Grml is a bootable CD (Live-CD) based on Debian. Grml includes a collection of + GNU/Linux software especially for system administrators and users of + texttools. Grml provides automatic hardware detection. You can use grml + as a rescue system, for analyzing systems/networks, or as a working + environment. It is not necessary to install anything to a harddisk. Due + to on-the-fly decompression grml includes more than 2GB of software and + documentation on the CD.

+ +

Where do I get grml?

+ +

Grml is open source, you can download it from the mirrors listed at + grml.org/download/. If you want to get an + original grml-CD including the grml-cover, + need a special amount of CDs or want your own special grml-CD (including + your logo, your software and/or special settings) please don't hesitate to contact us. Take a look at + Grml Solutions if you're + interested in commercial support.

+ +

What does grml mean?

+ +

Grml comes close to 'argl' or 'grrr' in English. People use this when + they want to express their dissatisfaction/discontentedness with + software (amongst other things):

+ +

+$ grep -ch grml .centericq/**/history | xargs echo | \
+  sed 's/[0-9]*/& + /g' | sed 's/+ $//g' | bc -l
+3746

+ +

How do you pronounce grml?

+ +

+% flite -o play -t gremel

+ + +

What about the release name?

+ +

Codename of Grml 2011.05 is "Just Mari". It's a dedication to someone special. +

+ +

Requirements for running grml

+ +

Intel-compatible CPU (i586 or later, preferably Pentium class or higher)
grml/grml-medium: at least 64MB of RAM (for stable use with + ramdisks for aufs and udev and when running X window system we + recommend at least 128MB)
grml-small: at least 32MB RAM should be available
either a bootable CD-ROM drive or USB-boot + capable system (for booting via network/PXE check out grml-terminalserver)

+ +

Why another Linux distribution?

+ +

There already exist "some" distributions. We + decided to base our work on the existing infrastructure of Debian because we don't want to reinvent + the wheel. Some admins already use their own rescue CD, Knoppix works + but does not bring that many important tools for admins and users of + texttools out of the box. Therefor we decided to share our work with + others and provide the swiss army knife for sysadmins and texttool + fans.

+ +

What's the license of grml?

+ +

Anything written by the grml team is published under the GPL (GNU General Public + License). You don't have to pay anything for using grml. If you want + a special Live-CD or need commercial support, take a look at Grml Solutions.

+ +

What's the difference between grml and + $OTHER-DISTRIBUTION? What are the main goals?

+ +

The main goal of grml is to be a distribution well suited for + sysadmins and users of texttools. Grml includes all the tools for + admin's daily work (lvm, mdadm, dd/ddrescue,...) as well as many + important texttools (of course awk, sed, grep, ... but also zsh, + mutt[ng], slrn, vim and many others). Grml uses the existing + infrastructure of Debian. Grml was + once based on Knoppix (see + 'What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?' + for more details). We are also merging useful things from other + distributions/live-cds to provide a perfect environment.

+ +

What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?

+ +

Grml comes with a vastly different set of software. Missing KDE and + OpenOffice provides the opportunity of shipping more than 800 packages + which Knoppix does not provide on its CD version. Grml boots a recent + 2.6 kernel but no X by default for faster startup. Knoppix is based on + Debian/testing-experimental (using apt-pinning), but grml is basically + based on plain Debian/unstable providing more current versions of + software. Grml was once based on Knoppix but nowadays has nothing in + common with Knoppix:

+ +

+# locate knoppix
+# find / -iname \*knoppix\*
+#

+ +

We consider Knoppix as a brand name for live-cds nowadays and provide + most of Knoppix' features as well. Grml uses (mostly) the same cheatcodes + for booting as Knoppix and even provides some extra ones. So if you are + used to the basic Knoppix features you usually find them on the + grml system as well.

+ +

What does accessibility at grml mean?

+ +

The Grml kernel includes support for + speakup and provides software like brltty (using bootoption 'grml + blind brltty=type,port,tbl') and flite.

+ +

Which bootoptions does Grml support?

+ +

Check out the grml-cheatcodes + file (also available via grml.org/cheatcodes/). Of + course kernel-parameters.txt + of the Linux kernel applies to Grml as well.

+ +

Is it possible to run Grml with $EMULATOR?

+ +

Sure, Grml works with(in) several emulators and virtual environments, + like e.g. + KVM, + MS Virtual PC, + QEMU + Virtualbox and + VMware. +

+ +

How do I boot Grml from a USB stick?

+ +

Check out grml2usb at the + usb webpage in the + grml-wiki.

+ +

Is it possible to store my settings?

+ +

Yes. Grml provides a config framework, check out grml.org/config/, /usr/share/doc/grml-saveconfig/grml-config.html + and 'man grml-autoconfig save-config restore-config mkpersistenthome' for more + details. Starting with release 2009.05 a persistency option is + available.

