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[securitybreach]

As Eric requested.....................

Installing Arch Linux for the first time can be a daunting task but I will try my best to cover as much as possible. Since Archlinux is a rolling distro, there is never any need to reinstall unless you mess it up

So hopefully, you only have to do this once. Later on I will show how to automate this after you set it up once.

Excellent review with a complete explanation of how Archlinux works http://www.linuxjour...ontent/arch-way  Thanks Abarbarian

An simplified Video installation guide for Arch Linux. http://video.google....47420565640601#

Here is an excellent article that Eric (V.T. Eric Layton) posted in this thread that has a very nice explanation on how Arch works. Arch vs. Slackware, a Friendly Comparison

Also, here is a very informative interview with the "Arch Linux Team" that Zeek posted here. The article explains the philosophy behind Archlinux and also explains why Archlinux works the way it does.I highly recommend reading the article before installing Arch since it gives a great overview of the "Arch Way". So here is the original article: Arch Linux Team  

Now on to the tutorial:

First, navigate to the download page on the Arch Linux website with your favorite web browser. http://archlinux.org/download/

Next  you will need to choose whether you want a normal install or a 64 bit  installation. Make sure to download the CORE iso not the ftp one.

After  burning the iso, boot the livecd and choose the first entry in the  menu, "Boot Arch Linux Live CD". Then press enter.

After a little  while, you will end up with a login prompt. Log in as root (there is no  password for root in the livecd).  If you need to specify a certain  keyboard layout, type 'km' and choose your particular layout (and  command line font) from the list you will be presented. If english, no  need to do this step.

Next you will need to type:

/arch/setup

to start the installation.

The first screen  shows an overview of the steps required to install Archlinux. The  installer is manual but when we will finish we won't have to change any  other conf file for a while. So be careful to:
use the arrows to read all the options with the order provided from top to bottom. when you finish with an option you press DONE to get back to main menu then you should go to the following option because the cursor will be still on the last visited

The  first step of the installation is "Prepare Hard Drive". After clicking  this, you will be presented with another menu. Choose "Partition Hard  Drives" The Arch Linux installer uses cfdisk, a CLI based partitioner.  Cfdisk looks confusing at first, but is actually very simple to use. If  you want to make a partition, select the item with the file system type  "Free Space" and choose "New". Next you will be able to choose between  a primary partition and a logical partition. Most of the time you will  only need to make primary partitions, but if you will need more than  four partitions, you will need to make a logical partition, which can  contain many more than you will need.

Next you will choose how big you  want your partition to be. The first one we will be making is the root  partition, which will contain all of your programs. It will need to be  at least 6GB unless you will be installing a lot, then 8GB would suit  better. I personally use 40gb for / but it is up to you. Cfdisk expects  you to put in the sizes in megabytes. Since a gigabyte is about 1000MB,  you can easily work it out.  

The next step will ask you whether you  want your partition to be at the beginning of the free space or at the  end. Choose the beginning unless you have specific needs.

Now we will  make a home partition, which keeps your files separate from your  programs, so if you want to reinstall, your files and settings will be  saved in the home partition.

Next you need to make the swap  partition.You should make it double the size of your RAM, so if I have  1GB of RAM, make your swap 2000MB. You will need to choose the file  system type for this one, so go to "type". A bunch of numbers and file  system types will appear. Ignore them and press a key. Type in the  number "82". There. Now you have made your swap partition!

Repeat  the steps again, and when you get to when you choose which size you  would like the partition, just press enter because you want your home  partition to fill up the rest of your hard drive or choose the size you  would like your /home.

Next you need to use the cursor keys to go to  "Write". Type "yes" to confirm it. Next go to "Quit".
(Note I always  write down my partition layout since it helps when setting the mount  points.)

The next part of the installation is "Set Filesystem  Mountpoints". This means where we want Linux to find our partitions.  

The first partition you will choose is the swap partition. Make sure  you use the partition number you made in cfdisk. The next one is the  root partition you made using cfdisk. Next you will choose your file  system type. I normally choose "ext3" since it the most stable IMHO.  

