March 2010 - Grml-devel

Re: [Grml-devel] grml - package report: Defaulf for findiso boot option
by Michael Prokop 15 Apr '10

15 Apr '10

* Florian Kusche <flox(a)kusche.de> [Sun Mar 07, 2010 at 09:34:14PM +0100]: > is it possible to include a default value for the findiso boot > parameter in the initrd scripts? Something like "/grml.iso" would > be sufficient. > Reason: Integration of grml into multi-boot-rescue DVDs would be > much easier. One could place the grml-ISO-image at the default > location on the DVD and just chain load from the boot menu of the > rescue DVD to the grml boot loader. Actually, it already works - > you just have to enter the ISOLINUX command line and enter "grml > findiso=/grml.iso". However, it would be nice, if that would not > be necessary. Hm you mean if the user is specifying findiso without any arguments it should use /grml.iso by default? Or do you mean it should try to use /grml.iso really just by default in the default unmodified boot option? Whereas the first option doesn't bring any real benefits IMO the second option actually is quite risky. First of all because of possible unexpected behaviour as well as locating a possible wrong grml ISO, non matching kernel versions etc. (Yeah, we've a new mechanism to improve reliability for identifying the according boot device nowadays but it might become funny to debug in several situations anyway.) I do prefer explicit configuration in this situation, but adding Grml developer mailinglist to Cc in case I overlook anything. Thanks for your feedback, regards, -mika- -- http://grml.org/ # Linux for texttool-users and sysadmins http://wiki.grml.org/ # share your knowledge http://grml.supersized.org/ # the grml development weblog #grml @ irc.freenode.org # meet us on irc

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RFH: Grml-CDs - Text for Cover
by Michael Prokop 03 Apr '10

03 Apr '10

Hi, I'm working with a sponsor and his graphic artist on a special Grml CD edition which should bring us a quite large amount of Grml CDs. The CD will be based on the upcoming 2010.04 release. Now I need your feedback: What should be part of the paper part of the CD cover? The text should be german and fit what people might expect to get from a Grml CD. :) If you have any nice ideas please let me know, and please provide feedback regarding the (german) article below ASAP! I should deliver the text to the sponsor/graphic artist today (2010-03-30). Thanks! regards, -mika- ################################################################################ Grml - die leistungsfÃ¤hige Live-CD fÃ¼r Systemadministatoren Das Debian-basierte Live-System Grml ist ein vielseitiges Werkzeug fÃ¼r Systemadministratoren und Freunde von textbasierten Tools. Grml lÃ¤sst sich nicht nur fÃ¼r alltÃ¤gliche Aufgaben in der Systemadministration, sondern auch zur Datenrettung, Deployment und dem Testen von Hardware-Support anwenden. Grml erfordert keine Installation auf der Festplatte und kann direkt von der CD gestartet werden.Grml konzentriert sich auf die fÃ¼r das Zielpublikum relevante Software: Angefangen von diversen Texteditoren Ã¼ber Netzwerktools wie Wireshark, Tcpdump, Hping und Scapy, Webserver wie Apache2 und lighttpd bis hin zu Dateisystemtools wie Ntfsrescue, Gparted und Testdisk bietet Grml insgesamt Ã¼ber 2500 Pakete auf der CD. Diese Grml-Release wurde massgeblich von den Grml-Entwicklern Ulrich Dangel, Michael Gebetsroither, Andreas Gredler, Michael Prokop, Frank Terbeck und Alexander Wirt erstellt. Zu dieser Release haben weiters folgende Personen beigetragen: Alexander Menk, Andras Korn, Axel Beckert, Christoph Biedl, Christian Hofstaedtler, Daniel Borkmann, Gregor Perner, Mark Jonas, Moritz Augsburger, Pawel Sadkowski, Richard Hartmann, Sedat Dilek, Stefan Weiss, Suhanov Maxim, Timo Boettcher, Tong Sun, XuÃ¢n Baldauf, Zoran Dzelajlija. follow @grmlproject ################################################################################

