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Template:Article summary start Template:Article summary text Template:Article summary heading Template:I18n entry Template:I18n entry Template:I18n entry Template:I18n entry Template:I18n entry Template:I18n entry Template:I18n entry Template:I18n entry Template:I18n entry Template:I18n entry Template:I18n entry Template:I18n entry Template:I18n entry Template:I18n entry Template:I18n entry Template:I18n entry Template:I18n entry Template:Article summary heading Template:Article summary wiki (provides a more general approach) Template:Article summary wiki Template:Article summary wiki Template:Article summary end
- 1 Preface
- 2 Part I: Install the Base System
- 2.1 Step 1: Obtain the latest Installation media
- 2.2 Step 2: Boot Arch Linux Installer
- 2.3 Step 3: Start the Installation
- 2.4 A: Select an installation source
- 2.5 B: Set Clock
- 2.6 C: Prepare Hard Drive
- 2.7 D: Select Packages
- 2.8 E: Install Packages
- 2.9 F: Configure the System
- 2.9.1 The initramfs
- 2.9.2 /etc/rc.conf
- 2.9.3 /etc/fstab
- 2.9.4 /etc/mkinitcpio.conf
- 2.9.5 /etc/modprobe.conf
- 2.9.6 /etc/resolv.conf (for Static IP)
- 2.9.7 /etc/hosts
- 2.9.8 /etc/hosts.deny and /etc/hosts.allow
- 2.9.9 /etc/locale.gen
- 2.9.10 Root password
- 2.9.11 Pacman-Mirror
- 2.10 G: Install Bootloader
- 2.11 H: Reboot
- 3 Part II: Configure&Update the New Arch Linux base system
- 3.1 Step 1: Configuring the network (if necessary)
- 3.2 Step 2: Update, Sync and Upgrade the system with pacman
- 3.3 Step 3: Update System
- 3.4 Step 4: Add a user and setup groups
- 3.5 Step 5: Install and setup Sudo (Optional)
- 4 Part III: Install X
- 4.1 Step 1: Install X
- 4.2 Step 2: Configure X
- 4.2.1 A: The xorg.conf file
- 4.2.2 B: Input hotplugging
- 4.2.3 C: Test X
- 4.3 Simple baseline X test(if necessary)
- 5 Part IV: Installing Sound
- 6 Part V: Installing and configuring a Desktop Environment
- 6.1 Step 1: Install Fonts
- 6.2 Step 2: ~/.xinitrc (again)
- 6.3 Step 3: Install a Desktop Environment
- 6.3.3 Xfce
- 6.3.5 *box
- 6.3.6 fvwm2
- 7 Useful Applications
Everything you ever wanted to know about Arch, but were afraid to ask
Welcome. This self-contained document will guide you through the process of installing and configuring Arch Linux; a simple, agile and lightweight GNU/Linux distribution,
UNIX-like operating system. Arch Linux requires a certain level of intimate knowledge of its configuration and of
UNIX-like system methodology and for this reason, extra explanatory information is included. This guide is aimed at new Arch users, but strives to serve as a strong reference and informative base for all.
Arch Linux distribution highlights:
- Simple,
UNIX-like design and philosophy
- Independently Developed Community distro built from scratch and targeted at competent GNU/Linux users
- All packages compiled for i686/x86-64
- Highly customizable system assembled by the user from the ground up
- BSD-style init scripts, featuring one centralized configuration file
- mkinitcpio: a simple and dynamic initramfs creator
- Rolling Release model
- Pacman package manager is fast, written in C, lightweight and agile, with a very modest memory footprint
- ABS: The Arch Build System, a ports-like package building system makes it simple to create your own easily installable Arch packages from source, to use and/or share with the community on the AUR
- AUR: The Arch User Repository, offering many thousands of build scripts for Arch user-provided software packages
The Arch Linux system is assembled by the user, from the shell, using basic command line tools. This is The Arch Way. Unlike the more rigid structures of other distributions and installers, there are no default environments nor configurations chosen for you. From the command line, you will add packages from the Arch repositories using the pacman tool via your internet connection and manually configure your installation by editing text files until your system is customized to your requirements. You will also manually add non-root user(s) and manage groups and permissions. This method allows for maximum flexibility, choice, and system resource control from the base up.
Arch Linux is aimed at competent GNU/Linux users who desire minimal 'code separation' from their machine.
Arch Linux, pacman, documentation, and scripts are copyright ©2002-2007 by Judd Vinet, ©2007-2009 by Aaron Griffin and are licensed under the GNU General Public License Version 2.
The Arch Way
The design principles behind Arch are aimed at keeping it simple.
'Simple', in this context, shall mean 'without unnecessary additions, modifications, or complications'. In short; an elegant, minimalist approach.
Some thoughts to keep in mind:
- " 'Simple' is defined from a technical standpoint, not a usability standpoint. It is better to be technically elegant with a higher learning curve, than to be easy to use and technically [inferior]." -Aaron Griffin
- Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem or "Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily." -Occam's razor. The term razor refers to the act of shaving away unnecessary complications to arrive at the simplest explanation, method or theory.
- "The extraordinary part of [my method] lies in its simplicity..The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity." - Bruce Lee
About This Guide
The Arch wiki is an excellent resource and should be consulted for issues first; IRC (freenode #archlinux), and the forums are also available if the answer cannot be found.
Since GNU/Linux Distributions are fundamentally 'modular' by design, the guide is logically divided into 4 main components of a desktop
UNIX-like operating system:
Part I: Installing the Base system
Part II: Configure&Update the New Arch Linux base system
Part III: Installing X and configuring ALSA
Part IV: Installing a Desktop Environment
Welcome to Arch! Enjoy the installation; take your time and have fun!
Now, let's get started....
Part I: Install the Base System
Step 1: Obtain the latest Installation media
You can obtain Arch's official installation media from here. The latest version is 2009.08
- Both the Core installer and the FTP/HTTP-downloads provide only the necessary packages to create an Arch Linux base system. Note that the Base System does not include a GUI. It is mainly comprised of the GNU toolchain (compiler, assembler, linker, libraries, shell, and a few useful utilities), the Linux kernel, and a few extra libraries and modules.
- The isolinux images are provided for people who experience trouble using the grub version. There are no other differences.
- The Arch64 FAQ ( http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Arch64_FAQ ) can help you chose between the 32- and 64-bit versions.
CD installer
Burn the .iso to a CD with your preferred burner, and continue with Step 2: Boot Arch Linux Installer Template:Box Note
USB stick
UNIX Method:
Insert an empty or expendable USB stick, determine its path, and dump the .img to the USB stick with the
/bin/dd program:
dd if=archlinux-2009.08-[core_or_ftp]-i686.img of=/dev/sdx
where if= is the path to the img file and of= is your USB device. Make sure to use /dev/sdx and not /dev/sdx1.
