- Grml - lists.mur.at

system time is too slow on a grml guest inside vmware server on a grml host
by Peter 07 Dez '07

07 Dez '07

Hi I have problems getting the time stable on a grml 1.0 guest running inside a vmware virtual machine on a grml 1.0 host. The host is synchronized via chrony and it works. The guest is getting behind the host system time very rapidly (approx 10 Mins in an hour) I tried various options: 1 with chrony and without vmware tools time sync 2 the inverse 3 some hacks include: kern.hz=100 in lilo.conf nothing works. I also have a grml 1.0 running as guest inside vmware workstation (the commercial product tp vmware server) on a Windows 2000 host (which has no time sync) . Here , the guest has no time sync with the host and uses chrony . Everything works in this case. Any ideas ? Thanks a lot Peter

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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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RE: grml repositories
by T o n g 10 Nov '07

10 Nov '07

> where are grml repositories? Silly me. Found right at: http://grml.org/files/ and http://deb.grml.org/ -- Tong (remove underscore(s) to reply) http://xpt.sourceforge.net/techdocs/ http://xpt.sourceforge.net/tools/

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grml-live, grml_small & REMOVE_DOCS
by T o n g 10 Nov '07

10 Nov '07

Hi, quick question: Is the control file for class REMOVE_DOCS released in grml-live v0.0.8? I found the class in /usr/share/grml-live/buildd/grml-live_autobuild_grml-small_sid.sh thanks -- Tong (remove underscore(s) to reply) http://xpt.sourceforge.net/techdocs/ http://xpt.sourceforge.net/tools/

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Request for Kernel
by Josh Lawrence 09 Nov '07

09 Nov '07

Hello all, Last weekend I talked to some of the grml devs about building my own kernel with Ingo Molnar's rt-preempt patch, CONFIG_HZ=1000, and fully-preemptable kernel turned on. (Additionally I was hoping to use the linux-live scripts (www.linux-live.org), which require aufs + squashfs to be built into the kernel.) So far, I have failed. I would like to request that someone much smarter than me in the grml team do this and make it an available kernel in the grml repos. Or, if you could provide me some additional help (tutoring, perhaps) with building a kernel with these features in "the grml way", I would be happy to do the work and contribute back to the grml community. For context, my primary goal is to have a liveCD competely customized for me to use on gigs with the various groups I play with. For example, this liveCD would be very, very lean, would have all of my patches, synthesizers, etc. already programmed and ready, plus any scripts I might use, etc. Thank you, -- Josh Lawrence http://www.hardbop200.com

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back to file-rc
by martin yazdzik 06 Nov '07

06 Nov '07

Dear M and friends, In order to test out a version of hplip for a new set of peripherals, I had to remove file-rc, which I have back now. How do I make the system boot using runlevel.conf again, so I am back in control? Best, M

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Daily builds of grml available
by Michael Prokop 18 Okt '07

18 Okt '07

Hi! I'm proud to be able to announce the availability of daily snapshots of grml. This service is based on the grml-live framework (see http://grml.org/grml-live/ for details) and besides a new grml flavour we are currently working on (known as grml-medium) we also provide Debian/stable based grml-ISOs for the first time to the public. All the flavours are available in a 32bit version as well as a 64bit version, so you can choose from 12 different ISOs at total on a daily base. More details are available at: http://grml.supersized.org/archives/269-Daily-grml-snapshots.html The daily snapshots can be found at: http://daily.grml.org/ 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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[Grml 1.0] cannot boot anymore after upgrade
by Ja Bu 03 Okt '07