+ +

Is a persistency feature available?

+ +

Starting with release 2009.05 a persistency feature is available. Use + live-snapshot + (man live-snapshot) and the bootoption 'persistent' for enabling + persistency.

+ + +

grml-medium / grml-small / grml64?

+ +

What is grml-medium?

+ +

grml-medium is a grml-flavour which tries to close the gap between grml-small and normal/large/full version of grml. grml-medium is an + ISO with a size of ~200MB providing the most important packages a + sysadmin usually needs. It provides the same kernel + version as normal grml does so you can easily integrate and use some + further existing external modules as well. The X.org server is shipped + as well as the window manager fluxbox. Take a look at the 'Debian-Information'-section if you are searching for + the package list. accessibility + features are NOT available/supported on grml-medium + though.

+ +

What is grml-small?

+ +

Whereas grml provides about 2.3GB of software on a 700 MB ISO, + grml-small is a flavor with about 100 MB ISO-size (~275 MB + uncompressed). It does not provide a lot of software (for example no + X.org and no man pages) but the essential stuff for being a rescue + system on a business card CD-ROM or a small USB device. You can use the + Debian package management system to install software on the fly + (assuming you have network access to a Debian mirror). It provides the + same kernel version as normal grml does so you + can easily integrate and use some further existing external modules as + well. Take a look at the 'Debian-Information'-section if you are searching for + the package list.

+ +

What is grml64?

+ +

grml64 is a 64bit-version of grml, based on the amd64 port of + Debian.

+ +

What is grml64-medium?

+ +

grml64-medium is the 64bit version of grml-medium.

+ +

What is grml64-small?

+ +

grml64-small is the 64bit version of grml-small.

+ +

What is the difference between 32 bit grml and 64 bit grml?

+ +

The main difference of course is that grml64 is a 64bit-version + whereas (normal) grml is 32bit-only. grml64 provides a 64bit kernel + which supports 32bit userspace applications. grml64 also provides + libc6-i386 and libc6-dev-i386. Due to space reasons and because some + packages aren't available for amd64 (yet) some few packages are missing on + grml64 compared to (normal, 32bit) grml.

+ +

What is the + difference between 'normal' grml and grml-small?

+ +

The 700MB-grml brings more than 2500 software packages. grml-small + includes about 300 software packages, lacks documentation and manpages + on the ISO. grml-terminalserver and accessibility + features are not available/supported on + grml-small.

+ +

What is the + difference between grml-small and DSL?

+ +

DSL (Damns Small Linux) and grml-small have different target + audiences. Damn Small Linux + (DSL) uses kernel version 2.4 whereas grml-small provides a recent + version of kernel version 2.6. DSL provides the X window system which + grml-small does not. grml-small on the other hand provides the most + important packages for sysadmins and ships the original Debian package + management which allows you to install packages of the Debian pool with + no modifications.

+ +

Problems

+ + +

Are there any known issues with this release?

+ +

We won't hide anything. Therefore, we do provide all known + issues/bugs publicly available:

+ +

issues regarding + grml 2011.05 in the grml-wiki
Grml bug tracking system

+ +

If you find another bug, or consider something a problem not yet + mentioned please report it.

+ +

I have problems with my hardware!

+ +

Take a look at the script grml-hwinfo. This script generates a file + named info.tar.bz2 which contains important information about your + hardware. If you think we might help, please run grml-hwinfo and send us the file with additional, relevant + information regarding your problem.

+ +

grml does not boot on my computer!

+ +

Please take a look at the + available bootparamters and cheatcodes and 'Which + ways exist to boot grml?'. Especially booting with 'acpi=off noapm + noapic' might help. The bootparameter 'failsafe' provides minimal + hardware detection using some special bootoptions (please do NOT boot + with 'grml failsafe' but with 'failsafe' as first word of the boot + commandline) . If booting hangs during stage "Waiting for /dev to + be fully populated" please try booting with 'grml noudev'. If you + don't even see the bootsplash of the grml-ISO your BIOS might be broken + (pretty common especially on old hardware). Please consider using btmgr then for booting your + system. Also check out the problems webpage in + the grml-wiki. You still have + problems? Feel free to contact us.

+ +

I don't see anything when booting grml?!

+ +

Likely, this is a problem with the vesafb framebuffer. Try to boot + with the 'Disable Framebuffer' menuentry (available behind the submenu + 'Boot options for ...') or manually ad 'vga=normal' to the kernel + command line (press TAB to edit a menu entry and add 'vga=normal' + to it then).

+ +

I have problems with UTF-8 / Unicode

+ +

Check out UTF8-webpage in the + grml-wiki.

+ +

Booting grml-small via PXE using a CIFS share fails

+ +

When trying to boot grml-small[64] via PXE (network boot) using a + CIFS share this will fail because grml-small[64] lacks cifs-utils. + cifs-utils would consume >14MB of additional disk space - that's why + it isn't part of the release. But there's a simple workaround: you can + take the initrd and kernel from the regular grml flavour and use just + the squashfs from grml-small[64].