Check md5sum (optional):
Make a note of the number of records (blocks) read in and written out, then perform the following check:
dd if=/dev/sdx count=number_of_records status=noxfer | md5sum
The md5sum returned should match the md5sum of the downloaded archlinux image file; they both should match the md5sum of the image as listed in the md5sums file in the mirror distribution site.
Windows Method:
Download Disk Imager from https://launchpad.net/win32-image-writer/+download. Insert flash media. Start the Disk Imager and select the image file. Select the Drive letter associated with the flash drive. Click "write".
Continue with Step 2: Boot Arch Linux Installer
Step 2: Boot Arch Linux Installer
Insert the CD or USB stick and boot from it. You may have to change the boot order in your computer BIOS or press a key (usually DEL, F1, F2, F11 or F12) during the BIOS POST phase.
Memory requirements:
- CORE : 160 MB RAM x86_64/i686 (all packages selected, with swap partition)
- FTP : 160 MB RAM x86_64/i686 (all packages selected, with swap partition)
Choose Boot Archlive or Boot Archlive [legacy IDE] if you have trouble with libata/PATA.
To change boot options press e for editing the boot lines. Many users may wish to change the resolution of the framebuffer, for more readable console output. Append:
to the kernel line, followed by <ENTER>, for a 1024x768 framebuffer.
Hit b to boot.
The system will now boot and present a login prompt. Login as 'root' without quotes.
If your system has errors trying to boot from the live CD or there are other hardware errors, refer to the Installation Troubleshooting wiki page.
Changing the keymap
If you have a non-US keyboard layout you can interactively choose your keymap/console font with the command:
# km
or use the loadkeys command:
# loadkeys layout
(replace layout with your keyboard layout such as "
fr" or "
The official install guide is available on the live system. The official guide covers installation and configuration of the base system only. Change to vc/2 (virtual console #2) with <ALT>+F2 and invoke
# less /arch/docs/official_installation_guide_en
less will allow you to page through the document. Change back to vc/1 with <ALT>+F1.
Change back to vc/2 if you need to reference the Official Guide at any time.
Step 3: Start the Installation
As root, run the installer script from vc/1:
# /arch/setup
A: Select an installation source
After a welcome screen, you will be prompted for an installation source. Choose the appropriate source for the installer you are using.
- If you chose the CORE installer, continue below with C: Prepare Hard Drive.
- FTP/HTTP only: You shall be prompted to load ethernet drivers manually, if desired. Udev is quite effective at loading the required modules, so you may assume it has already done so. You may verify this by invoking ifconfig -a from vc/3. (Select OK to continue.)
Configure Network (FTP/HTTP)
Available Interfaces will be presented. If an interface and HWaddr (HardWare address) is listed, then your module has already been loaded. If your interface is not listed, you may probe it from the installer, or manually do so from another virtual console.
The following screen will prompt you to Select the interface, Probe, or Cancel. Choose the appropriate interface and continue.
The installer will then ask if you wish to use DHCP. Choosing Yes will run dhcpcd to discover an available gateway and request an IP address; Choosing No will prompt you for your static IP, netmask, broadcast, gateway DNS IP, HTTP proxy, and FTP proxy. Lastly, you will be presented with an overview to ensure your entries are correct.
Wireless Quickstart For the Live Environment (If you need wireless connectivity during the installation process)
The wireless drivers and utilities are now available to you in the live environment of the installation media. A good knowledge of your wireless hardware will be of key importance to successful configuration. Note that the following quickstart procedure will initialize your wireless hardware for use in the live environment.
The basic procedure will be:
- Switch to a free virtual console, e.g.: <ALT>+F3
- Ensure udev has loaded the driver, and that the driver has created a usable wireless kernel interface with
# iwconfig
(Output should show an available wireless interface)
- Bring the interface up with
/sbin/ifconfig <interface> up.
An example, using an atheros card and madwifi driver:
# ifconfig ath0 up
(Remember, your interface may be named something else, depending on your module (driver) and chipset: wlan0, eth1, etc.)
- Specify the id of the wireless network with iwconfig <interface> essid "<youressid>" key <yourwepkey> (give the essid (the 'network name') of the network in quotes).
- An example using WEP:
# iwconfig ath0 essid "linksys" key 0241baf34c
- An example using an unsecured network:
# iwconfig ath0 essid "linksys"
- Request and acquire an IP address with
/sbin/dhcpcd <interface>. e.g.:
# dhcpcd ath0
- Ensure you can route using
# ping -c 3 www.google.com
Done. Template:Box Note
After the initial Arch installation is complete, you may wish to refer to Wireless Setup to ensure a permanent configuration solution for your installed system.
Return to vc/1 with <ALT>+F1. Continue with C: Prepare Hard Drive
B: Set Clock
- UTC - Choose UTC if running only
UNIX-like operating system(s).
- localtime - Choose local if multi-booting with a Microsoft Windows OS.
C: Prepare Hard Drive
Verify current disk identities and layout by invoking
/sbin/fdisk with the
-l (lower-case L) switch.
Open another virtual console (<ALT>+F3) and enter:
# fdisk -l
Take note of the disk(s)/partition(s) to utilize for the Arch installation.
Switch back to the installation script with <ALT>+F1
Select the first menu entry "Prepare Hard Drive".
- Option 1: Auto Prepare
Auto-Prepare divides the disk into the following configuration:
- ext2 /boot partition, default size 32MB. You will be prompted to modify the size to your requirement.
- swap partition, default size 256MB. You will be prompted to modify the size to your requirement.
- A Separate / and /home partition, (sizes can also be specified). Available filesystems include ext2, ext3, ext4, reiserfs, xfs and jfs, but note that both / and /home shall share the same fs type if choosing the Auto Prepare option.
Be warned that Auto-prepare will completely erase the chosen hard drive. Read the warning presented by the installer very carefully, and make sure the correct device is about to be partitioned.
- Option 2: (Recommended) Partition Hard Drives (with cfdisk)
This option will allow for the most robust and customized partitioning solution for your personal needs.
At this point, more advanced GNU/Linux users who are familiar and comfortable with manually partitioning may wish to skip down to D: Select Packages below.
Partition Hard Drives
Partition Info
Partitioning a hard disk drive defines specific areas (the partitions) within the disk, that will each appear and behave as a separate disk and upon which a filesystem may be created (formatted).
- There are 3 types of disk partitions:
- Primary
- Extended
- Logical
Primary partitions can be bootable, and are limited to 4 partitions per disk or raid volume. If a partitioning scheme requires more than 4 partitions, an extended partition which will contain logical partitions will be required.
Extended partitions are not usable by themselves; they are merely a "container" for logical partitions. If required, a hard disk shall contain only one extended partition; which shall then be sub-divided into logical partitions.
When partitioning a disk, one can observe this numbering scheme by creating primary partitions sda1-3 followed by creating an extended partition, sda4, and subsequently creating logical partition(s) within the extended partition; sda5, sda6, and so on.
