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28 <h1 align="center">FAQ for grml</h1>
30 <p><strong>Up2date:</strong> applies to Grml version 2020.06</p>
32 <p><a name="toc"></a><strong>Index:</strong></p>
34 <p class="toc"><a href="#general">General:</a></p>
36 <li><a href="#whatis">What is Grml?</a></li>
37 <li><a href="#flavours">What are grml32 / grml64 and grml96?</a></li>
38 <li><a href="#grmlsmall">What is the difference between grml-full and grml-small?</a></li>
39 <li><a href="#get">Where do I get Grml?</a></li>
40 <li><a href="#whatmeans">What does Grml mean?</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="#bootoptions">Which bootoptions does Grml support?</a></li>
44 <li><a href="#systemd">Why is Grml using systemd?</a></li>
45 <li><a href="#known_issues">Are there any known issues with this release? How about reporting bugs?</a></li>
48 <p class="toc"><a href="#features">Features</a>:</p>
50 <li><a href="#usbboot">How do I boot Grml from a USB stick?</a></li>
51 <li><a href="#persistency">Is it possible to store my settings?</a></li>
52 <li><a href="#password">What are the passwords of users on Grml?</a></li>
53 <li><a href="#version">How do I find out the version of Grml</a></li>
54 <li><a href="#language">How do I change the language/keyboard settings?</a></li>
55 <li><a href="#wms">Which window managers can I use?</a></li>
56 <li><a href="#lvm">Where are my LVM devices?</a></li>
57 <li><a href="#swraid">Where are my Software-RAID devices?</a></li>
58 <li><a href="#booting">Which ways exist to boot Grml?</a></li>
59 <li><a href="#timezone">How do I configure timezone on my Grml system?</a></li>
60 <li><a href="#hdinstall">Is it possible to install Grml to harddisk?</a></li>
63 <p class="toc"><a href="#software">Software:</a></p>
65 <li><a href="#sw_version">Which package(s) and which version is available?</a></li>
66 <li><a href="#zsh">Why is Zsh the default shell?</a></li>
70 <p class="toc"><a href="#stuff">Support / Unanswered stuff:</a></p>
72 <li><a href="#questions">Further questions?</a></li>
73 <li><a href="#support">Commercial Support</a></li>
76 <h2><a name="general"></a><a href="#toc">General</a></h2>
78 <h3><a name="whatis"></a><a href="#toc">What is Grml?</a></h3>
80 <p>Grml is a bootable live system (Live-CD) based
81 on <a href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>. It is not
82 necessary to install anything to a harddisk. Grml includes a
83 collection of GNU/Linux software especially for system
84 administrators. It specializes on administrative tasks like
85 installation, deployment and system rescue.</p>
87 <h3><a name="flavours"></a><a href="#toc">What are grml32 / grml64 and grml96?</a></h3>
90 <li>grml32-full: 32bit version (kernel and userspace)</li>
91 <li>grml64-full: 64bit version (kernel and userspace)</li>
92 <li>grml96-full: multi boot version (featuring the grml32-full and grml64-full ISOs combined on one ISO)</li>
95 <p>Unless you've a good reason to really choose the 32bit flavour we
96 <em>strongly</em> encourage you to use either the grml64 or the grml96
99 <h3><a name="grmlsmall"></a><a href="#toc">What is the difference between grml-full and grml-small?</a></h3>
101 <p>grml-small provides a reduced set of available software compared to
102 grml-full. It provides the same Linux kernel image as grml-full and is
103 fully binary compatible. Choose the grml-small flavour if size - for
104 whatever reason - really matters to you.</p>
106 <h3><a name="get"></a><a href="#toc">Where do I get Grml?</a></h3>
108 <p>Grml is open source, you can download it from the mirrors
109 listed at <a href="/download">grml.org/download/</a>.</p>
111 <h3><a name="whatmeans"></a><a href="#toc">What does Grml mean?</a></h3>
113 <p>Grml comes close to 'argl' or 'grrr' in English. People use
114 this when they want to express their dissatisfaction with
115 software (amongst other things).</p>
117 <h3><a name="releasename"></a><a href="#toc">What about the release name?</a></h3>
119 <p>Codename of Grml 2020.06 is "Ausgehfuahangl", which is
120 an austrian word for a face mask.</p>
122 <h3><a name="requirements"></a><a href="#toc">Requirements for running Grml</a></h3>
126 <li>Intel-compatible CPU (i686 or later, preferably Pentium class or higher; although some i586 processors e.g. the 'AMD Geode' are still supported)</li>
128 <li>>=384MB of RAM (>=512MB recommended)</p>
130 <li>either a bootable CD-/DVD-ROM drive,
131 a <a href="#usbboot">USB-boot capable system</a> or a
132 network card for booting via network/PXE (check
133 out <a href="#terminalserver">grml-terminalserver</a>)</li>
