November 2007 - Grml - lists.mur.at

grml-live-remaster script (problem with mkisofs)
by Michael Schierl 26 Nov '07

26 Nov '07

Hello, I built a script that should enable you to remaster a grml from the live cd like this: - mount some swap (if you don't have unlimited RAM *g*) - mount a disk where the ISO should end up on - If you use grml-small, install mksquashfs and mkisofs - grml-live-remaster /path/to/remastered-grml.iso * it will build a new aufs based on /remaster/tmp and /remaster/cdrom (which are mounted first) * then it drops you into the chroot so you can "remaster" * then it will open the last two lines of boot.msg in $EDITOR so you can edit the start screen message * then it will create a new squashfs and iso image, and cleans up after itself. * but it will leave the boot.msg and /remaster/tmp intact, so if you do not like the result (for example because it is too large for your CD-R) you can just run it again and continue where you left. - reboot to Windows/whatever and burn the CD - have fun Unfortunately, the build CD does not boot and drops me into busybox. But I guess this is only a bug in the mkisofs line, since the filesystem layout looks fine for me. And it is quite time consuming to test it within grml-small and installing mksquashfs and mkisofs after every reboot. mika: can you look if you find the bug? and if you found it, can you include it into next grml? It is very useful to be able to remaster grml on virtually any PC without having to repartition anything first. mihi #!/bin/sh if [ x"$1" == x ]; then echo "usage: grml-live-remaster destination.iso" echo " destination.iso should point to a path that is on a hard disk," echo " you might want to mount some swap partitions or swap files" echo " first, because grml-live-remaster will need a lot ot RAM." exit -1 fi set -e if [ ! -d /remaster ]; then mkdir -p /remaster/chroot /remaster/tmp /remaster/cdrom mount -t tmpfs tmpfs /remaster/tmp echo "#:# edit the following two lines to change the boot message" \ >/remaster/msg echo "#:#" >>/remaster/msg sed 1,2d /live/image/boot/isolinux/boot.msg >>/remaster/msg fi mount -t squashfs /live/image/live/grml.squashfs /remaster/cdrom -o ro,loop mount -t aufs aufs /remaster/chroot -o br:/remaster/tmp=rw:/remaster/cdrom=rr for i in dev proc root sys tmp; do mount --bind /$i /remaster/chroot/$i done echo "Now edit the contents of the live CD in this chrooted shell:" chroot /remaster/chroot for i in dev proc root sys tmp; do umount /remaster/chroot/$i done $EDITOR /remaster/msg mkdir /remaster/iso for i in /live/image/*; do if [ ! $i == /live/image/live ]; then cp -R $i /remaster/iso fi done rm /remaster/iso/boot/isolinux/boot.msg sed 3,4d /live/image/boot/isolinux/boot.msg \ >/remaster/iso/boot/isolinux/boot.msg sed 1,2d /remaster/msg >>/remaster/iso/boot/isolinux/boot.msg mkdir /remaster/iso/live mksquashfs /remaster/chroot /remaster/iso/live/grml.squashfs umount /remaster/chroot /remaster/cdrom mkisofs -b boot/isolinux/isolinux.bin -no-emul-boot -c boot/isolinux/boot.cat \ -boot-info-table -o "$1" /remaster/iso rm -R /remaster/iso echo "" echo "ISO generation complete:" ls --color -l "$1" echo "If you want to customize your ISO, just call grml-live-remaster again."

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alps touchpad rc1
by martin yazdzik 26 Nov '07

26 Nov '07

Dear Mika and friends, rc1 of 1.1 does everything just about perfectly - install is dead clean, and, as long as one knows what sources to use, one can have a complete desktop environment with all the bells and whistles pretty quickly. My Dell laptop, however, and most dell latitudes, which is a high percentage of business users' machines, uses the alps touchpad. Normally, the synaptics driver is loaded, no problem, but grml-x does not configure it, nor can I, even simply copying my current xorg.conf, get it to work. I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0002 Product=0008 Version=6337 N: Name="AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint" P: Phys=isa0060/serio1/input0 S: Sysfs=/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/input/input2 U: Uniq= H: Handlers=mouse1 event2 ts1 B: EV=f B: KEY=420 0 70000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 B: REL=3 B: ABS=1000003 instead, the pointing stick thing works, but both should. I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0002 Product=0008 Version=0000 N: Name="PS/2 Mouse" P: Phys=isa0060/serio1/input1 S: Sysfs=/devices/virtual/input/input1 U: Uniq= H: Handlers=mouse0 event1 ts0 B: EV=7 B: KEY=70000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 B: REL=3 Both work in sidux, but I hate to have to reinstall it just to get the xorg.conf from it, if indeed, that is even the problem. same hwinfo from my working grml I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0002 Product=0008 Version=0000 N: Name="PS/2 Mouse" P: Phys=isa0060/serio1/input1 S: Sysfs=/class/input/input1 U: Uniq= H: Handlers=mouse0 event1 ts0 B: EV=7 B: KEY=70000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 B: REL=3 I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0002 Product=0008 Version=6337 N: Name="AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint" P: Phys=isa0060/serio1/input0 S: Sysfs=/class/input/input2 U: Uniq= H: Handlers=mouse1 event2 ts1 B: EV=f B: KEY=420 0 70000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 B: REL=3 B: ABS=1000003 What is up? Is this yet another udev does not like something issue? best, M "You don't subject minority rights to a referendum." Justice Minister Irwin Cotler of Canada