Swap Partition
A swap partition is a place on the drive where virtual ram resides, allowing the kernel to easily use disk storage for data that does not fit into physical RAM.
Historically, the general rule for swap partition size was 2x the amount of physical RAM. Over time, as computers have gained ever larger memory capacities, this rule has become increasingly deprecated. Generally, on machines with up to 512MB RAM, the 2x rule is usually quite sufficient. On machines with 1GB RAM, generally a 1x rule is adequate. If the installation machine provides gratuitous amounts of RAM (more than 1024 MB) it may be possible to completely forget a swap partition altogether, though this is not recommended. A 1 GB swap partition will be used in this example. Template:Box Note
Partition Scheme
A disk partitioning scheme is a very personalized preference. Each user's choices will be unique to their own computing habits and requirements.
Filesystem candidates for separate partitions include:
/ (root) The root filesystem is the primary filesystem from which all other filesystems stem; the top of the hierarchy. All files and directories appear under the root directory "/", even if they are stored on different physical devices. The contents of the root filesystem must be adequate to boot, restore, recover, and/or repair the system.
/boot This directory contains the kernel and ramdisk images as well as the bootloader configuration file, and bootloader stages. /boot also stores data that is used before the kernel begins executing userspace programs. This may include saved master boot sectors and sector map files.
/home User data and user specific configuration files for applications are stored in each user's home directory in a file that starts with the '.' character (a "dot file").
/usr While root is the primary filesystem, /usr is the secondary hierarchy, for user data, containing the majority of (multi-)user utilities and applications. /usr is shareable, read-only data. This means that /usr shall be shareable between various hosts and must not be written to, except in the case of system update/upgrade. Any information that is host-specific or varies with time is stored elsewhere.
/tmp directory for programs that require temporary files
/var contains variable data; spool directories and files, administrative and logging data, pacman's cache, the ABS tree, etc. Template:Box Note There are several advantages for using discrete filesystems, rather than combining all into one partition:
- Security: Each filesystem may be configured in /etc/fstab as 'nosuid', 'nodev', 'noexec', 'readonly', etc.
- Stability: A user, or malfunctioning program can completely fill a filesystem with garbage if they have write permissions for it. Critical programs, which reside on a different filesystem remain unaffected.
- Speed: A filesystem which gets written to frequently may become somewhat fragmented. (An effective method of avoiding fragmentation is to ensure that each filesystem is never in danger of filling up completely.) Separate filesystems remain unaffected, and each can be defragmented separately as well.
- Integrity: If one filesystem becomes corrupted, separate filesystems remain unaffected.
- Versatility: Sharing data across several systems becomes more expedient when independent filesystems are used. Separate filesystem types may also be chosen based upon the nature of data and usage.
In this example, we shall use separate partitions for /, /var, /home, and a swap partition.
How big should my partitions be?
This question is best answered based upon individual needs. You may wish to simply create one partition for root and one partition for swap or only one root partition without swap or refer to the following examples and consider these guidelines to provide a frame of reference:
- The root filesystem (/) in the example will contain the /usr directory, which can become moderately large, depending upon how much software is installed. 15-20 GB should be sufficient for most users.
- The /var filesystem will contain, among other data, the ABS tree and the pacman cache. Keeping cached packages is useful and versatile; it provides the ability to downgrade packages if needed. /var tends to grow in size; the pacman cache can grow large over long periods of time, but can be safely cleared if needed. Another advantage of having a dedicated /var partition is if you're using an SSD. Locate your /var on an HDD and keep the / and /home partitions on your SSD to avoid needless read/writes to the SSD. 6-8 Gigs on a desktop system should therefore be sufficient for /var. Servers tend to have extremely large /var filesystems.
- The /home filesystem is typically where user data, downloads, and multimedia reside. On a desktop system, /home is typically the largest filesystem on the drive by a large margin. Remember that if you chose to reinstall Arch, all the data on your /home partition will be untouched (so long as you have a separate /home partition).
- An extra 25% of space added to each filesystem will provide a cushion for unforeseen occurrence, expansion, and serve as a preventive against fragmentation.
From the guidelines above, the example system shall contain a ~15GB root (/) partition, ~7GB /var, 1GB swap, and a /home containing the remaining disk space.
Create Partition:cfdisk
Start by creating the primary partition that will contain the root, (/) filesystem.
Choose New -> Primary and enter the desired size for root (/). Put the partition at the beginning of the disk.
Also choose the Type by designating it as '83 Linux'. The created / partition shall appear as sda1 in our example.
Now create a primary partition for /var, designating it as Type 83 Linux. The created /var partition shall appear as sda2
Next, create a partition for swap. Select an appropriate size and specify the Type as 82 (Linux swap / Solaris). The created swap partition shall appear as sda3.
Lastly, create a partition for your /home directory. Choose another primary partition and set the desired size.
Likewise, select the Type as 83 Linux. The created /home partition shall appear as sda4.
Name Flags Part Type FS Type [Label] Size (MB) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- sda1 Primary Linux 15440 #root sda2 Primary Linux 6256 #/var sda3 Primary Linux swap / Solaris 1024 #swap sda4 Primary Linux 140480 #/home
Choose Write and type 'yes'. Beware that this operation may destroy data on your disk. Choose Quit to leave the partitioner. Choose Done to leave this menu and continue with "Set Filesystem Mountpoints".
Set Filesystem Mountpoints
First you will be asked for your swap partition. Choose the appropriate partition (sda3 in this example). You will be asked if you want to create a swap filesystem; select yes. Next, choose where to mount the / (root) directory (sda1 in the example). At this time, you will be asked to specify the filesystem type.
Filesystem Types
Again, a filesystem type is a very subjective matter which comes down to personal preference. Each has its own advantages, disadvantages, and unique idiosyncrasies. Here is a very brief overview of supported filesystems:
1. ext2 Second Extended Filesystem- Old, reliable GNU/Linux filesystem. Very stable, but without journaling support. May be inconvenient for root (/) and /home, due to very long fsck's. An ext2 filesystem can easily be converted to ext3. Generally regarded as a good choice for /boot/.
2. ext3 Third Extended Filesystem- Essentially the ext2 system, but with journaling support. ext3 is completely compatible with ext2. Extremely stable, mature, and by far the most widely used, supported and developed GNU/Linux FS.
High Performance Filesystems:
3. ext4 Fourth Extended Filesystem- Backward compatible with ext2 and ext3, Introduces support for volumes with sizes up to 1 exabyte and files with sizes up to 16 terabyte. Increases the 32,000 subdirectory limit in ext3 to 64,000. Offers online defragmentation ability. Template:Box Note
4. ReiserFS (V3)- Hans Reiser's high-performance journaling FS uses a very interesting method of data throughput based on an unconventional and creative algorithm. ReiserFS is touted as very fast, especially when dealing with many small files. ReiserFS is fast at formatting, yet comparatively slow at mounting. Quite mature and stable. ReiserFS is not actively developed at this time (Reiser4 is the new Reiser filesystem). Generally regarded as a good choice for /var/.