137 <h3><a name="accessibility"></a><a href="#toc">What does accessibility at Grml mean?</a></h3>
139 <p>The Grml kernel includes support for speakup. For software,
140 brltty and espeakup are included.</p>
142 <h3><a name="bootoptions"></a><a href="#toc">Which bootoptions does Grml support?</a></h3>
145 href="http://git.grml.org/?p=grml-live.git;a=blob_plain;f=templates/GRML/grml-cheatcodes.txt;hb=HEAD">grml-cheatcodes
146 file</a> (also available via <a href="http://grml.org/cheatcodes/">grml.org/cheatcodes/</a>). Of
148 href="https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.html">the command-line parameters</a>
149 of the Linux kernel applies to Grml as well.</p>
151 <h3><a name="systemd"></a><a href="#toc">Why is Grml using systemd?</a></h3>
153 <p>The switch from file-rc to systemd happened for various reasons.
154 Grml used file-rc for many years, mainly because it provided a better
155 way to control startup behavior via its /etc/runlevel.conf configuration
156 than with using sysvinit. Though for us Grml developers this also meant
157 that whenever there have been any changes in Debian's startup
158 configuration we had to compare our /etc/runlevel.conf setup with what a
159 normal Debian system would give us. Users who wanted to remaster Grml
160 with a custom startup procedure as well had to practically fork
161 maintenance of the /etc/runlevel.conf file. This didn't only mean
162 tracking new features/services, but also solve any possible issues
163 around it - duplicating efforts and wasting developers time
164 unnecessarily. Lately we also started to see problems that no one else
165 seemed to have (or care about enough), for example with multiple network
166 cards we ran into race-conditions with resolvconf. Problems like that
167 turned out to be release stoppers for us.</p>
169 <p>systemd on the other hand provides great documentation, service
170 supervision, takes care of parallel service startup and is the default
171 init system on most Linux distributions nowadays. This means more users,
172 better testing and integration. Logging, startup time investigation (to
173 get a fast boot procedure) and identifying failed service startups with
174 sysvinit/file-rc was always hard, unreliable or even impossible under
175 certain conditions. bootlogd was unreliable (while `journalctl -b` is
176 available out-of-the-box with systemd), bootchart not nicely integrated
177 (while systemd-analyze blame/critical-chain works out-of-the-box) and we
178 aren't aware of any equivalence for e.g. `systemctl --failed`.</p>
180 <p>While migrating our stack to systemd is <em>not</em> fully finished
181 yet, its switch - at least so far - was easier than expected. It also
182 turns out that it gives users who want to remaster Grml (or build their
183 very own ISOs from scratch using grml-live) more flexibility and control
184 over the startup process. systemd's override.conf mechanism and preset
185 feature provides the flexibility to overwrite unwanted behavior, without
186 losing the option to use existing defaults.</p>
188 <p>Last but not least we think it's good that systemd is actively
189 maintained and receives attention. The sysvinit/file-rc ecosystem was
190 stagnating/non-existend for too many years. Grml used its own initrd
191 implementation in its very beginnings, until a more broadly available
192 initramfs-tools/ live-boot solution appeared, broadening the user base,
193 sharing goals amongst different (live) distributions. Back in the days
194 Grml - like many other live distributions - had to implement hardware
195 recognition on its own. While udev received lots of complaints back
196 then, its integration actually solved all the hardware recognition for
197 the good. systemd's vision of stateless systems is something which helps
198 building live systems like Grml.</p>
200 <p>While we don't claim that systemd is perfect and doesn't have its
201 issues and drawbacks (like any software), we're happy about its
202 existence and more than happy about development and support by Debian's
205 <a name="release"></a> <!-- old anchor -->
206 <a name="bugreport"></a> <!-- old anchor -->
207 <h3><a name="known_issues"></a><a href="#toc">Are there any known issues? How about reporting bugs?</a></h3>
209 <p>Please visit the <a href="/bugs/">bug webpage</a>.</p>
211 <h2><a name="features"></a><a href="#toc">Features</a></h2>
213 <!-- TODO: needs to be improved! -->
214 <h3><a name="usbboot"></a><a href="#toc">How do I boot Grml from a USB stick?</a></h3>