There will be one more partition left (unless you have another  operating system installed) that you set as your home partition. Select  it and type in "/home".After clicking done on the mount point  screen, you will be asked if you want to format the partitions. Select  yes for all of them unless you have a /home parititon that would would  like to keep, then click no for formatting /home.  Then click "Return  to the Main Menu" to go back to the installation steps.

The next  step is "Select Packages". You will have two entries, base and devel.  Highlight each entry and press space to select them. You should see an  "X" beside  the entries.

After clicking OK, you will see a page that  lists the base packages.
(Note these are not programs but drivers and  utilities.)

I personally just select OK, since I can later install anything I might need.
Click OK and you will return to the main menu once again.

Use the down arrow and select "Install Packages" and the  base will be installed. If you are asked whether or not the  pacman-cache should be emptied first, you can safely answer 'Yes',  although there won't be that much cached.

When the installation is  finished, you'll return to the main menu.

The next step is  "Configure System" In this section, the installer will ask you a few questions, after which you will be given the opportunity to edit some of the system's main config files. Most of the configuration can be done afterwards (when you've already booted into the system). But there's a few things that are needed to be done here.

I answer 'Yes' to  let 'hwdetect' try and detect all my hardware (and the necessary  modules for it) automatically. Only answer 'Yes' to the questions about  booting from certain hardware, if you want to boot from it.

Next  you can choose between either Vim or Nano to edit the config files.  Nano is considerably easier for beginners. So I would advise you to use  that one.
(Note: you can edit, save with Ctrl+o, and exit with Ctrl+x).
The commands for nano are across the bottom of the window. Note: the ^ symbol means ctrl

You will see a list with a bunch of stuff to configure but the only  ones that matter right now are "/etc/rc.conf", "Root-Password" and  "Pacman Mirror".

First choose "/etc/rc.conf" This is probably the most important file of your whole system. Things you can configure are:

LOCALE  What language do you want to use? I prefer to use en_US.utf8. You can  get a list of available locales with the 'locale -a' command.HARDWARECLOCK What time it is. I kept the default 'localtime' setting
TIMEZONE Where you're at? In my case, it's US/Eastern.
KEYMAP What keyboard layout you want to use. Should already be set
CONSOLEFONT leave blank USECOLOR Whether or not you want colours during the startup process.
MOD_AUTOLOAD Leave "yes" if you want to let Arch load the necessary modules automatically during the boot-up process.
MOD_BLACKLIST Leave blank unless you do not want something loadedMODULES This should be blank since Archlinux now automatically loads the modulesUSE_LVM If you use LVM you'll need to put 'yes'.
HOSTNAME What name you want to give your computer

For wired DHCP have the "NETWORKING" section set as follows:
interface=eth0
address=
netmask=255.255.255.0
gateway=

DAEMONS All the daemons that will be started at boot-up are listed here. Later you'll add some more (like e.g. samba or gnome

Hit  ctrl-x to exit. Then you will be brought back to the prior menu.

Select  "Root-Password" and set the root password. You will have to enter it  twice.

Next select "Pacman-Mirror". You will need to specify a mirror for pacman. If possible pick the one that is closest to you.  Note this  will be changed upon first boot.

Then ctrl-x to exit, click y to save.  Next select "Return to Main Menu".

Now select Install Bootloader. Arch gives you the choice between Lilo and Grub. These  days, most distributions use Grub as a bootloader, and it's the one I  would recommend as well. Check the configuration file, save it and  choose where to install the bootloader. Usually it's installed in the  MBR of the first hard drive. So pick /dev/sda (or something similar).  Then you will be back to the main menu. Select "Exit Install" Issue the  'reboot' command (and remember to remove the cd from your drive first).

After rebooting you will see a Grub Entry for Archlinux. Select it and hit enter. the system will boot up.Congratulations! You've made it to your new Arch Linux install!You can now login as root with the root password. Since  Arch has many different servers to fetch packages from, we will use a  built in tool called rankmirrors. This basically goes through all the  mirrors and ranks the fastest ones in order. First you will need  to install python and curl. Issue the following command:

pacman -Sy  python curl

This will install python using pacman, Archlinux package manager.

