10 KiB
| title | visible |
|---|---|
| Arch | true |
[toc]
Last modified: 2024-06-01
Keyboard layout
[shroot]
loadkeys de_CH-latin1
[/shroot]
Check UEFI mode
If the following command works, the system is booted in EFI.
[shroot]
ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars
[/shroot]
Verify internet connection
[shroot]
ping wiki.exu.li
[/shroot]
Update system clock
[shroot]
timedatectl set-ntp true
[/shroot]
Creating partitions
[shroot]
cfdisk
[/shroot]
Use EFI System for EFI partition
Use Linux filesystem for other partitions
(LUKS) Create encrypted partition
Note: Do not put your /efi partition on an encrypted partition!
Create encrypted Partition with a label. This label will later be used to identified the bootdevice as a simpler alternative to UUIDs.
[shroot]
cryptsetup luksFormat --label=(label) /dev/(partition)
[/shroot]
Open the partition and specify a name
[shroot]
cryptsetup open /dev/(partition) (name)
[/shroot]
Check if this worked with ls /dev/mapper/
The name should show up there
Format partitions
EFI or BIOS partition
Fat 32:
[shroot]
mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/(partition)
[/shroot]
Root and other partitions
Ext4
[shroot]
mkfs.ext4 /dev/(partition)
[/shroot]
Btrfs
[shroot]
mkfs.btrfs /dev/(partition)
[/shroot]
Bcachefs
[shroot]
bcachefs format /dev/(partition)
[/shroot]
Mounting partitions
Generally partitions have to be mounted where you will later use them in your system.
BTRFS with its subvolumes is a special case, see the additional chapter below.
Be careful in choosing you EFI mountpoint when using full disk encryption.
Using /efi will lead to much longer boot times in GRUB and be completely unsupported in other bootloaders.
See this feature comparison for details.
For /efi size really doesn't matter much and can be 1 or 2 megabytes. 16MB is probably a good size.
If you're using /boot, the kernel and initramfs will also be stored on this partition among others. Recommended sizes range from 256MB to 512MB
Root: /mnt
EFI: /mnt/efi or /mnt/boot
Home: /mnt/home
etc...
(BTRFS) Btrfs preparation of subvolumes and mounting
Mount root partition
[shroot]
mount /dev/(partition) /mnt
[/shroot]
Root subvolume
[shroot]
btrfs subv create /mnt/@
[/shroot]
Home subvolume
[shroot]
btrfs subv create /mnt/@home
[/shroot]
Snapshots subvolume for snapper
[shroot]
btrfs subv create /mnt/@snapshots
[/shroot]
Var subvolume
[shroot]
btrfs subv create /mnt/@var_log
[/shroot]
[shroot]
umount /mnt
[/shroot]
Mount root
mount -o noatime,compress-force=zstd,subvol=@ /dev/(partition) /mnt
With /efi
mkdir -p /mnt/{efi,home,.snapshots,var/log}
With /boot
mkdir -p /mnt/{boot,home,.snapshots,var/log}
Mount home
mount -o noatime,compress-force=zstd,subvol=@home /dev/(partition) /mnt/home
Mount snapshots for snapper
mount -o noatime,compress-force=zstd,subvol=@snapshots /dev/(partition) /mnt/.snapshots
Mount var/log
mount -o noatime,compress-force=zstd,subvol=@var_log /dev/(partition) /mnt/var/log
Don't forget mounting other partitions!!
Essential packages
Install a few essential packages using pacstrap.
Additional packages might also be necessary, see the list below.
[shroot]
pacstrap /mnt base base-devel linux linux-firmware linux-headers vim git openssh networkmanager dialog
[/shroot]
Other packages
| Package | Category | Component |
|---|---|---|
amd-ucode |
CPU microcode | |
intel-ucode |
CPU microcode | |
dosfstools |
Filesystems | Fat32 |
mtools |
Filesystems | Fat32 |
e2fsprogs |
Filesystems | Ext4 |
btrfs-progs |
Filesystems | Btrfs |
compsize |
Filesystems | Btrfs |
wpa_supplicant |
Wifi | |
snapper |
System | Snapshots |
ca-certificates |
System | Certificates |
ca-certificates-mozilla |
System | Certificates |
zram-generator |
System | Zram |
cups |
Printing | General |
hplip |
Printing | HP |
xdg-utils |
System | Defaults |
xdg-user-dirs |
System | Defaults |
inetutils |
Tools | Networking |
Generate fstab
[shroot]
genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
[/shroot]
Make sure the fstab file has everything included
Chroot into the system
[shroot]
arch-chroot /mnt
[/shroot]
Set timezone
ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Zurich /etc/localtime
Set hardware clock
hwclock --systohc
Set locale
vim /etc/locale.gen
Uncomment the locales that should be generated.