03 Okt '07

Hi all, I am quite new to GRML (and Debian/Knoppix based distributions). However, I have some experience with other Linux distris. So recently I got a virtual appliance with Grml installed already. One of the first things was to use apt-get (first attempt) and aptitude (second attempt) to upgrade all upgradable packages. The results was the same: I could not boot anymore. The only thing that appears is 'GRUB' without any further error message. I have spent two days already to figure out what happens. I have seen reports about similar errors when updating ubuntu versions. The reason was a switch from hdX to sdX (and a mismatch of the UUIDs). I checked all that: UUIDs are fine. And even with the device names the symptoms are the same. I then tried to reinstall GRUB. The installation process yielded no errors (the menu.lst and the device map are fine). Nevertheless I get the same error :-( Then I thought: Maybe it's only a GRUB problem and tried LILO. With lilo I get some more information, but also the boot process stops very early. I get error messages about some modules that cannot be loaded. (I currently have no access and, thus, cannot type the exact error message here.) I am wondering whether this has something to do with the linux-kernel-header-grml package which apt-get/aptitude were keen to remove? I am also wondering: I surely am not the only one who ever upgraded a GRML 1.0 system, or? Did noone ever encountered a similar problem? I appreciate every hint which might bring me closer to a solution of this most annoying problem. Thanks in advance, Jan http://toolbar.Care2.com Make your computer carbon-neutral (free). http://www.Care2.com Green Living, Human Rights and more - 7 million members!

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Re: Re: [Grml] [Grml 1.0] cannot boot anymore after upgrade
by Ja Bu 03 Okt '07

03 Okt '07

Hi Mika, > > ---- > > Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold [...] > > ii udev 0.103-1grml2 /dev/ and hotplug management daemon > > You are sure, that this is the output of the affected grml2hd > installation? This would be interesting. :) I did a chroot /mnt/sda1 (where I had previously mounted the affected grml installation) and then entered the dpkg command that you have sent. So I assume that should be the correct output, shouldn it? Is there room for mistakes? > > Here is lilo.conf (which I currently use): [...] > > => the hard disk is really sda (the only existing partition is sda1) > > Ok, so just replace the: > append="grml_from_hd root=UUID=ffb575cc-c8df-4063-e0f8cb6aff03 " > with > append="grml_from_hd root=/dev/sda1" That worked! Thanks a lot!! > You can edit the commandline of grub interactive (just press 'e', > then edit the according line(s) and after pressing 'enter' to > activate the changes, finally boot the entry using 'b') as well. When booting the corrupt system I do not even see a menu. It is not possible to enter anything since as soon as 'GRUB' appears the system hangs. But that doesn't matter now since with LILO everything works fine. Thanks again. Best regards, Jan http://toolbar.Care2.com Make your computer carbon-neutral (free). http://www.Care2.com Green Living, Human Rights and more - 7 million members!

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Re: Re: [Grml] [Grml 1.0] cannot boot anymore after upgrade
by Ja Bu 03 Okt '07