5. JFS - IBM's Journaled FileSystem- The first filesystem to offer journaling. JFS had many years of use in the IBM AIX® OS before being ported to Linux. JFS currently uses the least CPU resources of any GNU/Linux filesystem. Very fast at formatting, mounting and fsck's, and very good all-around performance, especially in conjunction with the deadline I/O scheduler. (See JFS.) Not as widely supported as ext or ReiserFS, but very mature and stable.
6. XFS - Another early journaling filesystem originally developed by Silicon Graphics for the IRIX OS and ported to Linux. XFS offers very fast throughput on large files and large filesystems. Very fast at formatting and mounting. Generally benchmarked as slower with many small files, in comparison to other filesystems. XFS is very mature and offers online defragmentation ability.
- JFS and XFS filesystems cannot be shrunk by disk utilities (such as gparted or parted magic)
A note on Journaling
All above filesystems, except ext2, use journaling. Journaling file systems are fault-resilient file systems that use a journal to log changes before they are committed to the file system to avoid metadata corruption in the event of a crash. Note that not all journaling techniques are alike; specifically, only ext3 and ext4 offer data-mode journaling, (though, not by default), which journals both data and meta-data (but with a significant speed penalty). The others only offer ordered-mode journaling, which journals meta-data only. While all will return your filesystem to a valid state after recovering from a crash, data-mode journaling offers the greatest protection against file system corruption and data loss but can suffer from performance degradation, as all data is written twice (first to the journal, then to the disk). Depending upon how important your data is, this may be a consideration in choosing your filesystem type.
Moving on...
Choose and create the filesystem (format the partition) for / by selecting yes. You will now be prompted to add any additional partitions. In our example, sda2 and sda4 remain. For sda2, choose a filesystem type and mount it as /var. Finally, choose the filesystem type for sda4, and mount it as /home. Return to main menu.
D: Select Packages
Now we shall select packages to install in our system.
- Core ISO: Choose CD as source and select the appropriate CD drive if you have more than one.
- FTP ISO: Select an FTP/HTTP mirror. Note that archlinux.org is throttled to 50KB/s.
Package selection is split into two stages. First, select the package category: Template:Box Note
- Base: The minimal base environment. Always select it and only remove packages that you don't use.
- Base-devel: Extra tools such as make, automake and wireless-tools as well as wireless firmwares. Most beginners should choose to install it, and will probably need it later.
After category selection, you will be presented with the full lists of packages, allowing you to fine-tune your selections. Use the space bar to select and unselect.
Once you're done selecting the packages you need, leave the selection screen and continue to the next step, Install Packages.
E: Install Packages
Next, choose 'Install Packages'. You will be asked if you wish to keep the packages in the pacman cache. If you choose 'yes', you will have the flexibility to downgrade to previous package versions in the future, so this is recommended (you can always clear the cache in the future). The installer script will now install the selected packages, as well as the default Arch 2.6 kernel, to your system.
- FTP ISO: The Pacman package manager will now download and install your selected packages. (See vc/5 for output, vc/1 to return to the installer)
- CORE ISO: The packages will be installed from the CD.
F: Configure the System
Closely following and understanding these steps is of key importance to ensure a properly configured system.
At this stage of the installation, you will configure the primary configuration files of your Arch Linux base system.
Previous versions of the installer included hwdetect to gather information for your configuration. This has been deprecated, and udev should handle most module loading automatically at boot.
The initramfs
The initial ram filesystem, or initramfs, is a temporary file system used by the kernel during boot. It is used for making preparations, like hardware detection and module loading, before the real root file system can be mounted. Therefore, an initramfs allows for the use of a generic modular kernel for a wide variety of hardware, and without the need to compile a custom kernel for each end user.
You will be prompted by a series of questions related to the configuration of your initramfs. You will be asked if you need support for booting from USB devices, FireWire devices, PCMCIA devices, NFS shares, software RAID arrays, LVM2 volumes, encrypted volumes, and DSDT support. Choose yes if you need it; in our example nothing is needed. Choosing 'yes' for any of the above will cause the installer script to place the appropriate hook(s) within the
/etc/mkinitcpio.conf file.
Now you will be asked which text editor you want to use; choose nano or, if you are familiar with it, vim. You will be presented with a menu including the main configuration files for your system.
Can the installer handle this more automatically?
Hiding the process of system configuration is in direct opposition to The Arch Way. While it is true that recent versions of the kernel and hardware probing tools offer excellent hardware support and auto-configuration, Arch presents the user all pertinent configuration files during installation for the purposes of transparency and system resource control. By the time you have finished modifying these files to your specifications, you will have learned the simple method of manual Arch Linux system configuration and become more familiar with the base structure, leaving you better prepared to use and maintain your new installation productively.
Arch Linux uses the file /etc/rc.conf as the principal location for system configuration. This one file contains a wide range of configuration information, principally used at system startup. As its name directly implies, it also contains settings for and invokes the /etc/rc* files, and is, of course, sourced by these files.
LOCALIZATION section
- LOCALE=: This sets your system locale, which will be used by all i18n-aware applications and utilities. You can get a list of the available locales by running 'locale -a' from the command line. This setting's default is fine for US English users.
- HARDWARECLOCK=: Specifies whether the hardware clock, which is synchronized on boot and on shutdown, stores UTC time, or the localtime. UTC makes sense because it greatly simplifies changing timezones and daylight savings time. localtime is necessary if you dual boot with an operating system such as Windows, that only stores localtime to the hardware clock.
- USEDIRECTISA: Use direct I/O request instead of /dev/rtc for hwclock
- TIMEZONE=: Specify your TIMEZONE. (All available zones are under /usr/share/zoneinfo/).
- KEYMAP=: The available keymaps are in /usr/share/kbd/keymaps. Please note that this setting is only valid for your TTYs, not any graphical window managers or X.
- CONSOLEFONT=: Available console fonts reside under /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts/ if you must change. The default (blank) is safe.
- CONSOLEMAP=: Defines the console map to load with the setfont program at boot. Possible maps are found in /usr/share/kbd/consoletrans, if needed. The default (blank) is safe.
- USECOLOR=: Select "yes" if you have a color monitor and wish to have colors in your consoles.
LOCALE="en_US.utf8" HARDWARECLOCK="localtime" USEDIRECTISA="no" TIMEZONE="US/Eastern" KEYMAP="us" CONSOLEFONT= CONSOLEMAP= USECOLOR="yes"
HARDWARE Section
- MOD_AUTOLOAD=: Setting this to "yes" will use udev to automatically probe hardware and load the appropriate modules during boot-up, (convenient with the default modular kernel). Setting this to "no" will rely on the user's ability to specify this information manually, or compile their own custom kernel and modules, etc.
- MOD_BLACKLIST=: This has become deprecated in favor of adding blacklisted modules directly to the MODULES= line below.