+ +

I noticed some files are missing on grml

+ +

Yes, output of 'debsums -a 1>/dev/null' might output some + failures. The reason is pretty simple: some few modification have been + done either because they are required for the provided environment or + because of space limitiations on the ISO. The failures are nothing to + really care about, but as we don't hide anything we thought it might be + worth mentioning.

+ +

'apt-get install foo' seems to freeze after a while

+ +

It seems you are running out of RAM - see 'free' while running 'apt-getâ¦'. 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.

+ +

Bugreport

+ +

Searching for a bug? Want to report a bug? Take a look at the bugs webpage.

+ +

System

+ +

Where's the old bootsplash?

+ +

Starting with release 2009.10 Grml provides a menu based bootsplash. + To adjust boot options just press the TAB-key. To directly switch to the + old-style isolinux cmdline just press the escape key within 30 seconds. If you + still need access to the old bootsplash layout (including the f2, f3,... + pages with further information regarding available bootoptions) + select the entry 'Isolinux prompt' in the menu based bootsplash (just + press 'i' and ENTER for direct access to it). The timeout until either + the selected entry is booted (if specified) or until the system will + restore from the cmdline to the menu based bootsplash is 30 seconds.

+ +

Which tools exist to configure grml?

+ +

Grml provides several scripts and tools which should make life + easier. See 'dpkg -L grml-scripts' to get an overview of some main + scripts. Run 'grml-config' to get a dialog interface for the most + important scripts and tasks. Or just type 'grml-' and press tab-key to + get a completion menu in the shell.

+ +

What are the passwords of users on grml?

+ +

There are no default passwords - all accounts are locked by default + for security reasons. Even local logins are not possible (unless you set + a password or create new user accounts as root). You can create valid + passwords using "sudo passwd [username]" from the shell + individually.

+ +

How do I find out the version of grml

+ +

Run 'grml-version' or use the following command:

+ +

+$ cat /etc/grml_version

+ +

Is it possible to run LiveCD and eject CD-ROM?

+ +

+% sudo umount -l /live/image
+% sudo eject /dev/cdrom # now don't run any new programs unless you booted using 'toram'
+% mount /dev/cdrom      # mount it again if needed
+

+ +

How do I change the language/keyboard settings?

+ +

By default grml uses english settings. But it is possible to + change the settings via using either the bootparam(s) lang, + keyboard and xkeyboard or via executing grml-lang when grml is + already running. Usage examples:

+ +

+grml lang=de      # enter this at the bootprompt and you will get
+                  # german keyboard layout and german $LANG, $LC_ALL,
+                  # $LANGUAGE...
+grml keyboard=de xkeyboard=de lang=at # enter this at the bootprompt
+                  # and you will get german keyboard and austrian
+                  # language variables
+% grml-lang de    # enter this in the shell to switch keyboard layout
+                  # and $LANG settings in a running grml-system
+

+ +

Note: run grml-setlang to get a dialog based frontend for + /etc/default/locale. Run grml-setkeyboard to get a dialog based frontend + for /etc/sysconfig/keyboard.

+ +

KDE, Gnome, $FOO and $BAR

+ +

Why isn't KDE, Gnome, $FOO or $BAR part of grml? grml is a + distribution for users of texttools and sysadmins. If you would like to + run KDE with Debian use e.g. Sidux or Kubuntu. Gnome users might find Ubuntu useful. If you would like + to see a specific (software) package added to grml please report it to us!

+ +

Which window managers can I use?

+ +

Grml is shipped with a few selected window managers which are + lightweight and fast - so well suited for a live system. At the moment, + Grml provides the following window managers:

+ +

+ + + +

Tip: If you are new to grml and/or prefer an easy-to-use-desktop run 'grml-x + wm-ng' for starting fluxbox with idesk and gkrellm.

+ +

How do I mount a USB device / USB stick?

+ +

Run 'mount /mnt/usb-sda1' for example if you want to mount /dev/sda1. + Udev on Grml does multiplexing for USB block devices, so /dev/usb-sda1 + (device for mountpoint /mnt/usb-sda1) is a symlink to /dev/sda1.

+ +

Where are my LVM devices?

+ +

LVM (Logival Volumes) is not started by default to + avoid any possible damage to your data. To get access to present LVM + devices just execute:

+ +

+# /etc/init.d/lvm2 start
+
+or use the shorter version:
+
+# Start lvm2
+

+ +

If you want to enable LVM by default just boot using the 'lvm' + bootoption which automatically enables LVM.

+ +

Where are my Software-RAID devices?

