cheatcodes: review grml boot options

[jkirk]

In grml/grml#9 we reviewed the Grml cheatcodes and clean up most of the Isolinux bootprompt options.

We have a lot more grml [...] options which should be reviewed:

❯ grep "^grml " templates/GRML/grml-cheatcodes.txt
grml                                  Use default settings (same as just pressing return)
grml lang=at|de|cn|da|es|fr|it        Specify language ($LANG, $LC_ALL, $LANGUAGE - utf8) + keyboard
grml lang=nl|pl|ru|sk|tr|tw|us        Specify language ($LANG, $LC_ALL, $LANGUAGE - utf8) + keyboard
grml utc                              Hardware Clock is set to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)
grml localtime                        Hardware Clock is set to local time (LOCAL), this is the default
grml tz=Europe/Vienna                 Use specified timezone for TZ, defaults to TZ=UTC
grml keyboard=us                      Use different keyboard layout
grml myconfig=/dev/fd0                Set the DCS dir (debs, config, scripts) to the root of this device
grml autoconfig=SOMELABEL             Set the DCS dir to the root of the device labeled with SOMELABEL.
grml netconfig=server/config.tbz      Download file and extract configuration archive
grml netscript=server/file            Download and execute file
grml partconf=/dev/sda2               Copy files specified in /etc/grml/partconf from /dev/sda2
grml file=foobar.tbz                  Use specified file as name for configuration archive
grml extract=/etc                     Extract only /etc from configuration archive,
grml persistence                      Enable persistency feature, more details available at
grml hostname=...                     Set hostname to given argument
grml hostname                         Set a random hostname
grml nonetworking                     Do not create/overwrite /etc/network/interface during startup
grml distri=...                       Set distribution name to given argument. If a jpg file named like the
grml debnet                           Search through local partitions for file /etc/network/interfaces,
grml dns=8.8.8.8,8.8.4.4              Set DNS resolvers during boot and for live system.
grml ip=...                           Standard Linux kernel ip= boot option. Arguments:
grml mypath=...                       Add specified option into $PATH of Zsh
grml debs                             Install all Debian packages from the "debs" directory of your DCS
grml debs=path-name-wildcard          Install Debian packages from DCS directory (see myconfig=,
grml scripts=path-name                Execute script (defaulting to grml.sh) inside DCS dir. Path names
grml config=path-name                 Unpack archive that path-name points to
grml noautoconfig                     Disable searching for device labeled GRMLCFG
grml nobeep                           Disable welcome chime, sounded before grml-quickconfig starts.
grml toram                            Copy the whole CD/medium to RAM and run from there
grml toram=filename.squashfs          Copy the specified file to RAM and run from there
grml bootfrom=/dev/sda1               Use the squashfs file from directory 'live' of the specified device
grml bootfrom=removable               Restrict search for the live media to removable type only.
grml bootfrom=removable-usb           Restrict search for the live media to usb mass storage only.
grml isofrom=[fs:][/device]/grml.iso  Use specified ISO image for booting.
grml findiso=/grml_2010.12.iso        Look for the specified ISO file on all disks where it usually
grml fetch=$IP/filename.squashfs      Download a squashfs image from a given url, copying to ram and booting it.
grml live-media-path=/live/grml...    Sets the path to the live filesystem on the medium
grml module=grml                      Instead of using the default "$name.module" another file can
grml bootid=mybootid                  Use specified argument as identifier for the ISO.
grml ignore_bootid                    Disable bootid verification.
grml nocolor                          Disable colorized output while booting
grml log                              Log error messages while booting to /tmp/grml.log.`date +%Y%m%d`"
grml testcd                           Check CD data integrity and md5sums
grml ssh=password                     Set password for root & grml user and start ssh-server
grml passwd=...                       Set password for root & grml user
grml encpasswd=....                   Set specified hash as password for root & grml user, use e.g.
grml startup=script                   Start $script instead of grml-quickconfig on startup
grml nosyslog                         Do not start syslog daemon
grml nogpm                            Disable GPM daemon
grml noconsolefont                    Disable setting of console font (using consolechars)
grml noblank                          Disable console blanking
grml noquick                          Disable grml-quickconfig startup script
grml wondershaper=eth0,1000,500       Set up basic traffic shaping
grml services={postfix,mysql,...}     Start service(s) which have an init-script (/etc/init.d/)
grml welcome                          Welcome message via soundoutput