- MODULES=: Specify additional MODULES if you know that an important module is missing. If your system has any floppy drives, add "floppy". If you will be using loopback filesystems, add "loop". Also specify any blacklisted modules by prefixing them with a bang (!). Udev will be forced NOT to load blacklisted modules. In the example, the IPv6 module as well as the annoying pcspeaker are blacklisted.
# Scan hardware and load required modules at boot MOD_AUTOLOAD="yes" # Module Blacklist - Deprecated MOD_BLACKLIST=() # MODULES=(!net-pf-10 !snd_pcsp !pcspkr loop)
NETWORKING Section
- HOSTNAME=:Set your HOSTNAME to your liking.
- eth0=: 'Ethernet, card 0'. Adjust the interface IP address, netmask and broadcast address if you are using static IP. Set eth0="dhcp" if you want to use DHCP
- INTERFACES=: Specify all interfaces here.
- gateway=: If you are using static IP, set the gateway address. If using DHCP, you can usually ignore this variable, though some users have reported the need to define it.
- ROUTES=: If you are using static IP, remove the ! in front of 'gateway'. If using DHCP, you can usually leave this variable commented out with the bang (!), but again, some users require the gateway and ROUTES defined. If you experience networking issues with pacman, for instance, you may want to return to these variables.
Example, using a dynamically assigned IP address (DHCP)
HOSTNAME="arch" #eth0="eth0 192.168.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255" eth0="dhcp" INTERFACES=(eth0) gateway="default gw 192.168.0.1" ROUTES=(!gateway)
Example, using a static IP address
HOSTNAME="arch" eth0="eth0 192.168.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255" INTERFACES=(eth0) gateway="default gw 192.168.0.1" ROUTES=(gateway)
Modify your Template:Filename to contain lines to your the DNS's that your ISP uses.
search my.ips.net. nameserver a.b.c.d nameserver a.b.c.d nameserver a.b.c.d
Finally, Template:Filename needs to be tweaked to keep the dhcpcd from overwriting your Template:Filename which will happen without this modification:
# Arguments to be passed to the DHCP client daemon # # DHCPCD_ARGS="-q" DHCPCD_ARGS="-C resolv.conf -q"
DAEMONS Section
This array simply lists the names of those scripts contained in /etc/rc.d/ which are to be started during the boot process, and the order in which they start.
DAEMONS=(network @syslog-ng netfs @crond)
- If a script name is prefixed with a bang (!), it is not executed.
- If a script is prefixed with an "at" symbol (@), it shall be executed in the background; the startup sequence will not wait for successful completion of each daemon before continuing to the next. (Useful for speeding up system boot). Do not background daemons that are needed by other daemons. For example "mpd" depends on "network", therefore backgrounding network may cause mpd to break.
- Edit this array whenever new system services are installed, if starting them automatically during boot is desired.
This 'BSD-style' init, is the Arch way of handling what other distributions handle with various symlinks to an /etc/init.d directory.
About DAEMONS
You do not have to change the daemons line at this time, but it is useful to explain what daemons are, because we need them later in this guide. A daemon is a program that runs in the background, waiting for events to occur and offering services. A good example is a webserver that waits for a request to deliver a page or an SSH server waiting for someone trying to log in. While these are full-featured applications, there are daemons whose work is not that visible. Examples are a daemon which writes messages into a log file (e.g. syslog, metalog), a daemon which lowers your CPU's frequency if your system has nothing to do (e.g.:cpufreq), and a daemon which offers you a graphical login (e.g.: gdm, kdm). All these programs can be added to the daemons line and will be started when the system boots. Useful daemons will be presented during this guide.
Historically, the term daemon was coined by the programmers of MIT's Project MAC. They took the name from Maxwell's demon, an imaginary being from a famous thought experiment that constantly works in the background, sorting molecules.
UNIX systems inherited this terminology and created the backronym disk and execution monitor.
The fstab (for file systems table) is part of the system configuration listing all available disks and disk partitions, and indicating how they are to be initialized or otherwise integrated into the overall system's filesystem. The /etc/fstab file is most commonly used by the mount command. The mount command takes a filesystem on a device, and adds it to the main system hierarchy that you see when you use your system. mount -a is called from /etc/rc.sysinit, about 3/4 of the way through the boot process, and reads /etc/fstab to determine which options should be used when mounting the specified devices therein. If noauto is appended to a filesystem in /etc/fstab, mount -a will not mount it at boot.
An example /etc/fstab
# <file system> <dir> <type> <options> <dump> <pass> none /dev/pts devpts defaults 0 0 none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0 #/dev/cdrom /media/cdrom auto ro,user,noauto,unhide 0 0 #/dev/dvd /media/dvd auto ro,user,noauto,unhide 0 0 #/dev/fd0 /media/fl auto user,noauto 0 0 /dev/disk/by-uuid/0ec-933.. / jfs defaults,noatime 0 1 /dev/disk/by-uuid/7ef-223.. /home jfs defaults,noatime 0 2 /dev/disk/by-uuid/530-1e-.. swap swap defaults 0 0 /dev/disk/by-uuid/4fe-110.. /var reiserfs defaults,noatime,notail 0 2
Template:Box Note Template:Box Note
- <file system>: describes the block device or remote filesystem to be mounted. For regular mounts, this field will contain a link to a block device node (as created by mknod which is called by udev at boot) for the device to be mounted; for instance, '/dev/cdrom' or '/dev/sda1'. Instead of giving the device explicitly, the Arch installer indicates the filesystem that is to be mounted by its UUID by default.
ls -lF /dev/disk/by-uuid/
will list all partitions by UUID, while
will show a list correlating each partition with its label, filesystem type and UUID. Note: this command is installed by the e2fsprogs package.
- <dir>: describes the mount point for the filesystem. For swap partitions, this field should be specified as 'swap'; (Swap partitions are not actually mounted.)
- <type>: describes the type of the filesystem. The Linux kernel supports many filesystem types. (For the filesystems currently supported by the running kernel, see /proc/filesystems). An entry 'swap' denotes a file or partition to be used for swapping. An entry 'ignore' causes the line to be ignored. This is useful to show disk partitions which are currently unused.
- <options>: describes the mount options associated with the filesystem. It is formatted as a comma separated list of options with no intervening spaces. It contains at least the type of mount plus any additional options appropriate to the filesystem type. For documentation on the available options for non-nfs file systems, see mount(8).
- <dump>: used by the dump(8) command to determine which filesystems are to be dumped. dump is a backup utility. If the fifth field is not present, a value of zero is returned and dump will assume that the filesystem does not need to be backed up. Note that dump is not installed by default.
- <pass>: used by the fsck(8) program to determine the order in which filesystem checks are done at boot time. The root filesystem should be specified with a <pass> of 1, and other filesystems should have a <pass> of 2 or 0. Filesystems within a drive will be checked sequentially, but filesystems on different drives will be checked at the same time to utilize parallelism available in the hardware. If the sixth field is not present or zero, a value of zero is returned and fsck will assume that the filesystem does not need to be checked.