217 out <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb#grml2usb">grml2usb</a>
219 <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb">usb webpage in the
222 <h3><a name="store"></a><a name="persistency"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to store my settings?</a></h3>
225 a <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=persistency">persistency
228 <h3><a name="password"></a><a href="#toc">What are the passwords of users on Grml?</a></h3>
230 <p>There are no default passwords - all accounts are locked by
231 default for security reasons. Even local logins are not
232 possible (unless you set a password or create new user
233 accounts as root). You can create valid passwords using "sudo
234 passwd [username]" from the shell individually. To set a password
235 for users 'root' and 'grml' and enable SSH login you can use the 'ssh'
236 boot option, like 'ssh=yourpassword'.</p>
238 <h3><a name="version"></a><a href="#toc">How do I find out the version of Grml</a></h3>
240 <p>Run 'grml-version' or use the following command:</p>
243 $ cat /etc/grml_version</pre>
245 <h3><a name="language"></a><a href="#toc">How do I change the language/keyboard settings?</a></h3>
247 <p>By default Grml uses english settings. But it is possible to
248 change the settings via using either the bootparam(s) lang,
249 keyboard and xkeyboard or via executing grml-lang when Grml is
250 already running. Usage examples:</p>
253 grml lang=de # enter this at the bootprompt and you will get
254 # german keyboard layout and german $LANG, $LC_ALL,
256 grml keyboard=de xkeyboard=de lang=at # enter this at the bootprompt
257 # and you will get german keyboard and austrian
259 % grml-lang de # enter this in the shell to switch keyboard layout
260 # and $LANG settings in a running Grml system
263 <p>Note: run grml-setlang to get a dialog based frontend for
264 /etc/default/locale. Run grml-setkeyboard to get a dialog
265 based frontend for /etc/sysconfig/keyboard.</p>
268 <h3><a name="wms"></a><a href="#toc">Which window managers can I use?</a></h3>
270 <p>Starting with the 2011.12 release Grml provides <a
271 href="http://www.fluxbox.org/">Fluxbox</a> as window manager.</p>
273 <h3><a name="lvm"></a><a href="#toc">Where are my LVM devices?</a></h3>
275 <p>LVM (Logival Volumes) is <strong>not</strong> started by default to
276 avoid any possible damage to your data. To activate present LVM
277 devices execute (replace "$name" with the name of the PV):</p>
280 # Start lvm2-pvscan@$name
283 <p>or if you don't know its name and to enable all present ones, use:</p>
289 <p>If you want to enable LVM by default just boot using the 'lvm'
290 bootoption which automatically enables LVM.</p>
292 <h3><a name="swraid"></a><a href="#toc">Where are my Software-RAID devices?</a></h3>
294 <p>Software-RAID (usually known as the mdadm stuff) is
295 <strong>not</strong> started by default to avoid any possible damage to
296 your data. To get access to present SW-RAID devices just execute:</p>
299 # mdadm --asssemble --scan
302 <p>If you want to enable SW-RAID by default just boot using
303 the 'swraid' bootoption which enables automatic assembling of
304 software raid arrays.</p>
306 <a name="terminalserver"></a>
307 <h3><a name="booting"></a><a href="#toc">Which ways exist to boot Grml?</a></h3>
309 <!-- TODO: needs rework -->
311 <p>Of course running from CD/DVD is a common way to boot
312 Grml. But Grml provides many more ways to boot:</p>
314 <p>It is possible to boot Grml via USB (e.g. USB stick or
315 harddisk), firewire, or running from a Compact Flash disk. It
316 works out of the box; you don't need to modify anything. Check
317 out <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb">the usb
318 webpage in the grml-wiki</a> for more details.</p>
320 <p>Your computer can not boot from CD-ROM but provides a
321 floppy disk? Take a look
322 at <a href="http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/">btmgr</a>, <a href="http://ubcd4win.com/faq.htm#floppy">ubcd4win</a>
323 or <a href="http://linux.simple.be/tools/sbm">sbm</a>. They
324 provide support for booting from CD-ROM via a special floppy
327 <p>grml-terminalserver makes it possible to boot your system
329 using <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preboot_Execution_Environment">PXE</a>
330 (Preboot Execution Environment). If your network card does not
331 provide support for booting via PXE you can still boot it
332 either using the provided grub image by grml-terminalserver
333 (for example via floppy drive) or
334 using <a href="http://etherboot.org/wiki/index.php">gPXE</a>.