Installing python and refreshing the mirrors will take longer right now but we will fix that right now. After python is installed, cd to the /etc/pacman.d directory:

# cd /etc/pacman.d

Then you will need to backup your mirrorlist:

# mv mirrorlist  mirrorlist.backup

Next edit mirrorlist.backup and make sure there is a # in front of all mirrors except the ones you want to use.  

Next run this in the console:

# rankmirrors -n 6  mirrorlist.backup > mirrorlist

This will go through and  select the 6 fastest mirrors to use to download packages.

After creating/editing your /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist, (manually or by /usr/bin/rankmirrors) issue the following command:

# pacman -Syy

Passing two --refresh or -y flags forces pacman to refresh  all package lists even if they are considered to be up to date. Issuing pacman -Syy whenever a mirror is changed, is good practice and will avoid possible headaches.

For more information about pacman and other package tools in Archlinux, look here:
https://wiki.archlin.../Pacman_Rosetta
http://wiki.archlinu...ndex.php/Pacman
http://wiki.archlinu...ndex.php/Yaourt
http://wiki.archlinu...g/index.php/ABS  

Basically:

# pacman -Syu

updates the entire system

# pacman -S package

installs package

# pacman -Rd package

removes package with dependencies

Next  you will need to update your system:

# pacman -Syu

Hit  enter to accept the updates and enter to install them all. It is pretty self-explanatory. Once this is done, reboot since you will probably have a new kernel installed. After rebooting, log back in as root.

Next you will need to setup a user account. Replacing username with your desired username:

# useradd -m -G users,audio,lp,optical,storage,video,wheel,power -s  /bin/bash username

then to set the password type:

# passwd  username

This will set up your user account and password.

Next we need to install alsa to get sound. To do this as root:

pacman  -S alsa-utils

To test sound type

#aplay  /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Center.wav

If you hear sound, you  are good to go.

Also, add  alsa to your DAEMONS section in /etc/rc.conf  to automatically restore the mixer settings on boot-up.

# nano /etc/rc.conf

DAEMONS=(syslog-ng network crond alsa)


Next to install X, type

# pacman -S xorg-server xorg-xinit xorg-utils xorg-server-utils mesa

Now  we have the base packages we need for running the X Server. You should  add the driver for your graphics card now (e.g. xf86-video-<name>). The easiest way to configure Xorg is by  installing the correct driver packages first, and then generating  /etc/X11/xorg.conf using an autoconfiguration script, like Xorg -configure.

You will need knowledge of which video chipset your machine has. If you do not know, use the /usr/sbin/lspci program:

# lspci | grep VGA

I personally have a Nvidia graphics card so I will cover that here.

For all other drivers look here  http://wiki.archlinu..._Driver_Package  

First you need to make a new Xorg:

Xorg –configure

This  will create a config file at /root/xorg.conf.new. Copy the file to  /etc/X11/:

# cp /root/xorg.conf.new  /etc/X11/xorg.conf

To install the Nvidia driver type this as  root:

pacman -S nvidia

Next run

#  nvidia-xconfig

to set up nvidia on Xorg. Then type

#  depmod -a

to update the kernel module dependencies and then you need to reboot to load the nvidia module with the new kernel.

For most users, xf86-input-keyboard and xf86-input-mouse should be sufficient  for a basic setup. Use pacman to install your desired drivers for your  input devices. e.g.:

# pacman -S  xf86-input-keyboard

I would also advice to use input  hotplugging. Install HAL, dbus and the evdev input driver:

# pacman -S dbus xf86-input-evdev

Hal is now depreciated since Xorg 1.8 takes care of autodetection:

Quote

Running XorgIf you are using Xorg 1.8 or newer you do not need to add HAL to DAEMONS array or start HAL so that Xorg functions properly. However, HAL may still be needed by other applications. Run pacman -Qi hal | grep Required

Set the keyboard layout (if you do not use a standard US keyboard)

Quote

# cp /usr/share/hal/fdi/policy/10osvendor/10-keymap.fdi /etc/hal/fdi/policy/

Edit the "input.xkb.layout" key and possibly the "input.xkb.variant" key in this file.