- If you plan on using hal to automount media such as DVDs, you may wish to comment out the cdrom and dvd entries in preparation for hal, which will be installed later in this guide.
Expanded information available in the Fstab wiki entry.
This file allows you to fine-tune the initial ram filesystem (also commonly referred to as the initial ramdisk or "initrd") for your system. The initrd is a gzipped image that is read by the kernel during boot. The purpose of the initrd is to bootstrap the system to the point where it can access the root filesystem. This means it has to load any modules that are required for devices like IDE, SCSI, or SATA drives (or USB/FW, if you are booting off a USB/FW drive). Once the initrd loads the proper modules, either manually or through udev, it passes control to the Arch system and your boot continues. For this reason, the initrd only needs to contain the modules necessary to access the root filesystem. It does not need to contain every module you would ever want to use. The majority of your everyday modules will be loaded later on by udev, during the init process.
mkinitcpio is the next generation of initramfs creation. It has many advantages over the old mkinitrd and mkinitramfs scripts.
- It uses klibc and kinit which are developed by Linux kernel devs to provide a small and lightweight base for early userspace.
- It can use udev for hardware autodetection at runtime, thus prevents you from having tons of unnecessary modules loaded.
- Its hook-based init script is easily extendable with custom hooks, which can easily be included in pacman packages without having to modifiy mkinitcpio itself.
- It already supports lvm2, dm-crypt for both legacy and luks volumes, raid, swsusp and suspend2 resuming and booting from usb mass storage devices.
- Many features can be configured from the kernel command line without having to rebuild the image.
- The mkinitcpio script makes it possible to include the image in a kernel, thus making a self-contained kernel image is possible.
- Its flexibility makes recompiling a kernel unnecessary in many cases.
If you are using a non-US keyboard you may want to add "
keymap" to the "
HOOKS=" section of /etc/mkinitcpio.conf to load your local keymap during boot, e.g.:
HOOKS="base udev autodetect pata scsi sata filesystems keymap"
Otherwise if boot fails for some reason you will be asked to enter root's password for system maintenance but will be unable to do so.
If you are using a US keyboard editing this configuration should be unnecessary at this point.
mkinitcpio was developed by Aaron Griffin and Tobias Powalowski with some help from the community.
It is unnecessary to configure this file at this time.
- modprobe.conf can be used to set special configuration options for the kernel modules
/etc/resolv.conf (for Static IP)
The resolver is a set of routines in the C library that provide access to the Internet Domain Name System (DNS). One of the main functions of DNS is to translate domain names into IP addresses, to make the Web a friendlier place. The resolver configuration file, or /etc/resolv.conf, contains information that is read by the resolver routines the first time they are invoked by a process.
- If you are using DHCP, you may safely ignore this file, as by default, it will be dynamically created and destroyed by the dhcpcd daemon. You may change this default behavior if you wish. (See Network]).
If you use a static IP, set your DNS servers in /etc/resolv.conf (nameserver <ip-address>). You may have as many as you wish. An example, using OpenDNS:
nameserver 184.108.40.206 nameserver 220.127.116.11
If you are using a router, you will probably want to specify your DNS servers in the router itself, and merely point to it from your /etc/resolv.conf, using your router's IP (which is also your gateway from /etc/rc.conf), e.g.:
nameserver 192.168.1.1
If using DHCP, you may also specify your DNS servers in the router, or allow automatic assignment from your ISP, if your ISP is so equipped.
This file associates IP addresses with hostnames and aliases, one line per IP address. For each host a single line should be present with the following information:
<IP-address> <hostname> [aliases...]
Add your hostname, coinciding with the one specified in /etc/rc.conf, as an alias, so that it looks like this:
127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost yourhostname
If you use a static IP, add another line using the syntax: <static-IP> <hostname.domainname.org> <hostname> e.g.:
192.168.1.100 yourhostname.domain.org yourhostname
188.8.131.52 www.google.com g 192.168.1.90 media 192.168.1.88 dataThe above example would allow you to access google simply by typing 'g' into your browser, and access to a media and data server on your network by name and without the need for typing out their respective IP addresses.
/etc/hosts.deny and /etc/hosts.allow
Modify these configurations according to your needs if you plan on using the ssh daemon. The default configuration will reject all incoming connections, not only ssh connections. Edit your /etc/hosts.allow file and add the appropriate parameters:
- let everyone connect to you
sshd: ALL
- restrict it to a certain ip
sshd: 192.168.0.1
- restrict it to your local LAN network (range 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.0.255)
sshd: 192.168.0.
- OR restrict for an IP range
sshd: 10.0.0.0/255.255.255.0
If you do not plan on using the ssh daemon, leave this file at the default, (empty), for added security.
The /usr/sbin/locale-gen command reads from /etc/locale.gen to generate specific locales. They can then be used by glibc and any other locale-aware program or library for rendering "peculiar" text, correctly displaying regional monetary values, time and date formats, alphabetic idiosyncrasies, and other locale-specific standards. The ability to setup a default locale is a great built-in privilege of using a
UNIX-like operating system.
By default /etc/locale.gen is an empty file with commented documentation. Once edited, the file remains untouched. locale-gen runs on every glibc upgrade, generating all the locales specified in /etc/locale.gen.
Choose the locale(s) you need (remove the # in front of the lines you want), e.g.:
en_US ISO-8859-1 en_US.UTF-8
The installer will now run the locale-gen script, which will generate the locales you specified. You may change your locale in the future by editing /etc/locale.gen and subsequently running 'locale-gen' as root.
Root password
Finally, set a root password and make sure that you remember it later. Return to the main menu and continue with installing bootloader.
Choose a mirror repository for pacman.
- archlinux.org is throttled, limiting downloads to 50KB/s
Return to the main menu.
G: Install Bootloader
Because we have no secondary operating system in our example, we will need a bootloader. GNU GRUB is the recommended bootloader. Alternatively, you may choose LILO.
The provided GRUB configuration (/boot/grub/menu.lst) should be sufficient, but verify its contents to ensure accuracy (specifically, ensure that the root (/) partition is specified by UUID on line 3). You may want to alter the resolution of the console by adding a vga=<number> kernel argument corresponding to your desired virtual console resolution. (A table of resolutions and the corresponding numbers is printed in the menu.lst.)
title Arch Linux (Main) root (hd0,0) kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/0ec1-9339.. ro vga=773 initrd /boot/kernel26.img
Line 1: title: A printed menu selection. "Arch Linux (Main)" will be printed on the screen as a menu selection.
Line 2: root: GRUB's root; the drive and partition where the kernel (/boot) resides, according to system BIOS. (More accurately, where GRUB's stage2 file resides). NOT necessarily the root (/) file system, as they can reside on separate partitions. GRUB's numbering scheme starts at 0, and uses an hdx,x format regardless of IDE or SATA, and enclosed within parentheses.