+ +

Software-RAID (usually known as the mdadm stuff) is + not started by default to avoid any possible damage to + your data. To get access to present SW-RAID devices just execute:

+ +

+# /etc/init.d/mdadm-raid start
+
+or use the shorter version:
+
+# Start mdadm-raid
+

+ +

If you want to enable SW-RAID by default just boot using the 'swraid' + bootoption which enables automatic assembling of software raid arrays.

+ +

Why doesn't grml find my disks / doesn't boot?

+ +

Starting with release 2008.11 grml uses libata exclusively (so no + longer any old IDE code). Sadly some few (usually pretty old) systems + don't boot with libata-only kernels anymore. If you think you've such a + system please provide output of 'lspci' to + us.

+ + +

Which ways exist to boot grml?

+ +

The most common way to boot grml is, of course, running from + CD-ROM, but grml provides many more ways to boot grml:

+ +

It is possible to boot grml via USB (e.g. USB stick or harddisk), + firewire, or running from a Compact Flash disk. It works out of the box; + you don't need to modify anything. Check out the usb webpage in the + grml-wiki for more details.

+ +

Your computer can not boot from CD-ROM but provides a floppy + disk? Take a look at btmgr, ubcd4win or sbm. They provide + support for booting from CD-ROM via a special floppy disk.

+ +

grml-terminalserver makes it possible to boot your system via network + using PXE + (Preboot Execution Environment). If your network card does not provide + support for booting via PXE you can still boot it either using the + provided grub image by grml-terminalserver (for example via floppy + drive) or using gPXE. + For more information, refer to the grml-terminalserver webpage.

+ +

How do I configure + timezone on my grml system?

+ +

Available bootoptions relevant in live-cd mode:

+ +

utc: set UTC, if your system clock is set to UTC (GMT) +
gmt: set UTC, if your system clock is set to UTC (GMT) [like bootoption utc] +
tz=$option: set timezone to corresponding $option, usage example: + tz=Europe/Vienna +

+ +

Further information:

+ +

Manpages: hwclock(8) tzselect(1) tzconfig(8); Debian + GNU/Linux System Administrator's Manual Chapter 16 - Time and TimeZoneChanges in the + Debian-Wiki.

+ +

Is it possible to install grml to harddisk?

+ +

Short anwer: No.

+ +

ProTip: If you want to get a plain Debian system take + a look at grml-debootstrap.

+ +

Longer answer: you can get a copy of the live system installed to your + hard disk by running a tool called grml2hd. + This is TOTALLY UNSUPPORTED.

+ +

Kernel

+ +

Where can I find the configuration for the kernel used on + grml?

+ +

See /boot/config-`uname -r` and on the kernel-webpage.

+ +

Are there any special components/patches in the kernel + used on grml?

+ +

Grml uses the most current stable vanilla Linux kernel from www.kernel.org with some + additional patches. More information and an all-in-one patch is + available on the kernel-page.

+ +

For which platforms is the grml kernel optimized?

+ +

Plain i586 compatibility-mode with SMP enabled. (Note: of course it + works for uniprocessor systems as well)

+ +

Software

+ +

General

+ +

Want to run a program as root? Just use "sudo $PROGRAM". To get a + root-shell run "sudo -i".

+ +

Problems with a specific package? Please try "dpkg-reconfigure $foo". + Still encountering difficulties? Please send us a bugreport.

+ +

Which package(s) and which + version is available?

+ +

If you want to get details about the provided packages and the + package versions without booting the grml ISO check out the dpkg_... + files in the Debian-Information section on + grml.org/files/.

+ +

Init-System

+ +

Why is grml using runlevel 2 as default? Because runlevel 2 is 'the + textonly one' and it is Debian's default.

+ +

Where are all the /etc/rc#.d-directories? grml doesn't use sysv-rc + but file-rc. This + means you can configure the init system in one single file named + /etc/runlevel.conf with your favourite editor. No symlink-hell + anymore.

+ +

Why is zsh the default shell?

+ +

Short answer: because Zsh rocks, really!

+ +

Longer answer taken from ZSH FAQ: 1.2: What is + it?:

+ + Zsh is a UNIX command interpreter (shell) which of the standard shells most + resembles the Korn shell (ksh); its compatibility with the 1988 Korn shell has been + gradually increasing. It includes enhancements of many types, notably in the + command-line editor, options for customising its behaviour, filename globbing, features + to make C-shell (csh) users feel more at home and extra features drawn from tcsh + (another `custom' shell). + +

If you don't know zsh take a look at ZSH FAQ: How does zsh + differ from ...?, 'man zsh | less -p COMPATIBILITY', the grml zsh reference card and 'man zsh-lovers'.

+ +

If you are a bash user and don't know zsh yet, don't be afraid. bash + is largely a subset of zsh and you don't have to throw away your + knowledge about shell stuff.

+ +

Wasn't zsh the /bin/sh interpreter?