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Re: [Grml] Installing grml on a USB Flash Drive
by Mathew Brown 23 Nov '07

23 Nov '07

Hi Mika, So what you're saying is that it's on the to-do-list or that it's already been done? I've read about the save-config part, but that it's really what I was asking about (although it's very nifty). What I was interested in is booting up grml from my USB flash drive, having it write all changes to ramdisk (including any package installations and temporary files) and then telling grml to submit the changes to the USB drive if I want them to be persistent (such as package updates). Can this be done? Thanks for your help. > > > I know that you can install grml easily on a usb flash drive and was > > > wondering if grml has any special options for flash drives > > > installation, as, from my understanding, flash drives have a limited > > > number of write and erase cycles before failure. Does grml allow you > > > to write all hard disk changes to RAM (in a ramdisk) and then allow > > > you to either commit these changes when closing your session? Does > > > grml have any flash-friendly options? Thanks for your help. > > All write actions are redirected to the ramdisk by default, just > check out what's unionfs/aufs and how it's used if you are > interested in the details. If you search for persistent root > (configuration for example can be stored already using the config > framework: http://grml.org/config/): that's on our todo list. > > regards, > -mika- -- Mathew Brown mathewbrown(a)fastmail.fm -- http://www.fastmail.fm - mmm... Fastmail...

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Installing grml on a USB Flash Drive
by Mathew Brown 22 Nov '07

22 Nov '07

Hi, I know that you can install grml easily on a usb flash drive and was wondering if grml has any special options for flash drives installation, as, from my understanding, flash drives have a limited number of write and erase cycles before failure. Does grml allow you to write all hard disk changes to RAM (in a ramdisk) and then allow you to either commit these changes when closing your session? Does grml have any flash-friendly options? Thanks for your help. -- Mathew Brown mathewbrown(a)fastmail.fm -- http://www.fastmail.fm - Or how I learned to stop worrying and love email again

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brltty
by mattias 18 Nov '07

18 Nov '07

Have the grm small brltty?

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Problem using apt-get in grml small : /usr/sbin/apt-listbug No such file or directory
by Peter 15 Nov '07

15 Nov '07

Hi I try to use apt-get form inside the grml small edition. No matter what I try to download, at the end of the process I get the message : /bin/sh: /usr/sbin/apt-listbugs : no such file or directory E: sub-process /usr/sbin/apt-listbugs apt || exit 10 returned an error code (10) ( apt-get update worked fine ) Thanks for your help. Peter

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grml-live, fai and package retreiving
by T o n g 13 Nov '07

13 Nov '07

Hi, I'm new to grml-live & fai. I don't understand why fai needs its own sources.list file. Since it will be really rarely for people to choose different mirrors from there preferred ones. Can we configure one less file (/etc/grml/fai/apt/sources.list), telling grml-live to use the official /etc/apt/sources.list by default instead? ,----- | To avoid downloading the base system again and again check out FAI's NFSROOT `----- This is another point that I don't understand the fai's philosophy. The "normal" Debian will cache the downloaded packages. Removing and installing a package again and again won't cause the very package to be downloaded again and again. Why fai behaves this way? Are the package downloaded by fai cached at the official place? Thanks, and for the excellent grml-live BTW. -- Tong (remove underscore(s) to reply) http://xpt.sourceforge.net/techdocs/ http://xpt.sourceforge.net/tools/

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grml-live and local configuration
by T o n g 11 Nov '07

11 Nov '07

Hi, I found that there is no way to specify a local configuration for grml-live. I.e., I have to mess with /etc/grml/grml-live.conf file in order to configure anything, or rely on the limited command line. I know the grml-live is still not a finished product yet. So I hope in the final release, there is way for people to have their local configuration files. The benefits: - people don't need to mess with the official /etc/grml/grml-live.conf file - no need to deal with it manually when grml-live package updates. - local configuration file will only hold settings different from the official file - people can have different configuration files - all /usr/share/grml-live/buildd/grml-live_autobuild_xxx.sh files can be combined to one shell script, with difference in the configuration file used only. This is much more maintainable. thanks -- Tong (remove underscore(s) to reply) http://xpt.sourceforge.net/techdocs/ http://xpt.sourceforge.net/tools/

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grml repositories
by T o n g 11 Nov '07

11 Nov '07

Hi, Where's the write up on how to setup grml repositories? Being with grml for so long, I just realized that I can't find any write up on how to setup grml repositories. Here is my existing setting: $ grep grml-stable /etc/apt/sources.list deb http://deb.grml.org/ grml-stable main deb-src http://deb.grml.org/ grml-stable main but I can't find the newest grml-live: $ apt-cache search grml-live plz help. thx -- Tong (remove underscore(s) to reply) http://xpt.sourceforge.net/techdocs/ http://xpt.sourceforge.net/tools/

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grml-medium and X
by T o n g 11 Nov '07

11 Nov '07

Hi mika: On seeing that grml is providing a grml-medium edition, I checked it out immediately. However I found that grml-medium still does not including X. Mika, please please include X in grml-medium, and grml-x & firefox too. Otherwise, there is no much reason for people to prefer grml-medium, because it will be just grml_small plus some extra packages, which I see no obvious reason that I can't install them myself. thanks -- Tong (remove underscore(s) to reply) http://xpt.sourceforge.net/techdocs/ http://xpt.sourceforge.net/tools/

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