The example indicates that /boot is on the first partition of the first drive, according to BIOS, or, (hd0,0).
Line 3: kernel: This line specifies:
- The path and filename of the kernel relative to GRUB's root.
In the example, /boot is merely a directory residing on the same partition as / and vmlinuz26 is the kernel filename; /boot/vmlinuz26. If /boot were on a separate partition, the path and filename would be simply /vmlinuz26, being relative to GRUB's root.
- The root= argument to the kernel statement specifies the partition containing the root (/) directory in the booted system, (more accurately, the partition containing /sbin/init). If not already specified, you should enter the name of the partition, according to the UUID numbering scheme, using the /dev/disk/by-uuid/xxxx-xxxx-xxxx format. This UUID was found in the previous section regarding configuration of /etc/fstab.
- An easy way to distinguish the 2 appearances of 'root' in /boot/grub/menu.lst is to remember that the first root statement informs GRUB where the kernel resides, whereas the second root= kernel argument tells the kernel where the root filesystem (/) resides.
- Kernel options.
In our example, ro mounts the filesystem as read only during startup, and the "vga=773" argument will give a 1024x768 framebuffer with 256 color depth.
Line 4: initrd: (For Initial RAM disk) The path and filename of the initial RAM filesystem relative to GRUB's root. Again, in the example, /boot is merely a directory residing on the same partition as / and kernel26.img is the initrd filename; /boot/kernel26.img. If /boot were on a separate partition, the path and filename would be simply /kernel26.img, being relative to GRUB's root.
Install the GRUB bootloader (to the master boot record, sda in our example).
H: Reboot
That's it; You have configured and installed your Arch Linux base system. Exit the install, and reboot:
# reboot
(Be sure to remove the installer CD)
Part II: Configure&Update the New Arch Linux base system
Your new Arch Linux system will boot up and finish with a login prompt (you may want to change the boot order in your BIOS back to booting from hard disk).
Congratulations, and welcome to your new Arch Linux base system!
Your new Arch Linux base system is now a functional GNU/Linux environment ready for customization. From here, you may build this elegant set of tools into whatever you wish or require for your purposes.
Login with the root account. We will configure pacman and update the system as root, then add a normal user. Template:Box Note
Step 1: Configuring the network (if necessary)
- This section will assist you in configuring most types of networks, if your network configuration is not working for you.
If you properly configured your system, you should have a working network. Try to ping www.google.com to verify this.
# ping -c 3 www.google.com
If you have successfully established a network connection, continue with Update, Sync and Upgrade the system with pacman.
If, after trying to ping www.google.com, an "unknown host" error is received, you may conclude that your network is not properly configured. You may choose to double-check the following files for integrity and proper settings:
/etc/rc.conf # Specifically, check your HOSTNAME= and NETWORKING section for typos and errors.
/etc/hosts # Double-check your format. (See above.)
/etc/resolv.conf # If you are using a static IP. If you are using DHCP, this file will be dynamically created and destroyed by default, but can be changed to your preference. (See Network.)
Wired LAN
Check your Ethernet with
# ifconfig -a
All interfaces will be listed. You should see an entry for eth0, or perhaps eth1.
- Static IP
If required, you can set a new static IP with:
# ifconfig eth0 <ip address> netmask <netmask> up
and the default gateway with
# route add default gw <ip address of the gateway>
Verify that /etc/resolv.conf contains your DNS server and add it if it is missing. Check your network again with ping www.google.com. If everything is working now, adjust /etc/rc.conf as described above for static IP.
If you have a DHCP server/router in your network try:
# dhcpcd eth0
If this is working, adjust /etc/rc.conf as described above, for dynamic IP.
Wireless LAN
- Ensure the driver has created a usable interface:
# iwconfig
- Bring the interface up with
ifconfig <interface> up. e.g.:
# ifconfig wlan0 up
- (Optional) Scan for available access points:
# iwlist wlan0 scan | less
- Specify the id of the wireless network with
iwconfig <interface> essid <youressid>. Or, if using WEP;
iwconfig <interface> essid <youressid> key <yourwepkey>, e.g.:
# iwconfig wlan0 essid linksys key ABCDEF01234
- Request an IP address with
dhcpcd <interface>. e.g.:
# dhcpcd wlan0
- Ensure you can route:
$ ping -c 3 www.google.com
Detailed setup guide: Wireless Setup
Analog Modem
To be able to use a Hayes-compatible, external, analog modem, you need to at least have the ppp package installed. Modify the file /etc/ppp/options to suit your needs and according to man pppd. You will need to define a chat script to supply your username and password to the ISP after the initial connection has been established. The manpages for pppd and chat have examples in them that should suffice to get a connection up and running if you're either experienced or stubborn enough. With udev, your serial ports usually are /dev/tts/0 and /dev/tts/1. Tip: Read Dialup without a dialer HOWTO.
Instead of fighting a glorious battle with the plain pppd, you may opt to install wvdial or a similar tool to ease the setup process considerably. In case you're using a so-called WinModem, which is basically a PCI plugin card working as an internal analog modem, you should indulge in the vast information found on the LinModem homepage.
Setting up ISDN is done in three steps:
- Install and configure hardware
- Install and configure the ISDN utilities
- Add settings for your ISP
The current Arch stock kernels include the necessary ISDN modules, meaning that you will not need to recompile your kernel unless you're about to use rather odd ISDN hardware. After physically installing your ISDN card in your machine or plugging in your USB ISDN-Box, you can try loading the modules with modprobe. Nearly all passive ISDN PCI cards are handled by the hisax module, which needs two parameters: type and protocol. You must set protocol to '1' if your country uses the 1TR6 standard, '2' if it uses EuroISDN (EDSS1), '3' if you're hooked to a so-called leased-line without D-channel, and '4' for US NI1.
Details on all those settings and how to set them is included in the kernel documentation, more specifically in the isdn subdirectory, and available online. The type parameter depends on your card; a list of all possible types can be found in the README.HiSax kernel documentation. Choose your card and load the module with the appropriate options like this:
# modprobe hisax type=18 protocol=2
This will load the hisax module for my ELSA Quickstep 1000PCI, being used in Germany with the EDSS1 protocol. You should find helpful debugging output in your /var/log/everything.log file, in which you should see your card being prepared for action. Please note that you will probably need to load some USB modules before you can work with an external USB ISDN Adapter.
Once you have confirmed that your card works with certain settings, you can add the module options to your /etc/modprobe.conf:
alias ippp0 hisax options hisax type=18 protocol=2
Alternatively, you can add only the options line here, and add hisax to your MODULES array in the rc.conf. It's your choice, really, but this example has the advantage that the module will not be loaded until it's really needed.
That being done, you should have working, supported hardware. Now you need the basic utilities to actually use it!