+ +

Yes, until Grml 0.6 zsh was the interpreter for /bin/sh. Starting + with release 0.7 Grml used /bin/bash as /bin/sh and nowadays /bin/dash + is used for /bin/sh (that's what Debian does as well). The reason? + Using zsh as default /bin/sh interpreter leads to some problems, + especially since Debian does not care to support zsh as /bin/sh overall. + Take a look at #329288 + and #340058 + for example.

+ +

Is a bash available?

+ +

Grml uses zsh as the default interactive shell + but, of course, a current version of bash (and many other shells as + well) is provided by grml.

+ +

Where can I find the configuration of zsh, GNU screen,...?

+ +

Check out 'Make + console work comfortable'.

+ +

Why isn't Truecrypt available within grml?

+ +

Because Truecrypt is licensed under a specific license named + 'TrueCrypt License' which doesn't permit us to distribute Truecrypt (since at least + license version 2.6). + See section VI/4 of the + license for details. The Ubuntu version from truecrypt.org/downloads is + known to work under Grml.

+ +

grub does not work on my system?!

+ +

Looks like you used mkfs.ext3 from grml but are using an old grub + version. Notice that older versions of grub do not support 256 byte + inodes on ext3, being the default in recent versions of mkfs/e2fsprogs. + More information is available at #463236 + in the Debian bug tracking system.

+ +

X-Server

+ +

How do I start the X server?

+ +

Please use 'grml-x' as user grml for starting X on the live-cd. It + will, if necessary, generate the config file /etc/X11/xorg.conf and lets you start commands on + startup (see ~/.xinitrc). Use it, for example, via switching to TTY4 (press + Alt+F4) and run the following command to start wm-ng (window manager fluxbox + with idesk and gkrellm):

+ +

+grml-x wm-ng

+ +

If you have want to start X with the deault options you can use + 'startx' instead of grml-x. Adjust ~/.xinitrc to your needs.

+ +

X does not start on my box?!

+ +

grml-x supports several options. If you want to set some special options + please take a look at the grml-x manpage (man grml-x). Some usage examples:

+ +

+grml-x --module vesa wm-ng           # start wm-ng and use vesa module
+grml-x --mode '800x600' wm-ng        # set resolution to 800x600 and start wm-ng
+grml-x --display 8 wm-ng             # start wm-ng on display 8
+grml-x --force --nostart wm-ng       # force creation of xconfig file and don't start X server
+grml-x --hsync 60 wm-ng              # set horizontal frequency and start wm-ng
+grml-x --hsync 60 --vsync 40 wm-ng   # set horizontal and vertical sync frequencies and start wm-ng
+

+ +

I don't like the resolution of X!

+ +

Just run xrandr to switch the resolution during runtime of X. For + example: 'xrandr -s 1024x768'.

+ +

Support / Unanswered stuff

+ +

Further questions

+ +

Do you have a question which is not answered in the FAQ or in the + provided documentation (execute + "grml-info" on your grml-system for offline documentation)? + Also check out 'grml-tips $KEYWORD' on your grml-system. Take a look at + the grml website and the + grml-wiki. A good place to become part of the community is the grml mailinglist. Please don't hesitate to contact us.

+ +

Commercial Support

+ +

You want to deploy Grml in your data center, use it as part of your + business or have an emergency case? You're happy with Grml but would + like to get your very own live cd (providing your favourite software + selection, special configuration, setup and your bootsplash)? As part of + our business we do provide commercial support, feel free to contact us at Grml + Solutions.

+ +

FAQ for grml

General

What is grml?

Grml is a bootable CD (Live-CD) based on Debian. Grml includes a collection of - GNU/Linux software especially for system administrators and users of - texttools. Grml provides automatic hardware detection. You can use grml - as a rescue system, for analyzing systems/networks, or as a working - environment. It is not necessary to install anything to a harddisk. Due - to on-the-fly decompression grml includes more than 2GB of software and - documentation on the CD.

Where do I get grml?

What is Grml?

Grml is open source, you can download it from the mirrors listed at - grml.org/download/. If you want to get an - original grml-CD including the grml-cover, - need a special amount of CDs or want your own special grml-CD (including - your logo, your software and/or special settings) please don't hesitate to contact us. Take a look at - Grml Solutions if you're - interested in commercial support.

Grml is a bootable CD (Live-CD) based + on Debian. It is not + necessary to install anything to a harddisk. Grml includes a + collection of GNU/Linux software especially for system + administrators. It specializes on administrative tasks like + installation, deployment and system rescue.

What does grml mean?

Where do I get Grml?

Grml comes close to 'argl' or 'grrr' in English. People use this when - they want to express their dissatisfaction/discontentedness with - software (amongst other things):

Grml is open source, you can download it from the mirrors + listed at grml.org/download/.

How do you pronounce grml?

What does Grml mean?