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Unittests for grml
by Ulrich Dangel 31 Mar '10

31 Mar '10

Hi, I am happy to announce that we now have unit tests for grml. This means it is possible to automatically test at software like grml2hd, grml2usb and grml-autoconfig at runtime on the iso in an automated way. Please provide comments about the whole idea, if it is worthwhile in your opinion, what should be changed and if it is a good idea to use this kind of automated testing for an live cd. But now to the more interesting part: How to get it ============= Just check it out from the git repository: git://git.grml.org/grml-unittests.git How does it work ================ grml supports the netscript boot-parameter allowing loading code from some remote service. With this parameter it is possible to execute code and bootstrap additional tests/commands. kvm supports directly loading kernel, initrd and specifying boot parameters. This means using kvm and specifying the kernel, initrd and the boot-parameters allows to run custom code inside grml with the help of the netscript parameter without any need to modify the system. To report the result of the executed tests inside kvm a side channel towards the host system is needed. I used an simple HTTP Server with two predefined urls, /FAIL /DONE. Both urls support HTTP post to allow additional info messages to be displayed. If you mix now everything and use some little shell scripts an unit-testing environment for the grml live cd is created. How to run ============ Please note that some of the tests, e.g. grml2hd create a 2GB file in /tmp. So only run them if you have enough space available. Download a grml cd, and mount it via loopback, e.g. # mount -o loop /srv/grml-medium_2010.04-rc1.iso /mnt/tests Run run_tests and specify the iso and the mountpoint, e.g.: $ ./run_tests.sh /srv/grml-medium_2010.04-rc1.iso /mnt/tests It is also possible to only run a specific test, you have to specify it as additional parameters, to run for example the autoconfig and lvm tests use: $ ./run_tests.sh /srv/grml-medium_2010.04-rc1.iso /mnt/tests autoconfig lvm Requirements =============== Grml iso (mounted to a directory), kvm Have fun and start writing tests ;0 Ulrich

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Formalisation of grml team member status
by Ulrich Dangel 30 Mar '10

30 Mar '10

Hi, currently we do not have an defined status for the grml devs and contributors. But as grml is evolving and getting bigger and more contributors come up there is at least in my opinion a need for a formalization of the several grml team states. This prevents smouldering discontent as it is clear why someone is listed as a team member and why someone not. Please understand that i don't want to introduce additional red tape so there is atm in my understanding no need for a committee or a specific process. Following groups should exist (groups are only used to distinguish between the work) Developer =========== Person with write access to at least one repository. Has expertise in his field and provided good and ongoing contributions to grml. Administrator =============== Person taking care of the grml infrastructure like servers, mirrors and all that kind of stuff no one notice while its running but everyone complains if it stops working ;0 Additional groups can and shall be created if there is a need for it, e.g. Artists and Translators. Only members of these groups shall be public listed as grml team members. This means that the old contributor list should be removed as it is quite difficult to understand why someone who contributed multiple stuff in the past is listed under team but another person contributed as much as the other is not listed. To emphasize the work of contributers they should always be listed in the grml changelog entries (already done in recent versions), package changelog entries and THANKS/contributor file in the debian package. A global thanks file could be introduced listing all grml versions with the specific contributors. To make a long story short my proposal: * Remove all listed developer who do not have write access to at least one repository * Remove all listed contributors on the team website. * Move persons taking care of the infrastructure to the admin group Oh and just to be sure this means I prefer the linux developing way, e.g. not many people with direct write access to the repositories. Developers have a gatekeeper functionality, taking care of patches from contributors. Please discuss this proposal even if you are not listed under the team page as I want to have an more transparent open grml development. regards, Ulrich

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Release Candidate 1 of Grml 2010.04 available
by Michael Prokop 26 Mar '10

