grml is a bootable CD (Live-CD) based on Knoppix and Debian. grml includes a collection of GNU/Linux software especially for users of texttools and system administrators. 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 about 2 GiB of software and documentation on the CD.
grml is short for 'grummel' and 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
There already exist "some" distributions. We decided to base our work on the existing infrastructure of Debian and Knoppix because we don't want to reinvent the wheel. Some admins already use their own rescue-CD and Knoppix is great but does not bring that many important tools for admins out of the box so we decided to share our work with others.
Anything written by the grml team is published under the GPL (GNU General Public License). You don't have to pay anything for running grml. Donations and feedback is welcome of course.
The main goal of grml is to be a distribution well suited for users of texttools and sysadmins. grml includes many important texttools (of course awk, sed, grep,... but also zsh, mutt, slrn, vim and many other stuff we like) and useful programs for admin's daily work too. grml uses the existing infrastructure of Debian and Knoppix.
grml comes with a vastly different set of software. Missing KDE and OpenOffice provides the possibility of shipping more than 600 packages which Knoppix does not provide. grml starts a 2.6.x kernel but no X for faster startup. Knoppix is based on Debian/testing (using apt-pinning) - but grml is based on Debian/unstable.
There are no default passwords. All accounts are locked by default. 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.
Run 'grml-version' or use the following command:
$ cat /etc/grml_version
$ sudo umount -l /cdrom $ sudo eject /dev/cdrom # now don't run any new programs ;) $ mount /dev/cdrom # mount it again if needed ;)
Why isn't KDE, Gnome, $FOO or $BAR part of grml? grml is a distribution for users of text tools and sysadmins. If you would like to run KDE with Debian use e.g. Knoppix, Munjoy-Linux, Kanotix or Kalyxo. Gnome users might find Gnoppix useful. If you would like to see a special (software) package inside grml please report it to us!
Report bugs via the tool reportbug which is part of the package grml-reportbug and provided with the grml system. See also bugs-section on this webpage.
Currently no. We are working on a grml-installer which should be available in an upcoming release. But we recommend using a non-live-CD distribution for installing on harddisc because it will probably fit better. Especially if you would like to build a server system you don't want to use a live-cd system. Use d-i of Sarge (Debian Installer), Ubuntu Linux or if you have a lot of computers you might consider FAI (Fully Automatic Installation) for Debian GNU/Linux by Thomas Lange useful.
Want to run a program as root? Just use 'sudo $PROGRAM'. To get a root-shell run 'sudo su'.
Want to write a file but it fails because of readonly filesystem? Use grml-bind. grml-bind mounts the file with option bind. Just run 'grml-bind /path/to/file' and you should have writing permissions.
Problems with a specific package? Please try 'dpkg-reconfigure $foo'. Still encountering difficulties? Please send us a bugreport! Well known packages which may result in problems: cpu [nothing other yet]
Getting a core dump with a specific software and strace can't provide useful information? Look at this example:
$ program zsh: segmentation fault (core dumped) program $ file =program /usr/bin/program: Bourne shell script text executable
This might be a bug in "/usr/bin/program" because it uses /bin/sh but isn't shell compatible. Or it might be a bug in the zsh. Please send us a bugreport!.
Why is grml using runlevel 2 as default? Because runlevel 2 is 'the textonly one'.
What is /etc/rc.unused.#? We do not delete any init-scripts not used by default in some runlevels but move them to /etc/rc.unused.#
Short answer: because zsh rocks.
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' and 'man zsh-lovers'.
If you are a bash-user and don't know the 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.
grml uses the zsh as the default shell but of course a current version of the bash is provided by grml anyway.
If you set a programm SUID (setuid/mode 4755) unprivileged users on your system will be able to run it. This could be a potentially security hole so by default the packages are configured not to install binaries with setuid. If you want to use the binaries with setuid please run 'dpkg-reconfigure $packagename' or 'chmod 4755 =programm'. The following packages are well known to have a programm with not-set setuid:
Before AIDE can be used, you will have to initialize a database. In order to do this, simply run the following commands:
sudo grml-bind /var/lib/aide /usr/sbin/aideinit
Why isn't bitchx part of grml? bitchx sucks. Please use the much better alternative irssi which is part of grml.
Why doesn't an ftp server exist on the grml CD? We do not really like FTP. Use HTTP [Apache(2)], rsync or SSH/SCP instead of FTP.
You don't want to use the preselected default for ispell? Run 'select-default-ispell' for changing it.
auctex and preview-latex are loaded by default in emacs. If you want to load auctex based on your personal settings put the string "(require 'tex-site)" in your ~/.emacs, for preview-latex use the string '(load "preview-latex")'.
Pine license does not allow "modified binaries" to be distributed. So you have to build it on your own. The source is distributed with grml and is located in /opt/sources/. Build it via running 'grml-pine' as user grml.
The site-key pass-phrase and the local key pass-phrase for tripwire are 'grml'.
Please use 'grml-x' for starting the X. It generates the config file /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 and lets you start commands on startup (see ~/.xinitrc). Use e.g. via:
grml-x =wmi
Encounter the error message '(EE) Attempt to register more than one core pointer (USB Mouse)'? Remove 'CorePointer' from the line containing 'InputDevice "PS/2 Mouse"' in the file /etc/X11/XF86Config-4.
Encounter the error message '(EE) No core pointer device specified'? Run the following commands and start X afterwards via 'grml-x ...' once again:
sudo /etc/init.d/hotplug start sudo rm /etc/X11/XF86Config-4
Still getting the same error? Just set the core pointers manually in /etc/X11/XF86Config-4, for example:
InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard" InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
Do you have a question which is not answered in the FAQ or in the provided documentation (run 'grml-info')? Take a look at the grml-website. Please don't hesitate to contact us, a good place to start is the grml mailinglist.