Grml comes close to 'argl' or 'grrr' in English. People use + this when they want to express their dissatisfaction with + software (amongst other things).

What about the release name?

Codename of Grml 2011.05 is "Just Mari". It's a dedication to someone special. -

Codename of Grml 2011.12 is "Knetch Rootrecht". It's a wordplay on + Knecht + Ruprecht, which translates as Farmhand Ruprecht or Servant + Ruprecht.

Requirements for running grml

Requirements for running Grml

Why another Linux distribution?

There already exist "some" distributions. We - decided to base our work on the existing infrastructure of Debian because we don't want to reinvent - the wheel. Some admins already use their own rescue CD, Knoppix works - but does not bring that many important tools for admins and users of - texttools out of the box. Therefor we decided to share our work with - others and provide the swiss army knife for sysadmins and texttool - fans.

What's the license of grml?

Anything written by the grml team is published under the GPL (GNU General Public - License). You don't have to pay anything for using grml. If you want - a special Live-CD or need commercial support, take a look at Grml Solutions.

What's the difference between grml and - $OTHER-DISTRIBUTION? What are the main goals?

The main goal of grml is to be a distribution well suited for - sysadmins and users of texttools. Grml includes all the tools for - admin's daily work (lvm, mdadm, dd/ddrescue,...) as well as many - important texttools (of course awk, sed, grep, ... but also zsh, - mutt[ng], slrn, vim and many others). Grml uses the existing - infrastructure of Debian. Grml was - once based on Knoppix (see - 'What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?' - for more details). We are also merging useful things from other - distributions/live-cds to provide a perfect environment.

What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?

Grml comes with a vastly different set of software. Missing KDE and - OpenOffice provides the opportunity of shipping more than 800 packages - which Knoppix does not provide on its CD version. Grml boots a recent - 2.6 kernel but no X by default for faster startup. Knoppix is based on - Debian/testing-experimental (using apt-pinning), but grml is basically - based on plain Debian/unstable providing more current versions of - software. Grml was once based on Knoppix but nowadays has nothing in - common with Knoppix:

We consider Knoppix as a brand name for live-cds nowadays and provide - most of Knoppix' features as well. Grml uses (mostly) the same cheatcodes - for booting as Knoppix and even provides some extra ones. So if you are - used to the basic Knoppix features you usually find them on the - grml system as well.

What does accessibility at Grml mean?

What does accessibility at grml mean?

The Grml kernel includes support for - speakup and provides software like brltty (using bootoption 'grml - blind brltty=type,port,tbl') and flite.

The Grml kernel includes support for speakup and software + like brltty (using bootoption 'grml blind + brltty=type,port,tbl') and espeakup.

Which bootoptions does Grml support?

Is it possible to run Grml with $EMULATOR?

How do I boot Grml from a USB stick?

Is it possible to store my settings?

Is a persistency feature available?

Starting with release 2009.05 a persistency feature is available. Use - live-snapshot - (man live-snapshot) and the bootoption 'persistent' for enabling - persistency.

grml-medium / grml-small / grml64?

What is grml-medium?

grml-medium is a grml-flavour which tries to close the gap between grml-small and normal/large/full version of grml. grml-medium is an - ISO with a size of ~200MB providing the most important packages a - sysadmin usually needs. It provides the same kernel - version as normal grml does so you can easily integrate and use some - further existing external modules as well. The X.org server is shipped - as well as the window manager fluxbox. Take a look at the 'Debian-Information'-section if you are searching for - the package list. accessibility - features are NOT available/supported on grml-medium - though.

What is grml-small?

Whereas grml provides about 2.3GB of software on a 700 MB ISO, - grml-small is a flavor with about 100 MB ISO-size (~275 MB - uncompressed). It does not provide a lot of software (for example no - X.org and no man pages) but the essential stuff for being a rescue - system on a business card CD-ROM or a small USB device. You can use the - Debian package management system to install software on the fly - (assuming you have network access to a Debian mirror). It provides the - same kernel version as normal grml does so you - can easily integrate and use some further existing external modules as - well. Take a look at the 'Debian-Information'-section if you are searching for - the package list.

What is grml64?

What is grml64-medium?

What is grml64-small?

What is the difference between 32 bit grml and 64 bit grml?

The main difference of course is that grml64 is a 64bit-version - whereas (normal) grml is 32bit-only. grml64 provides a 64bit kernel - which supports 32bit userspace applications. grml64 also provides - libc6-i386 and libc6-dev-i386. Due to space reasons and because some - packages aren't available for amd64 (yet) some few packages are missing on - grml64 compared to (normal, 32bit) grml.

What is the - difference between 'normal' grml and grml-small?

The 700MB-grml brings more than 2500 software packages. grml-small - includes about 300 software packages, lacks documentation and manpages - on the ISO. grml-terminalserver and accessibility - features are not available/supported on - grml-small.

