the booted Grml system netconfig:: Use this parameter to restore configuration using wget to download a GCA from the specified destination. You can also add variables to change the file name depending on the host configuration. Predefined and useful variables are $ARCH, $HOSTNAME and $KERNEL. Usage example: netconfig=server.tld/path/to/config.tbz => restore configuration using wget to download file config.tbz netconfig=server.tld/config-$ARCH.tbz => download config for specified architecture netscript:: Use this parameter to download and run a script from specified destination: You can also add variables to change the file name depending on the host configuration. Predefined and useful variables are $ARCH, $HOSTNAME and $KERNEL. Usage example: netcript=server.tld/path/to/script => download and run script/executable from server netscript=server.tld/script-$HOSTNAME => download and run script/executable for specific host extract:: Extract specific directories from the GCA which needs to be specified by other means. extract=/home/grml => extract only /home/grml from archive extract=/etc => extract only /etc from archive extract=/home/grml/config => extract only $HOME/config from archive scripts:: This parameter executes scripts. If an optional path is given, it is relative to DCSDIR. If it points to a directory, all scripts inside this directory are executed. If the path points to a file, this single file is executed. If no path is given, it defaults to scripts/grml.sh. Usage examples: scripts => run script DCSDIR/scripts/grml.sh scripts=foobar.sh => run script foobar.sh in DCSDIR scripts=foobar => run all scripts inside DCSDIR/foobar directory config:: This parameter restores a configuration using a GCA. If an optional path is given, it is relative to DCSDIR. If no path is given, it defaults to DCSDIR/config.tbz. Usage examples: config => restore configuration using file DCSDIR/config.tbz config=config_foobar.tbz => restore configuration using file DCSDIR/config_foobar.tbz debs:: This parameter allows automatic installation of deb packages while booting. The path is relative to DCSDIR, not optional and is a shell wildcard. All Files matching the wildcard are installed in a single dpkg --install call. For backwards compatibility, if no slash is contained in the path, it is taken relative to DCSDIR/debs. Usage examples: debs=*.deb => install all debian packages (suffix .deb) from directory DCSDIR/debs/ debs=foo/01*.deb => install all debian packages (suffix .deb) starting with 01 in the filename from directory DCSDIR/foo debnet:: Search all local partitions and dm devices for file /etc/network/interfaces and copy the directory /etc/network to the grml system and restart networking. noautoconfig:: Deactivate automounting. By default the scripts try to mount a device with label 'GRMLCFG'. If you specify the noautoconfig bootparam this automounting will be deactivated. noautoconfig => disables auto mounting of label 'GRMLCFG' Permanently adjust boot parameters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As you probably know you can adjust boot parameters on the bootprompt. You want to set some boot parameters permanently? That's possible via adding a directory named 'bootparams' to the Grml ISO which has to be located at the root-directory /bootparams/ (note: the directory is known as /live/image/bootparams/ on a _running_ Grml system then). Place a textfile inside the directory containing the boot parameters which should be appended to default ones (this corresponds to booting without any special parameters). mkdir bootparams echo lang=de > bootparams/my_bootparams Then burn a multisession CD where directory bootparams is located in the root directory of the CD. [NOTE] Not all boot parameters can be used via /bootparams/. This is a limitation of the way the kernel and userspace retrieve boot parameters. Boot parameter regarding the kernel definitely do *NOT* work. Boot parameter related to grml-autoconfig (the main part of the boot process in Grml running in userspace, being all the stuff after startup of udev) are expected to work. Boot parameter related to initrd/initramfs (the part between 'Searching for GRML file' and startup of udev) are *NOT* covered by /bootparams/ as well yet. TIP: the application k3b (not available on the live-CD but available through the Debian repositories) provides an easy to use interface for doing the multisession task.