03 Okt '07

Hi Mika, first of all, thank you very much for the fast reply. I guess you know how frustrating it can be to spend many hours on a problem and finally ending up with no idea how to go on. So I was very glad to find your reply in my inbox so soon :-) > The last 1-2 lines of the output would be interesting. Here are the error messages when booting with LILO: ---- [....] No root-on-loop configured, skipping Begin: Loading MD modules ... Failure: failed to load module linear. Failure: failed to load module multipath. Failure: failed to load module raid0. Failure: failed to load module raid1. [....] Success: loaded module raid456. [...] Failure: failed to load module raid10. Done. Warning: missing mdaadm.conf file, trying to create one... Segmentation fault Done. Begin: Waiting for root file system... ... ---- > Can you please provide the output of: > dpkg --list mdadm lvm2 initramfs-tools lilo grub udev > of the system? (Just boot grml live and chroot into your system) ---- Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold | Status=Not/Installed/Config-files/Unpacked/Failed-config/Half-installed |/ Err?=(none)/Hold/Reinst-required/X=both-problems (Status,Err: uppercase=bad) ||/ Name Version Description +++-===============-==============-============================================ ii grub 0.97-19 GRand Unified Bootloader ii initramfs-tools 0.85c tools for generating an initramfs ii lilo 22.6.1-9 LInux LOader - The Classic OS loader can loa ii lvm2 2.02.06-3 The Linux Logical Volume Manager ii mdadm 2.5.6-6 tool to administer Linux MD arrays (software ii udev 0.103-1grml2 /dev/ and hotplug management daemon ---- Here is lilo.conf (which I currently use): ---- lba32 prompt timeout=50 map=/boot/map vga=normal boot=/dev/sda image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-grml label="2.6.20-grml append="grml_from_hd root=UUID=ffb575cc-c8df-4063-e0f8cb6aff03 " read-only vga=0x0317 initrd=/boot/initrd.img-2.6.20-grml ---- => I left out only the other sections and the bootscreen related lines => I tried also without boot screen => I checked that all the files mentioned above do really exist => the UUID is the correct one (checked with Ubuntu live CD) => the hard disk is really sda (the only existing partition is sda1) Here is the current menu.lst (after removal of comments etc): -> this one is the one with /dev/sdX: ---- default 0 timeout 10 title Debian GNU/LInux, kernel 2.6.20-grml root hd0,0 kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-grml root=/dev/sda1 ro vga=791 initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.20-grml savedefault ---- => as I said: I also found detailed descriptions how to install grub manually which I followed exactly (http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub.html#Installing-GRUB-natively) => the result was the same (only 'GRUB' being displayed before the system was hanging) -> this is the only change of the original menu.lst with the UUIDs: ---- [... same lines as above ...] kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-grml root=UUID=ffb575cc-c8df-4063--e0f8cb6aff03 ro vga=791 ---- In your third mail you wrote: > Just verified it on my own: root=UUID=... still/again does not work > with initramfs-tools. So just use root=/dev/... on your grub cmdline > in the meanwhile to boot your system, I'm debugging the problem.... I already did that in the case of grub (see modified menu.lst above). The result is the same. Or did I miss a step somewhere? After changing the menu.lst do I have to do any additional steps? (I think I reinstalled grub after that, but I am not sure.) By the way: I got the GRML virtual appliance from: http://www.vmware.com/appliances/directory/899 (I don't know whether the distributor modified the VMachine in the meantime.) Thanks again for your help. Hope you can guide me how to resolve that problem. Best regards, Jan http://toolbar.Care2.com Make your computer carbon-neutral (free). http://www.Care2.com Green Living, Human Rights and more - 7 million members!

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Error attempting to install grml-live
by Charles Hewson 02 Okt '07

02 Okt '07

Hi All, I am using ; deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib no n-free deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ unstable main contrib no n-free in /etc/apt/sources.list as I am in Seattle. I get the following error when I try to install grml-live; Selecting previously deselected package squashfs-tools. (Reading database ... 126198 files and directories currently installed.) Unpacking squashfs-tools (from .../squashfs-tools_1%3a3.2r2-8_i386.deb) ... dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/squashfs-tools_1%3a3.2r2-8_i386.deb (--unpack): trying to overwrite `/usr/share/man/man1/mksquashfs.1.gz', which is also in package squashfs Selecting previously deselected package fai-client. Unpacking fai-client (from .../fai-client_3.2.1_all.deb) ... Selecting previously deselected package fai-server. Unpacking fai-server (from .../fai-server_3.2.1_all.deb) ... Selecting previously deselected package grml-live. Unpacking grml-live (from .../grml-live_0.0.2_all.deb) ... Errors were encountered while processing: /var/cache/apt/archives/squashfs-tools_1%3a3.2r2-8_i386.deb localepurge: Disk space freed in /usr/share/locale: 188K E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1) apt-get install grml-live 15.62s user 7.19s system 3% cpu 10:38.00 total Thank, Charles ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for a deal? Find great prices on flights and hotels with Yahoo! FareChase. http://farechase.yahoo.com/

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grml-live: build framework based on FAI for generating a Linux Live system
by Michael Prokop 20 Sep '07

20 Sep '07

Hi, I'm pleased to be able to officially announce grml-live. grml-live is a build framework based on FAI¹, which provides the infrastructure to create a grml and Debian based Linux Live-CD. One single command and if everything goes fine you'll have your own live-cd. :) grml-live should work on any Debian based distribution and as it uses /etc/grml/fai as main configuration directory it should not clash with any other FAI packages. The Debian package of grml-live is available via grml's pool: http://deb.grml.org/pool/main/g/grml-live/ grml-users (and everyone else using deb.grml.org inside sources.list) can get it via 'au ; agi grml-live'. :) Current sources are available from the mercurial repository: http://hg.grml.org/grml-live/ The documentation and some more details can be found at the grml-live webpage: http://grml.org/grml-live/ I appreciate any feedback, feature requests, bugreports and of course patches. :) ¹ http://www.informatik.uni-koeln.de/fai/ 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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grml-small - raise ISO-size?
by Michael Prokop 20 Sep '07