# nano /etc/hal/fdi/policy/10-keymap.fdi

Laptop users will also need the synaptics package to allow X to configure the touchpad:

# pacman -S xf86-input-synaptics

The hal daemon must be started before the X server:

# /etc/rc.d/hal start

Add  the hal daemon to the DAEMONS array in /etc/rc.conf to start it at every boot.

Next test X:

# X -config /etc/X11/xorg.conf

If it looks good, switch to TTY2 ctl-alt-f1 and ctrl-c to stop X.  Reason being is the new Xorg stops ctrl-alt-backspace from working anymore.  

As regular user:

$ cp /etc/skel/.xinitrc ~/

  

Next we will be installing Gnome:   

# pacman -S ttf-ms-fonts ttf-dejavu ttf-bitstream-vera gnome gnome-extras

Once everything is installed, start hal and fam:

# /etc/rc.d/hal start	  
[code]# /etc/rc.d/fam start

Add them to your /etc/rc.conf DAEMONS section, so they will be invoked at boot:

# nano /etc/rc.conf

DAEMONS=(syslog-ng network crond alsa hal fam gdm)(If  you prefer to log into the console and manually start X, leave out  gdm.)

You may want to install a graphical login manager. For GNOME, the  gdm daemon is a good choice.
As root:

# pacman -S gdm

  

If you do not plan on using GDM, you will need to add

exec gnome-session

to ~/.xinitrc as user.

For more Gnome themes type this as root:

# pacman -S gtk-engines gtk-aurora-engine gtk-candido-engine gtk-rezlooks-engine

Look here for more Window Managers.  http://wiki.archlinu...top_Environment  

I personally use Openbox but I figured Gnome would be easier to setup. To install all codecs and some useful apps:

#  pacman -S gstreamer0.10-{base,good,bad,ugly}-plugins gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg libreoffice leafpad thunar mousepad xscreensaver firefox vlc alsa-utils j2re flashplugin-prerelease mplayer libdvdcss k3b dvd+rw-tools

I hope I have not missed anything. This is a work in progress. Most all questions are covered in the Archlinux wiki: http://wiki.archlinu...x.php/Main_Page

Also, if you are having issues with mounting usb and cdrom, install Udiski:

Quote

Udiskie is an automatic disk mounting service using udisks. It can be used for mounting CDs, flash drives, and other media. It is simple to use and requires no configuration.

https://wiki.archlin...dex.php/Udiskie

All you have to do after installation is to add udiskie & to your ~/.xinitrc https://wiki.archlin...dex.php/Udiskie

Whew that was long. I thought about an VirtualBox pictorial but Virtualbox seems to have issues with kernel 2.6.30-4 and it crashes.
http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/2149

Here is a visual walkthrough but it is for net install. Everything after package installation will be the same. http://ebalaskas.gr/archlinux-2009.08/

After updating Hal to version 0.5.14-1, automounting usb and disc drives in filemanagers does not currently work correctly. If you try to mount drives in your filemanager as user you will get an error about "Not Authorized". To fix this just add ck-launch-session before the window manager in ~/.xinitrc.

For instance my ~/.xinitrc:

#!/bin/sh
#
# ~/.xinitrc
#
## Executed by startx (run your window manager from here)
xscreensaver -no-splash &
numlockx &
sleep 2 && nitrogen --restore &
xrandr --output DFP5 --primary
xsetroot -cursor_name left_ptr
if [ -f $HOME/.Xmodmap ]; then
		/usr/bin/xmodmap $HOME/.Xmodmap
	fi
export DE=gnome
exec ck-launch-session xmonad
xset +fp /usr/share/fonts/local
xset fp rehash
while true; do
	   xsetroot -name "$( date +"%F %R" )"
		  sleep 1m	# Update time every minute
	  done &
conky | while read -r; do xsetroot -name "$REPLY"; done &

I made a new thread that lists the updates for the 32bit and 64bit of Archlinux including the core, extra, community, and AUR repositories: http://forums.scotsn...topic=31696Also Archlinux has a pacman-wrapper called Yaourt that allows access to another 19,000 packages from AUR (Archlinux User Repository).