What is the - difference between grml-small and DSL?

DSL (Damns Small Linux) and grml-small have different target - audiences. Damn Small Linux - (DSL) uses kernel version 2.4 whereas grml-small provides a recent - version of kernel version 2.6. DSL provides the X window system which - grml-small does not. grml-small on the other hand provides the most - important packages for sysadmins and ships the original Debian package - management which allows you to install packages of the Debian pool with - no modifications.

Is it possible to store my settings?

Problems

Are there any known issues with this release?

We won't hide anything. Therefore, we do provide all known - issues/bugs publicly available:

If you find another bug, or consider something a problem not yet - mentioned please report it.

I have problems with my hardware!

Take a look at the script grml-hwinfo. This script generates a file - named info.tar.bz2 which contains important information about your - hardware. If you think we might help, please run grml-hwinfo and send us the file with additional, relevant - information regarding your problem.

grml does not boot on my computer!

Please take a look at the - available bootparamters and cheatcodes and 'Which - ways exist to boot grml?'. Especially booting with 'acpi=off noapm - noapic' might help. The bootparameter 'failsafe' provides minimal - hardware detection using some special bootoptions (please do NOT boot - with 'grml failsafe' but with 'failsafe' as first word of the boot - commandline) . If booting hangs during stage "Waiting for /dev to - be fully populated" please try booting with 'grml noudev'. If you - don't even see the bootsplash of the grml-ISO your BIOS might be broken - (pretty common especially on old hardware). Please consider using btmgr then for booting your - system. Also check out the problems webpage in - the grml-wiki. You still have - problems? Feel free to contact us.

I don't see anything when booting grml?!

Likely, this is a problem with the vesafb framebuffer. Try to boot - with the 'Disable Framebuffer' menuentry (available behind the submenu - 'Boot options for ...') or manually ad 'vga=normal' to the kernel - command line (press TAB to edit a menu entry and add 'vga=normal' - to it then).

I have problems with UTF-8 / Unicode

Booting grml-small via PXE using a CIFS share fails

When trying to boot grml-small[64] via PXE (network boot) using a - CIFS share this will fail because grml-small[64] lacks cifs-utils. - cifs-utils would consume >14MB of additional disk space - that's why - it isn't part of the release. But there's a simple workaround: you can - take the initrd and kernel from the regular grml flavour and use just - the squashfs from grml-small[64].

I noticed some files are missing on grml

Yes, output of 'debsums -a 1>/dev/null' might output some - failures. The reason is pretty simple: some few modification have been - done either because they are required for the provided environment or - because of space limitiations on the ISO. The failures are nothing to - really care about, but as we don't hide anything we thought it might be - worth mentioning.

'apt-get install foo' seems to freeze after a while

Bugreport

System

Where's the old bootsplash?

Starting with release 2009.10 Grml provides a menu based bootsplash. - To adjust boot options just press the TAB-key. To directly switch to the - old-style isolinux cmdline just press the escape key within 30 seconds. If you - still need access to the old bootsplash layout (including the f2, f3,... - pages with further information regarding available bootoptions) - select the entry 'Isolinux prompt' in the menu based bootsplash (just - press 'i' and ENTER for direct access to it). The timeout until either - the selected entry is booted (if specified) or until the system will - restore from the cmdline to the menu based bootsplash is 30 seconds.

Are there any known issues? How about reporting bugs?

Which tools exist to configure grml?

Grml provides several scripts and tools which should make life - easier. See 'dpkg -L grml-scripts' to get an overview of some main - scripts. Run 'grml-config' to get a dialog interface for the most - important scripts and tasks. Or just type 'grml-' and press tab-key to - get a completion menu in the shell.

What are the passwords of users on Grml?

What are the passwords of users on grml?

There are no default passwords - all accounts are locked by + default for security reasons. Even local logins are not + possible (unless you set a password or create new user + accounts as root). You can create valid passwords using "sudo + passwd [username]" from the shell individually.

There are no default passwords - all accounts are locked by default - for security reasons. Even local logins are not possible (unless you set - a password or create new user accounts as root). You can create valid - passwords using "sudo passwd [username]" from the shell - individually.

How do I find out the version of grml

How do I find out the version of Grml

Is it possible to run LiveCD and eject CD-ROM?

How do I change the language/keyboard settings?

By default Grml uses english settings. But it is possible to change the settings via using either the bootparam(s) lang, - keyboard and xkeyboard or via executing grml-lang when grml is + keyboard and xkeyboard or via executing grml-lang when Grml is already running. Usage examples:

Note: run grml-setlang to get a dialog based frontend for - /etc/default/locale. Run grml-setkeyboard to get a dialog based frontend - for /etc/sysconfig/keyboard.