20 Sep '07

Hi, I'm busy working on grml-live¹, a framework (based on FAI²) which provides the possbility to build a grml-ISO with 1(!) single command (oh and live-initramfs has been integrated into grml basically as well already). Creating your very own grml version is pretty easy now. http://grml.supersized.org/archives/263-grml-live-create-your-own-grml-ISO.… This framework might be the system behind grml 1.1, grml64 0.2 and grml-small 0.5 already and I think it's time to discuss the ISO-size limit of grml-small now. :) Some history: grml-small 0.1 started with 49MB total ISO-size, grml-small 0.2 had 56MB, grml-small 0.3 had 58MB and grml-small 0.4 has 60MB now. So it's definitely growing (due to the new features of kernel and userland in every single release). The main problem for the grml team so far was, to keep the ISO size of grml-small as small as possible but nevertheless provide all the software people wanted to see included. Another important drawback is the separate kernel version, which had to be maintained *additionally* to the main (non-small) grml-kernel. Using grml-live we are able to build grml-small with one single command now. The resulting ISO for grml-small has a size of 133MB currently - though the ISO still provides some more software than grml-small 0.4 did (like python, aptitude,...) and even a full featured /usr/share/doc (24MB) plus the current grml-kernel (2.6.22-grml). So the 133MB ISO could be stripped down a little bit further (maybe to something like 125MB) without losing toooo much. My suggestion therefore is to raise the ISO-size of grml-small to something like <=128MB (so it still fits on 128MB USB pens). Pros: * some more software could be included (and /usr/share/doc could be shipped as well maybe) * as maintainenance for the grml-team is much easier, we would provide up2date grml-small versions always together with a new release of (full) grml * use of same kernel version as with full grml -> installing additional Debian kernel packages not being available on the ISO yet (due to lack of space) is no problem furthermore Cons: * "grml toram" will last a little bit longer * 64MB USB pens as well as the really small CDs aren't support anymore (though I recommend to use fast >=1GB USB pens for booting anyway nowadays ;-)) As grml-live will be available to the public soon and everyone might build his own grml-version ;-), everyone could build his own grml-small version anyway. So what's *your* opinion about "grml-small grows to ~125MB"? I highly appreciate any feedback. ¹ http://grml.org/grml-live/ ² http://www.informatik.uni-koeln.de/fai/ 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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Call for Testing: initramfs-tools
by Michael Prokop 05 Sep '07

