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Notes on Arch Linux system setup.
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Martins Eglitis 1da74c760e Update 'README.md' 1 month ago
README.md Update 'README.md' 1 month ago

README.md

setup

Notes on Arch Linux system setup.

Notes

  • Make sure you run in UEFI mode, meaning the output of efivar -l is not empty.
  • If running from an older live USB, you should update the pacman keys with pacman-key --populate archlinux and pacman-key --refresh-keys.

Preparation

  • cryptsetup open --type plain -d /dev/urandom /dev/sda temp - create a temporary encrypted container named temp on the /dev/sda partition to be encrypted.
  • dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mapper/temp bs=4M status=progress - fill the container with zeros.
  • cryptsetup close temp - close the temporary container.

Partitioning

  • parted /dev/sda mklabel gpt - create a new gpt partition label.
  • parted /dev/sda mkpart boot fat32 0% 512M - create the boot partition.
  • parted /dev/sda set 1 boot on - set the boot flags for the boot partition.
  • parted /dev/sda mkpart system ext4 512M 100% - create the system partition.

Encryption

  • cryptsetup luksFormat --type luks2 /dev/sda2 - initialize the LUKS2 header on the system partition.
  • cryptsetup luksDump /dev/sda2 - check the LUKS2 header.
  • cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sda2 cryptlvm - open the encrypted system partition and map it to /dev/mapper/cryptlvm.

Logical volume management

  • pvcreate /dev/mapper/cryptlvm - create a new physical volume from the encrypted system partition.
  • vgcreate vg /dev/mapper/cryptlvm - create a new volume group vg.
  • lvcreate --size 16G --name root vg - create a new logical volume root inside the vg.
  • lvcreate --extents 100%FREE --name home vg - create a new logical volume home inside the vg, taking up the remaining space.

Filesystems

  • mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/vg-root - make a filesystem for the vg-root logical volume.
  • mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/vg-home - make a filesystem for the vg-home logical volume.
  • mkfs.fat /dev/sda1 - make a filesystem for the boot partition.
  • mount /dev/mapper/vg-root /mnt - mount the vg-root.
  • mkdir /mnt/home - create the home dir.
  • mount /dev/mapper/vg-home /mnt/home - mount the home dir.
  • mkdir /mnt/boot - create the boot dir.
  • mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot - create the boot dir.

Installation

  • pacstrap /mnt base base-devel git vim - an alternative approach to what is described in Arch wiki. Execute the pacstrap command and follow instructions after arch-chroot.
  • genfstab -U /mnt > /mnt/etc/fstab - write the currently mounted filesystems to the new system.
  • arch-chroot /mnt - chroot to the your new OS.
  • pacman -S reflector - install reflector for optimizing mirrors.
  • reflector -p http --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist - find the best mirror and update mirrorlist.
  • Follow the trizen setup here lists and install the base list. Install other lists as you see fit.

Configuration

Locale

  • vim /etc/locale.gen - edit the locale file.
  • locale-gen - generate the chosen locales.
  • localectl set-locale LANG=en_US.UTF-8 - set the locale.

Time

  • timedatectl set-timezone Europe/Zurich - set the timezone.
  • timedatectl set-ntp true - enable network time sync.

Hostname

  • vim /etc/hostname - edit the hostname.

User

  • useradd -s /bin/zsh -g wheel -m martins - create a new user martins.
  • passwd martins - set the password for martins.
  • passwd root - set the password for root.
  • visudo - edit sudo user permissions.

Boot

  • bootctl install - install the systemd-boot bootloader.
  • vim /boot/loader/loader.conf - edit the bootloader conf.
default arch
editor 0
timeout 3
console-mode max
  • cp /usr/share/systemd/bootcl/arch.conf /boot/loader/entries/ - copy the default entry.
  • vim /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf - edit the default entry. UUID must be the UUID (not PARTUUID) of /dev/sda2 (not of /dev/mapper/cryptlvm or /dev/mapper/vg-root).
title   Arch Linux
linux   /vmlinuz-linux
initrd  /intel-ucode.img
initrd  /initramfs-linux.img
options root=/dev/mapper/vg-root rd.luks.name=UUID=cryptlvm rd.luks.options=timeout=0 rootflags=x-systemd.device-timeout=0 quiet loglevel=3 vga=current
  • vim /etc/mkinitcpio.conf - edit the initial ramdisk environment script.
...
HOOKS=(base systemd autodetect keyboard modconf block sd-encrypt sd-lvm2 filesystems fsck)
...
  • mkinitcpio -p linux - regenerate the initial ramdisk environment.

Post

Extra

  • lists - Arch Linux package lists.
  • dotfiles - Linux dotfiles.
  • network - notes on safe network setup.
  • gpg - GPG key management.