Package: archinstall
Arch InstallerJust another guided/automatedArch Linuxinstaller with a twist.
The installer also doubles as a python library to install Arch Linux and manage services, packages and other things inside the installed system(Usually from a live medium).archinstalldiscordserverarchinstallmatrix.orgchannelarchinstall#archinstall@irc.libera.chatarchinstalldocumentationInstallation & Usage$ sudo pacman -S archinstallAlternative ways to install aregit clonethe repository orpip install --upgrade archinstall.Running theguidedinstallerAssuming you are on an Arch Linux live-ISO or installed viapip:# archinstallRunning theguidedinstaller usinggit# cd archinstall-git
# cp archinstall/scripts/guided.py
# python guided.pyAdvancedSome additional options that are not needed by most users are hidden behind the--advancedflag.Running from a declarative configuration file or URLarchinstallcan be run with a JSON configuration file. There are 2 different configuration files to consider,
theuser_configuration.jsoncontains all general installation configuration, whereas theuser_credentials.jsoncontains the sensitive user configuration such as user password, root password and encryption password.An example of the user configuration file can be found hereconfiguration fileand example of the credentials configuration herecredentials file.HINT:The configuration files can be auto-generated by startingarchinstall, configuring all desired menu
points and then going toSave configuration.To load the configuration file intoarchinstallrun the following commandarchinstall --config <path to user config file or URL> --creds <path to user credentials config file or URL>Help or IssuesIf any issues are encountered please submit an issue here on Github or submit a post in the discord help channel.
When submitting an issue, please:Provide the stacktrace of the output if there is anyAttach the/var/log/archinstall/install.logto the issue ticket. This helps us help you!To extract the log from the ISO image, one way is to usecurl -F'file=@/var/log/archinstall/install.log' https://0x0.stAvailable LanguagesArchinstall is available in different languages which have been contributed and are maintained by the community.
The language can be switched inside the installer (first menu entry). Bare in mind that not all languages provide
full translations as we rely on contributors to do the translations. Each language has an indicator that shows
how much has been translated.Any contributions to the translations are more than welcome,
to get started please followthe guideFontsThe ISO does not ship with ship with all fonts needed for different languages.
Fonts that are using a different character set than Latin will not be displayed correctly. If those languages
want to be selected than a proper font has to be set manually in the console.All available console fonts can be found in/usr/share/kbd/consolefontsand can be set withsetfont LatGrkCyr-8x16.Scripting your own installationScripting interactive installationThere are some examples in theexamples/directory that should serve as a starting point.The following is a small example of how to script your owninteractiveinstallation:frompathlibimportPathfromarchinstallimportInstaller,ProfileConfiguration,profile_handler,Userfromarchinstall.default_profiles.minimalimportMinimalProfilefromarchinstall.lib.disk.device_modelimportFilesystemTypefromarchinstall.lib.disk.encryption_menuimportDiskEncryptionMenufromarchinstall.lib.disk.filesystemimportFilesystemHandlerfromarchinstall.lib.interactions.disk_confimportselect_disk_configfs_type=FilesystemType('ext4')# Select a device to use for the installationdisk_config=select_disk_config()# Optional: ask for disk encryption configurationdata_store={}disk_encryption=DiskEncryptionMenu(disk_config.device_modifications,data_store).run()# initiate file handler with the disk config and the optional disk encryption configfs_handler=FilesystemHandler(disk_config,disk_encryption)# perform all file operations# WARNING: this will potentially format the filesystem and delete all datafs_handler.perform_filesystem_operations()mountpoint=Path('/tmp')withInstaller(mountpoint,disk_config,disk_encryption=disk_encryption,kernels=['linux'])asinstallation:installation.mount_ordered_layout()installation.minimal_installation(hostname='minimal-arch')installation.add_additional_packages(['nano','wget','git'])# Optionally, install a profile of choice.# In this case, we install a minimal profile that is emptyprofile_config=ProfileConfiguration(MinimalProfile())profile_handler.install_profile_config(installation,profile_config)user=User('archinstall','password',True)installation.create_users(user)This installer will perform the following:Prompt the user to configurate the disk partitioningPrompt the user to setup disk encryptionCreate a file handler instance for the configured disk and the optional disk encryptionPerform the disk operations (WARNING: this will potentially format the disks and erase all data)Installs a basic instance of Arch Linux(base base-devel linux linux-firmware btrfs-progs efibootmgr)Installs and configures a bootloader to partition 0 on uefi. On BIOS, it sets the root to partition 0.Install additional packages(nano, wget, git)Create a new userCreating your own ISO with this script on it:FollowArchISO's guide on how to create your own ISO.Script non-interactive automated installationFor an example of a fully scripted, automated installation please see the examplefull_automated_installation.pyUnattended installation based on MAC addressArchinstall comes with anunattendedexample which will look for a matching profile for the machine it is being run on, based on any local MAC address.