05 Sep '07

Hi, Problem description =================== Some of you might know the problem with initramfs-tools >0.87b, quoting http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=431291 => ,---- [ #431291 ] | Booting with 'root=UUID=...' fails, it just hangs at "Waiting for | root file system..." and you can't boot your system anymore unless | you fall back to root=/dev/... syntax. `---- initramfs-tools version is 0.90a is available in Debian/unstable and 0.91 will be available soon. I'm asking you for help in testing the current version so we can ship it with grml as well. I can't reproduce the problem from #431291 on my own systems and therefore need your help. If we can't locate any bugs with initramfs-tools booting harddisk installations within the next few days I'll remove the old initramfs-tools version from grml's pool so new versions will reach the systems when upgrading them again. So please help us! How to test =========== Are you using an initrd? (Check the initrd line in /etc/lilo.conf when using lilo or /boot/grub/menu.lst when using grub.) If so please make sure you have a grml CD by hand so you can fix your system if it really does not boot anymore (hopefully that won't happen and falling back to root=/dev/... syntax in the bootloader should be possible anyway). ;) Which version of initramfs-tools are you using? Just for the record please save output before testing: # dpkg --list initramfs-tools # cat /proc/cmdline Make sure you have the old, working version available: # wget http://deb.grml.org/pool/main/i/initramfs-tools/initramfs-tools_0.87b_all.d… Now update initramfs-tools to 0.90a: # apt-get update ; apt-get install initramfs-tools/unstable Now a new /boot/initrd.* should be generated automatically for you. Does your system still boot without problems? What I need =========== Please let me know (no matter whether it works or not or if you tested it at all!): * do you have problems with booting your system? * what's inside your /proc/cmdline? * are you using SW-RAID? * are you using LVM? * which bootloader (lilo vs. grub) are you using? * which versions of initramfs-tools do work for you and which *not* (check via 'dpkg --list initramfs-tools') If you can't help in testing initramfs-tools (no matter why) please provide information of questions above anyway! It will help in any case as soon as you are using an initrd on your system! Problems with Booting? ====================== To get a working system again you just have to get the old version: # wget http://deb.grml.org/pool/main/i/initramfs-tools/initramfs-tools_0.87b_all.d… Install it running: # dpkg -i initramfs-tools_0.87b_all.deb If you manually want to re-generate the initrd/initramfs just invoke: # update-initramfs -c -t -k $(uname -r) Falling back to root=/dev/[sh]d* syntax instead of root=UUID=... should be possible as well. If you *really* can't boot anymore you'll find all available tools on a recent version of grml of course. I'm available for helping you as well, feel free to bug me if you don't know what to do. Debugging ========= See http://wiki.debian.org/InitramfsDebug for more information if you are interesting in debugging the problem on your own. Debian's maintainer of initramfs-tools provided help in debugging problems as well (thanks, maks!), and of course I'm available as well. If you have any questions or need further assistance please don't hesitate to contact me. You can reach me via mail, on IRC (#grml) or via jabber (mika(a)jabber.grml.org). Please help us! Thanks! 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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RE: Emacspeak replacement?
by Jeff 02 Sep '07

02 Sep '07

Since emacspeak was removed in 1.0, is there an alternative that will work with similar functionality? Thank you, Jeff No, emacspeak had to be dropped from grml 1.0 (seehttp://grml.org/files/README-grml-1.0.php) because of it was justtoo big and did not work with current emacs versions, sorry.regards,-mika--- http://grml.org/ _______________________________________________ Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com The most personalized portal on the Web!

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Using QEMU with grml
by - Tong - 01 Sep '07

01 Sep '07

Hi, I was on and off with QEMU in the past because it was slow. I knew there is a kernel accelerated QEMU but never made the attempt to try it, because I was stopped by the idea that I should compile/deal with the kernel modules. I never blame others for my own fault, but this time, mika, I think you are to blame for this. I mean, I didn't know that the accelerated QEMU works out of box in grml ever since grml v0.5 (http://www.grml.org/qemu/) -- you should be blamed for the fact that I don't know it. You made things so easy for us but never let us know. :-) Now I will give QEMU a serious try. mika, I think your wiki can use some more explanation on the following 2 points. - "To see if kqemu is enabled and working correctly, use the QEMU monitor command" -- please elaborate more about it, because 'info kqemu' didn't give me the desired info. Moreover, it'd be better to clearly tell uses in wiki how to do it. - I learned that "To run the emulated system, a good idea is to use overlay images. This way you can create hard disk image once and tell Qemu to store changes in external file. You get rid of all the instability, because it is so easy to revert to previous system state." (http://manual.sidux.com/en/hd-install-opts-en.htm#qemu) could you write something about this overlay image practice as well in your wiki please? That'll sure benefit grml users. Furthermore, in order to make it easier for grml users, I think it is better to start kqemu the standard way, not the hacking way. Please twist the following file and release it in the future of grml: /etc/init.d/kqemu #!/bin/sh case "$1" in start) echo "Starting kqemu: " /sbin/modprobe kqemu major=0 # load the kernel module mknod /dev/kqemu c 250 0 # create the device chmod 666 /dev/kqemu /dev/net/tun # adjust permissions ;; stop) echo "Stopping kqemu: " /sbin/rmmod kqemu ;; restart) /sbin/modprobe kqemu major=0 ;; *) ;; esac thanks -- Tong (remove underscore(s) to reply) http://xpt.sourceforge.net/techdocs/ http://xpt.sourceforge.net/tools/

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