26 Mar '10

Hi! We have new release candidates: the first release candidate of version 2010.04 codename "Grmlmonster" is available! Take a look at the release announcement for details about all the cool new features: http://grml.org/changelogs/README-grml-2010.04/ As usual we have different flavours available: the 32bit versions grml, grml-medium and grml-small as well as the 64bit versions grml64, grml64-medium and grml64-small. Please test the ISOs and all the stuff you usually need so we can provide rocking stable releases soon. The stable release is scheduled for begin of april. Download the ISOs from the 'devel' directory of the mirrors listed at http://grml.org/download/ Happy hacking and have fun with Grml! regards, -mika-

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Probleme, und kein Licht
by Thomas Schmidt 10 Mar '10

10 Mar '10

Hi! Zuerst ganz klar und mit Nachdruck: Ein faszinierendes StÃ¼ck Arbeit! Ganz groÃŸartig! Gratulation! Situation: Ich starte qemu auf der Konsole mit: qemu-system-x86_64 -M pc -hda /mnt/7/qemu/Platte.img -smp 2 -m 1024 -cdrom /dev/cdrom -soundhw sb16 -net nic,vlan=0 -net user,vlan=0,hostname=emu -k de -monitor stdio -boot d Bochs BIOS 1.206 1) Standardinstallation mit qemu: Keine Probleme bis jetzt. 2) GRML bootoperation: in RAM laden Installation hÃ¤ngt ca. jedes zweite Mal grml-x versagt immer (fluxbox) (existierendes X am Wirtssystem), grml stibt sofort. (auÃŸer in einem Terminal unter X) Tastatur ist dann nicht funktionsfÃ¤hig Fragen: Erkennt grml64 Hello-Wien nicht -k de von qemu? (Das ist schon rÃ¤tselhaft) Wie gibt man grml Parameter mit? Wer hat am squashfs maÃŸgeblich gearbeitet? Sind fÃ¼r grml64 1024 MB RAM zu wenig? Und: Gibt es Interesse an Ã¼berarbeitetem deutschem Buch zu qemu? FÃ¼r weitere AuskÃ¼nfte und Mitarbeit stehe ich gern zur VerfÃ¼gung :-) mit freundlichen GrÃ¼ÃŸen.

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grml: new develrelease 2010.03-rc0
by Michael Prokop 08 Mar '10

08 Mar '10

Hi, we have new develreleases, version 2010.03-rc0. Find them at: http://amd64.grml.org/2010.03-rc0/ As you might notice from the version number it's not really a typical Grml devel release but a release candidate already. The main reason for this is the soon to be relased stable release 2010.03 we want to publish ASAP. It's rc0 because it's meant for developers and beta testers so far only, we'd like to release public available rc1 within the next ~1 week, so: Please give it a shot and let us know whether all the relevant features work for you as expected. Thanks! Main changelog: =============== * hot and cheesy kernel 2.6.33-grml[64] * new bootoption "vnc" * *tons* of bugfixes, see http://grml.supersized.org/archives/339-Results-from-developer-meeting.html * redesigned grml-quickconfig, see http://grml.supersized.org/archives/338-recent-development-news.html * More robust network booting, see http://grml.supersized.org/archives/337-More-robust-network-booting.html Well known issues can be found in the grml-wiki at: http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml_devel As usual please report *any* issues you notice! Have fun and enjoy Grml! regards, -mika- -- http://grml.org/ # Linux for texttool-users and sysadmins http://wiki.grml.org/ # share your knowledge http://grml.supersized.org/ # the grml development weblog #grml @ irc.freenode.org # meet us on irc

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RFC: Switching to mksh for `minimal-shell'
by Frank Terbeck 01 Mar '10

01 Mar '10

Hey there, In our zsh setup we got a function `minimal-shell' which spawns a ksh93 with a usable small setup. The point of that function is to have a shell, that has very few dependencies so that unmounting stuff like /usr is possible. That works well, but I'd still like to switch from ksh93 to mksh. Why? Well, we know mksh's developer; it links even less external libraries and it is more pleasant to use interactively. To cut a long story short: There's a new mksh release coming up very soon now. And after that - as soon as a debian package is available - I'd like to make the move. If somebody objects, scream now. Regards, Frank -- In protocol design, perfection has been reached not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. -- RFC 1925

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