grml noeject                          Do NOT eject CD after halt/reboot
grml noprompt                         Do NOT prompt to remove the CD when halting/rebooting the system
grml startx{=windowmanager}           Start X window system automatically
grml nostartx                         If using startx as default bootoption the nostartx *disables* automatic
grml vnc=password                     Start VNC server with startup of X.org and sets the password to the specified
grml vnc_connect=host[:port]          Connect to a listening VNC client ("vncviewer -listen" reverse connection).
grml getfile.retries=$NUM             Retry the download of the files specified in the netconfig=... +
grml brltty=type,port,table           Parameters for Braille device (e.g.: brltty=al,/dev/ttyS0,text.de.tbl)
grml swap                             Activate present/detected swap partitions
grml noswraid                         Disable scanning for software raid arrays (creates /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf)
grml swraid                           Enable automatic assembling of software raid arrays
grml nodmraid                         Do not enable present dmraid devices (deprecated as of releases in 2024)
grml dmraid=on                        Automatically enable any present dmraid devices (deprecated as of releases in 2024)
grml dmraid=off                       Actively try to stop any present dmraid devices (deprecated as of releases in 2024)
grml nolvm                            Disable scanning for Logical Volumes (LVM)
grml lvm                              Automatically activate Logival Volumes (LVM) during boot
grml read-only                        Make sure all harddisk devices (/dev/hd* /dev/sd*) are forced to read-only mode
grml ethdevice=...                    Use specified network device for network boot instead of default (eth0)
grml ethdevice-timeout=...            Use specified network configuration timeout instead of default (15sec)
grml xmodule=ati|fbdev|i810|mga       Use specified X.org-Module (1)
grml xmodule=nv|radeon|savage|s3      Use specified X.org-Module (2)
grml xmodule=radeon|svga|i810         Use specified X.org-Module (3)
grml no{acpi,cpu,dhcp,fstab,swap}     Skip parts of HW-detection
grml blacklist=modulename[,module2]   Completely disable loading of specified module(s) via
grml nosound                          Mute sound devices (notice: this does not deactivate loading of sound drivers!)
grml vol=number                       Set mixer volumes to level $number
grml micvol=number                    Set mixer volume of microphone to level $number (default: 0)
grml acpi=off                         Disable ACPI Bios completely
grml pci=irqmask=0x0e98               Try this, if PS/2 mouse doesn't work *)
grml pci=bios                         Workaround for bad PCI controllers
grml libata.force=[ID:]VAL            Force configurations for libata.
grml libata.dma=0                     Disable DMA on PATA and SATA devices
grml libata.ignore_hpa=1              Disable host protected area (which should enable the whole disk)
grml vga=normal                       No-framebuffer mode (does not influence X)
grml vga=ask                          Display menu for framebuffer mode
grml radeon.modeset=0  nomodeset      Disable Kernel Mode Setting (KMS) for Radeon driver.
grml i915.modeset=0    nomodeset      Disable Kernel Mode Setting (KMS) for Intel driver.
grml nouveau.modeset=0 nomodeset      Disable Kernel Mode Setting (KMS) for Nouveau driver.
grml cirrus.modeset=0  nomodeset      Disable Kernel Mode Setting (KMS) for Cirrus driver.
grml mgag200.modeset=0 nomodeset      Disable Kernel Mode Setting (KMS) for MGAG200 driver.

Also, in "Serial Console" there is a kernel parameter `video=vesafb:off' for which I could not find any Linux kernel documentation:

• https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.html / https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/master/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
• https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/master/Documentation/fb/modedb.rst
• https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/master/Documentation/fb/vesafb.rst
• https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/master/Documentation/admin-guide/svga.rst
• https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/master/Documentation/arch/x86/boot.rst#special-command-line-options

This option is mentioned in various "GPU Passthrough" guides, but there is no evidence that it actually works:

• https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=2145267#p2145267
• https://www.doscher.com/gpu-passthrough-for-intel/
• https://wiki.tozo.info/books/server/page/proxmox-gpu-passthrough

Iff video=vesafb:off works, we should consider adding another option (to disable any framebuffer).
It should be removed from "Serial Console" anyway.

[jkirk]

Also review the options against https://grml.org/faq/.

[mika]

Furthermore fix the off-by-one listing in advanced boot options of isolinux (last option only visible after scrolling to end of screen).

Related, also look into #238