Make sure to use a UTF-8 entry.
locale-gen
echo "LANG=de_CH.UTF-8" > /etc/locale.conf
Set keymap permanently
echo "KEYMAP=de_CH-latin1" > /etc/vconsole.conf
Set hostname
echo "(hostname)" > /etc/hostname
Edit /etc/hosts
127.0.0.1 localhost (hostname)
::1 localhost
Change root password
[shroot]
passwd
[/shroot]
Configure zram
Create the file /etc/systemd/zram-generator.conf
[zram0]
zram-size = ram / 2
compression-algorithm = zstd
Bootloader installation
rEFInd
[shroot]
pacman -S refind
[/shroot]
Use the rEFInd installation script. In most cases no specific configuration is necessary
[shroot]
refind-install
[/shroot]
Manual editing of the generated configuration file is necessary when installing rEFInd from the Arch boot ISO
Autodetection
/boot/refind_linux.conf
With LUKS:
"Boot with standard options" "rw loglevel=3 quiet cryptdevice=LABEL=(label):(name) root=/dev/mapper/(name) rootflags=subvol=@ zswap.enabled=0"
With unencrypted disks, only rw and root= are required.
Make sure to include additional kernel options like zswap.enabled=0 if required.
"Boot with standard options" "rw root=UUID=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX"
"Boot to single-user mode" "rw root=UUID=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX single"
"Boot with minimal options" "ro root=PARTUUID=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX"
Manual boot stanza
Assuming you use a /boot partition containing the EFI directory and linux kernels.
refind-nord-theme is required for the icon configured below. Install it from the AUR or change the icon to /EFI/refind/icons/os_arch.png.
/boot/EFI/refind/refind.conf
menuentry "Arch Linux" {
icon /EFI/refind/themes/nord/icons/os_arch.png
loader /vmlinuz-linux
initrd /initramfs-linux.img
options "rw loglevel=3 quiet cryptdevice=LABEL=(label):(name) root=/dev/mapper/(name) rootflags=subvol=@ zswap.enabled=0"
submenuentry "Boot using fallback initramfs" {
initrd /initramfs-linux-fallback.img
}
submenuentry "Boot to terminal" {
add_options "systemd.unit=multi-user.target"
}
}
Edit /boot/EFI/refind/themes/nord/theme.conf to show keyboard options by removing hints from hideui
...
hideui singleuser,badges
...
GRUB
[shroot]
pacman -S grub efibootmgr
[/shroot]
Make sure the /boot or /efi partition is mounted
[shroot]
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=GRUB
[/shroot]
Generate the grub config file
[shroot]
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
[/shroot]
(LUKS) mkinitcpio with LUKS
Some additional settings are necessary in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf in order to enable booting from LUKS-encrypted disks.
Edit the HOOKS section in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf by adding encrypt after block and before filesystems
Also ensure keyboard keymap are present before encrypt in order to allow the loading of the default keyboard language from /etc/vconsole.conf to enter the decryption password.
Regenerate all initramfs presets
[shroot]
mkinitcpio -P
[/shroot]
Networking
systemctl enable NetworkManager
(CUPS) Printing
systemctl enable cups
Add user
useradd -mG wheel (user)
Set password
passwd (user)
Enable sudo
visudo
Uncomment %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL
Finishing installation
exit
poweroff
Remove the installation cd
Post-reboot
Zram
Create the zram device
[shroot]
systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl start systemd-zram-setup@zram[X].service
[/shroot]
(Snapper) Setup
# umount /.snapshots
# rm -r /.snapshots
Create snapper config
# snapper -c root create-config /
Delete unneeded volume
# btrfs subv del /.snapshots/
# mkdir /.snapshots
Mount snapshots volume
# mount -a
# chmod 750 /.snapshots
# vim /etc/snapper/configs/root
Change these things:
ALLOW_USERS="(user)"
TIMELINE_LIMIT_HOURLY="5"
TIMELINE_LIMIT_DAILY="7"
TIMELINE_LIMIT_WEEKLY="4"
TIMELINE_LIMIT_MONTHLY="0"
TIMELINE_LIMIT_YEARLY="0"
Enable snapper
# systemctl enable --now snapper-timeline.timer
# systemctl enable --now snapper-cleanup.timer
Allow user to access snapshots
# chmod a+rx /.snapshots
# chown :(user) /.snapshots
Install AUR helper
paru
[shuser]
cd $(mktemp -d)
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/paru-bin.git
cd paru-bin
makepkg -si
[/shuser]
Automatic snapshots on package changes
[shroot]
pacman -S snap-pac
[/shroot]
(rEFInd) Show snapshots in bootmenu
This requires a manual boot entry definition in /boot/EFI/refind/refind.conf as shown in Manual boot stanza
paru -S refind-btrfs
In /etc/refind-btrfs.conf, embed the btrfs logo.
...
[boot-stanza-generation.icon]
mode = "embed_btrfs_logo"
...
Use the inverted logo for darker themes such as Nord.
...
[boot-stanza-generation.icon.btrfs-logo]
variant = "inverted"
...
systemctl enable --now refind-btrfs.service
NOTE: this doesn't work yet, as the UUID naming scheme is not supported by refind-btrfs.
See issue 46 for details.