335 For more information, refer to
336 the <a href="/terminalserver/">grml-terminalserver
339 <h3><a name="timezone"></a><a href="#toc">How do I configure
340 timezone on my Grml system?</a></h3>
342 <p>Available bootoptions relevant in live mode:</p>
345 <li>utc: set UTC, if your system/hardware clock is set to UTC (Coordinated Universal Time)
346 <li>localtime: Hardware Clock is set to local time (LOCAL), this is the default
347 <li>tz=$option: set timezone to corresponding $option, usage example: tz=Europe/Vienna, defaults to UTC if unset
350 <p>Further information: manpages hwclock(8), tzselect(1) and tzconfig(8); <a
351 href="http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/system-administrator/ch-sysadmin-time.html">Debian
352 GNU/Linux System Administrator's Manual Chapter 16 - Time</a> and <a
353 href="http://wiki.debian.org/TimeZoneChanges">TimeZoneChanges in the
356 <h3><a name="hdinstall"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to install Grml to harddisk?</a></h3>
358 <p>No. If you want to get a Debian system take a look at <a
359 href="/grml-debootstrap/">grml-debootstrap</a> (or use the <a
360 href="https://www.debian.org/">Debian Installer</a> instead).</p>
362 <h2><a name="software"></a><a href="#toc">Software</a></h2>
364 <h3><a name="sw_version"></a><a href="#toc">Which package(s) and which
365 version is available?</a></h3>
367 <p>If you want to get details about the provided packages and the
368 package versions without booting the Grml ISO check out the dpkg_...
369 files in the <a href="/files/#debian">Debian-Information section on
370 grml.org/files/</a>.</p>
372 <h3><a name="zsh"></a><a href="#toc">Why is Zsh the default shell?</a></h3>
374 <p>Short answer: because <a href="/zsh/">Zsh rocks</a>, really!</p>
376 <p>Long(er) answer: If you don't know Zsh take a look the <a
377 href="/zsh/">Grml Zsh reference card</a>.</p>
379 <p>If you are a Bash user and don't know Zsh yet, don't be
380 afraid. Bash is largely a subset of Zsh and you don't have to
381 throw away your knowledge about shell stuff.</p>
383 <h2><a name="stuff"></a><a href="#toc">Support / Unanswered stuff</a></h2>
385 <h3><a name="questions"></a><a href="#toc">Further questions</a></h3>
387 <p>Do you have a question which is not answered in the FAQ or
388 in the provided <a href="/docs/">documentation</a> (execute
389 "grml-info" on your Grml system for offline
390 documentation)? Also check out 'grml-tips $KEYWORD' on your
391 Grml system. Take a look at
392 <a href="/">the Grml website</a> and <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
393 grml-wiki</a>. A good place to become part of the community is the <a
394 href="/mailinglist/">Grml mailinglist</a>.</p>
396 <h3><a name="support"></a><a href="#toc">Commercial Support</a></h3>
398 <p>You want to deploy Grml in your data center, use it as part of your
399 business or have an emergency case? You're happy with Grml but would
400 like to get your very own live system (providing your favourite software
401 selection, special configuration, setup and a custom bootsplash)?
402 Please get in <a href="/contact/">touch with us</a>.</p>
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