For instance, if the machine the code is executed on has the MAC address52:54:00:12:34:56it will look for a profile called52-54-00-12-34-56.py.
If it's found, the unattended installation will commence and source that profile as its installation procedure.Profilesarchinstallships with a set of pre-defined profiles that can be chosen during the installation process.DesktopServerThe definitions of the profiles and what packages they will install can be seen directly in the menu ordefault profilesTestingUsing a Live ISO ImageIf you want to test a commit, branch or bleeding edge release from the repository using the vanilla Arch Live ISO image,
you can replace the version of archinstall with a new version and run that with the steps described below.*Note: When booting from a live USB then the space on the ramdisk is limited and may not be sufficient to allow
running a re-installation or upgrade of the installer. In case one runs into this issue, any of the following can be usedResize the root partition on the flyhttps://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Archiso#Adjusting_the_size_of_root_partition_on_the_flyThe boot parametercopytoram=y(https://gitlab.archlinux.org/archlinux/mkinitcpio/mkinitcpio-archiso/-/blob/master/docs/README.bootparams#L26)
can be specified which will copy the root filesystem to tmpfs.*You need a working network connectionInstall the build requirements withpacman -Sy; pacman -S git python-pip gcc pkgconf(note that this may or may not work depending on your RAM and current state of the squashfs maximum filesystem free space)Uninstall the previous version of archinstall withpip uninstall --break-system-packages archinstallNow clone the latest repository withgit clone https://github.com/archlinux/archinstallEnter the repository withcd archinstallAt this stage, you can choose to check out a feature branch for instance withgit checkout v2.3.1-rc1To run the source code, there are 2 different options:Run a specific branch version from source directly usingpython -m archinstall, in most cases this will work just fine, the
rare case it will not work is if the source has introduced any new dependencies that are not installed yetInstalling the branch version withpip install --break-system-packages .andarchinstallWithout a Live ISO ImageTo test this without a live ISO, the simplest approach is to use a local image and create a loop device.This can be done by installingpacman -S arch-install-scripts util-linuxlocally and doing the following:# truncate -s 20G testimage.img
# losetup --partscan --show --find ./testimage.img
# pip install --upgrade archinstall
# python -m archinstall --script guided
# qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -machine q35,accel=kvm -device intel-iommu -cpu host -m 4096 -boot order=d -drive file=./testimage.img,format=raw -drive if=pflash,format=raw,readonly,file=/usr/share/ovmf/x64/OVMF_CODE.fd -drive if=pflash,format=raw,readonly,file=/usr/share/ovmf/x64/OVMF_VARS.fdThis will create a20 GBtestimage.imgand create a loop device which we can use to format and install to.archinstallis installed and executed inguided mode. Once the installation is complete,you can use qemu/kvm to boot the test media.(You'd actually need to do some EFI magic in order to point the EFI vars to the partition 0 in the test medium, so this won't work entirely out of the box, but that gives you a general idea of what we're going for here)There's also aBuilding and Testingguide.It will go through everything from packaging, building and running(with qemu)the installer against a dev branch.FAQHow to dual boot with Windowsarchinstallcan be used to install Arch alongside an existing Windows installation.
Below are the necessary steps:After the Windows installation make sure there is some unallocated space for a Linux installation availableBoot into the ISO and runarchinstallSelectDisk configuration->Manual partitioningSelect the disk on which Windows residesChoseCreate a new partitionSelect a filesystem typeNow the location of the new partition has to be specified as start and end sectors (values can be suffixed with various units)Assign mountpoint/Back in the partitioning menu, assign theBoot/ESPpartition the mountpoint/bootThis is all for the partitioning menu, selectConfirm and exitto return to the main menuSet any additional settings you would like to have for the installationAfter completing the setup start the installationMission StatementArchinstall promises to ship aguided installerthat follows
theArch Principlesas well as a library to manage services, packages and other Arch Linux aspects.The guided installer will provide user-friendly options along the way, but the keyword here is options, they are optional and will never be forced upon anyone.
The guided installer itself is also optional to use if so desired and not forced upon anyone.Archinstall has one fundamental function which is to be a flexible library to manage services, packages and other aspects inside the installed system.
This library is in turn used by the provided guided installer but is also for anyone who wants to script their own installations.Therefore, Archinstall will try its best to not introduce any breaking changes except for major releases which may break backwards compatibility after notifying about such changes.ContributingPlease seeCONTRIBUTING.md