Yaourt is also useful for installing git, svn, or devel versions of package. Yaourt is very easy. You have the option to manually install Yaourt or add the repository to /etc/pacman.conf:

Yaourt is a community-contributed wrapper for pacman which adds seamless access to the AUR, allowing and automating package compilation and installation from your choice of the thousands of PKGBUILDs in the AUR, in addition to the many thousands of available Arch binary packages.  Yaourt uses the same exact syntax as pacman, which saves you from  relearning an entirely new method of system maintenance, but also adds new options.

Yaourt expands the power and simplicity of pacman by adding even more useful features and provides pleasing, colorized  output, interactive search mode, and much more. You will almost  certainly want this.

Install the "build-devel" package, so that you won't miss utilities like g c c or make later on.

pacman -S base-devel

Then, install Yaourt through the AUR.  In learning how to install yaourt this way, you will have the opportunity to learn how the AUR (and PKGBUILDs) work. Open a web browser and head to the yaourt AUR page  Under package details click the "Tarball" link to download the tarball  

Unpack the tarball:

tar zxvf yaourt.tar.gz

  

Navigate into the new directory:

cd yaourt

  

At this point, Make sure that you check the contents of the PKGBUILD and the yaourt.install files!  

This cannot be stressed enough. Don't worry, they aren't too complicated. If you see anything suspicious, get on IRC or the forum and ask about it.

If everything looks good. We are ready to build the packages:

makepkg

  

After this process is complete, you will see several new files and directories. You should be interested in the file that ends with  *.pkg.tar.gz (in this case mine is named; yaourt-0.9.2-i686.pkg.tar.gz) Now it's time to use pacman to install yaourt. Be sure to change the package name to the actual name of your package, don't just copy and paste this line:

pacman -U yaourt-0.9.2-i686.pkg.tar.gz

  

Congratulations! You're done! Remember, this is the SAME process for almost all AUR PKGBUILDs.  See the yaourt man page for more.

Easy Install  The easiest way to install Yaourt is to add the yaourt repository to your /etc/pacman.conf:

Quote

[archlinuxfr]
Server = http://repo.archlinux.fr/$arch

  

pacman -Sy yaourt

http://wiki.archlinu...ndex.php/Yaourt
http://archlinux.fr/yaourt-en  
Note you can use Yaourt to install packages from the main repos and from AUR as well.

To upgrade all your packages including the main ones and AUR:

yaourt -Syu --aur

You will be asked for the root password a couple of times but I find it easier to use Yaourt.

You can get an list of you install package by doing as regular user:

pacman -Qet | awk '{print $1}' > installed_packages.txt

and then you can reinstall everything using the installed_packages.txt file as root:

# pacman -Sy `cat installed_packages.txt`

+++++Note: There is a discussion thread for this tutorial HERE.

Thank you! ~Eric

Edited by securitybreach, 09 November 2012 - 12:30 PM.
Corrected the link for Arch vs Slackware article

[securitybreach]

If you are getting the following message when trying to update:

Quote

:: Starting full system upgrade...:: package-query: requires pacman<3.5

Open up a terminal and run the following commands:

# pacman -Rsn package-query yaourt# pacman -Syyu# pacman-db-upgrade

Also, the update provides a new pacman mirrorlist so you may want to run rank-mirrors again:

# cd /etc/pacman.d# cp mirrorlist mirrorlist.backup# nano mirrorlist.pacnew

Uncomment out all of the mirrors in your specific country, and then save/exit nano.Then run:

# rankmirrors -n 7 mirrorlist.pacnew > mirrorlist

This will choose the 7 fastest mirrors for you to use.Next run this command to reload your mirrorlist and start the upgrade:

# pacman -Syyu

Then everything should be fixed for you. http://forums.scotsn...showtopic=44020