KDE, Gnome, $FOO and $BAR

Why isn't KDE, Gnome, $FOO or $BAR part of grml? grml is a - distribution for users of texttools and sysadmins. If you would like to - run KDE with Debian use e.g. Sidux or Kubuntu. Gnome users might find Ubuntu useful. If you would like - to see a specific (software) package added to grml please report it to us!

Which window managers can I use?

Grml is shipped with a few selected window managers which are - lightweight and fast - so well suited for a live system. At the moment, - Grml provides the following window managers:

Tip: If you are new to grml and/or prefer an easy-to-use-desktop run 'grml-x - wm-ng' for starting fluxbox with idesk and gkrellm.

Starting with the 2011.12 release Grml provides just + the Fluxbox window + manager.

How do I mount a USB device / USB stick?

Run 'mount /mnt/usb-sda1' for example if you want to mount /dev/sda1. - Udev on Grml does multiplexing for USB block devices, so /dev/usb-sda1 - (device for mountpoint /mnt/usb-sda1) is a symlink to /dev/sda1.

Where are my LVM devices?

If you want to enable SW-RAID by default just boot using the 'swraid' - bootoption which enables automatic assembling of software raid arrays.

Why doesn't grml find my disks / doesn't boot?

Starting with release 2008.11 grml uses libata exclusively (so no - longer any old IDE code). Sadly some few (usually pretty old) systems - don't boot with libata-only kernels anymore. If you think you've such a - system please provide output of 'lspci' to - us.

If you want to enable SW-RAID by default just boot using + the 'swraid' bootoption which enables automatic assembling of + software raid arrays.

Which ways exist to boot grml?

The most common way to boot grml is, of course, running from - CD-ROM, but grml provides many more ways to boot grml:

It is possible to boot grml via USB (e.g. USB stick or harddisk), - firewire, or running from a Compact Flash disk. It works out of the box; - you don't need to modify anything. Check out the usb webpage in the - grml-wiki for more details.

Your computer can not boot from CD-ROM but provides a floppy - disk? Take a look at btmgr, ubcd4win or sbm. They provide - support for booting from CD-ROM via a special floppy disk.

grml-terminalserver makes it possible to boot your system via network - using PXE - (Preboot Execution Environment). If your network card does not provide - support for booting via PXE you can still boot it either using the - provided grub image by grml-terminalserver (for example via floppy - drive) or using gPXE. - For more information, refer to the grml-terminalserver webpage.

Which ways exist to boot Grml?

Of course running from CD/DVD is a common way to boot + Grml. But Grml provides many more ways to boot:

It is possible to boot Grml via USB (e.g. USB stick or + harddisk), firewire, or running from a Compact Flash disk. It + works out of the box; you don't need to modify anything. Check + out the usb + webpage in the grml-wiki for more details.

Your computer can not boot from CD-ROM but provides a + floppy disk? Take a look + at btmgr, ubcd4win + or sbm. They + provide support for booting from CD-ROM via a special floppy + disk.

grml-terminalserver makes it possible to boot your system + via network + using PXE + (Preboot Execution Environment). If your network card does not + provide support for booting via PXE you can still boot it + either using the provided grub image by grml-terminalserver + (for example via floppy drive) or + using gPXE. + For more information, refer to + the grml-terminalserver + webpage.

How do I configure - timezone on my grml system?

Available bootoptions relevant in live-cd mode:

Is it possible to install grml to harddisk?

Is it possible to install Grml to harddisk?

ProTip: If you want to get a plain Debian system take - a look at grml-debootstrap.

Longer answer: you can get a copy of the live system installed to your - hard disk by running a tool called grml2hd. - This is TOTALLY UNSUPPORTED.

Kernel

Where can I find the configuration for the kernel used on - grml?

ProTip: If you want to get a plain Debian + system take a look + at grml-debootstrap.

Are there any special components/patches in the kernel - used on grml?

Grml uses the most current stable vanilla Linux kernel from www.kernel.org with some - additional patches. More information and an all-in-one patch is - available on the kernel-page.

For which platforms is the grml kernel optimized?

Plain i586 compatibility-mode with SMP enabled. (Note: of course it - works for uniprocessor systems as well)

Software

General

Want to run a program as root? Just use "sudo $PROGRAM". To get a - root-shell run "sudo -i".

Problems with a specific package? Please try "dpkg-reconfigure $foo". - Still encountering difficulties? Please send us a bugreport.

Which package(s) and which version is available?

If you want to get details about the provided packages and the - package versions without booting the grml ISO check out the dpkg_... + package versions without booting the Grml ISO check out the dpkg_... files in the Debian-Information section on grml.org/files/.

Init-System

Why is grml using runlevel 2 as default? Because runlevel 2 is 'the - textonly one' and it is Debian's default.

Where are all the /etc/rc#.d-directories? grml doesn't use sysv-rc - but file-rc. This - means you can configure the init system in one single file named - /etc/runlevel.conf with your favourite editor. No symlink-hell - anymore.