Install the isdn4k-utils package, and read the manpage to isdnctrl; it'll get you started. Further down in the manpage you will find explanations on how to create a configuration file that can be parsed by isdnctrl, as well as some helpful setup examples. Please note that you have to add your SPID to your MSN setting separated by a colon if you use US NI1.
After you have configured your ISDN card with the isdnctrl utility, you should be able to dial into the machine you specified with the PHONE_OUT parameter, but fail the username and password authentication. To make this work add your username and password to /etc/ppp/pap-secrets or /etc/ppp/chap-secrets as if you were configuring a normal analogous PPP link, depending on which protocol your ISP uses for authentication. If in doubt, put your data into both files.
If you set up everything correctly, you should now be able to establish a dial-up connection with
# isdnctrl dial ippp0
as root. If you have any problems, remember to check the logfiles!
DSL (PPPoE)
These instructions are relevant to you only if your PC itself is supposed to manage the connection to your ISP. You do not need to do anything but define a correct default gateway if you are using a separate router of some sort to do the grunt work.
Before you can use your DSL online connection, you will have to physically install the network card that is supposed to be connected to the DSL-Modem into your computer. After adding your newly installed network card to the modules.conf/modprobe.conf or the MODULES array, you should install the rp-pppoe package and run the pppoe-setup script to configure your connection. After you have entered all the data, you can connect and disconnect your line with
# /etc/rc.d/adsl start
# /etc/rc.d/adsl stop
respectively. The setup usually is rather easy and straightforward, but feel free to read the manpages for hints. If you want to automatically 'dial in' on boot-up, add adsl to your DAEMONS array, and put a ! before the network entry, since the network is handled by adsl now.
Step 2: Update, Sync and Upgrade the system with pacman
Now we will update the system using pacman.
What is pacman ?
Pacman is the package manager of Arch Linux. Pacman is written in C and is designed from the ground up to be lightweight with a very modest memory footprint, fast, simple, and versatile. It manages your entire package system and handles installation, removal, package downgrade (through cache), custom compiled package handling, automatic dependency resolution, remote and local searches and much more. Pacman's output is streamlined, very readable and provides ETA for each package download. Arch uses the .tar.gz package format, which further enhances pacman's speed; Gzipped tarballs, though slightly larger, are decompressed many times faster than their Bzipped counterparts, and are therefore installed much more expediently.
We will use pacman to download software packages from remote repositories and install them onto your system.
Pacman is the most important tool in your Arch Linux toolbox for building the base system into whatsoever you please.
Package Repositories and /etc/pacman.conf
Arch currently offers the following 4 repositories readily accessible through pacman:
The simple principle behind [core] is to provide only one of each necessary tool for a base Arch Linux system; The GNU toolchain, the Linux kernel, one editor, one command line browser, etc. (There are a few exceptions to this. For instance, both vi and nano are provided, allowing the user to choose one or both.) It contains all the packages that MUST be in perfect working order to ensure the system remains in a usable state. These are the absolute system-critical packages.
- Developer maintained
- All binary packages
- pacman accessible
- The Core installation media simply contains an installer script, and a snapshot of the core repository at the time of release.
The [extra] repository contains all Arch packages that are not themselves necessary for a base Arch system, but contribute to a more full-featured environment. X, KDE, and Apache, for instance, can be found here.
- Developer maintained
- All binary packages
- pacman accessible
The [testing] repository contains packages that are candidates for the [core] or [extra] repositories. New packages go into [testing] if:
* they are expected to break something on update and need to be tested first.
* they require other packages to be rebuilt. In this case, all packages that need to be rebuilt are put into [testing] first and when all rebuilds are done, they are moved back to the other repositories.
- Developer maintained
- All binary packages
- pacman accessible
The [community] repository is maintained by the Trusted Users (TUs) and is simply the binary branch of the Arch User Repository (AUR). It contains binary packages which originated as PKGBUILDs from AUR [unsupported] that have acquired enough votes and were adopted by a TU. Like all repos listed above, [community] may be readily accessed by pacman.
- TU maintained
- All binary packages
- pacman accessible
AUR (unsupported)
The AUR also contains the unsupported branch, which cannot be accessed directly by pacman*. AUR [unsupported] does not contain binary packages. Rather, it provides more than sixteen thousand PKGBUILD scripts for building packages from source, that may be unavailable through the other repos. When an AUR unsupported package acquires enough popular votes, it may be moved to the AUR [community] binary repo, if a TU is willing to adopt and maintain it there.
- TU maintained
- All PKGBUILD bash build scripts
- Not pacman accessible by default
* pacman wrappers (AUR Helpers) can help you seamlessly access AUR.
pacman will attempt to read /etc/pacman.conf each time it is invoked. This configuration file is divided into sections, or repositories. Each section defines a package repository that pacman can use when searching for packages. The exception to this is the options section, which defines global options.
# nano /etc/pacman.conf
# # /etc/pacman.conf # # See the pacman.conf(5) manpage for option and repository directives # # GENERAL OPTIONS # [options] # The following paths are commented out with their default values listed. # If you wish to use different paths, uncomment and update the paths. #RootDir = / #DBPath = /var/lib/pacman/ #CacheDir = /var/cache/pacman/pkg/ #LogFile = /var/log/pacman.log HoldPkg = pacman glibc # If upgrades are available for these packages they will be asked for first SyncFirst = pacman #XferCommand = /usr/bin/wget --passive-ftp -c -O %o %u #XferCommand = /usr/bin/curl %u > %o # Pacman won't upgrade packages listed in IgnorePkg and members of IgnoreGroup #IgnorePkg = #IgnoreGroup = #NoUpgrade = #NoExtract = # Misc options (all disabled by default) #NoPassiveFtp #UseSyslog #ShowSize #UseDelta #TotalDownload # # REPOSITORIES # - can be defined here or included from another file # - pacman will search repositories in the order defined here # - local/custom mirrors can be added here or in separate files # - repositories listed first will take precedence when packages # have identical names, regardless of version number # - URLs will have $repo replaced by the name of the current repo # # Repository entries are of the format: # [repo-name] # Server = ServerName # Include = IncludePath # # The header [repo-name] is crucial - it must be present and # uncommented to enable the repo. # # Testing is disabled by default. To enable, uncomment the following # two lines. You can add preferred servers immediately after the header, # and they will be used before the default mirrors. #[testing] #Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist [core] # Add your preferred servers here, they will be used first Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist [extra] # Add your preferred servers here, they will be used first Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist [community] # Add your preferred servers here, they will be used first Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist # An example of a custom package repository. See the pacman manpage for # tips on creating your own repositories. #[custom] #Server = file:///home/custompkgs
Enable all desired repositories (remove the # in front of the 'Include =' and '[repository]' lines).
- When choosing repos, be sure to uncomment both the repository header lines in [brackets] as well as the 'Include =' lines. Failure to do so will result in the selected repository being omitted! This is a very common error.
Faster mirrors will dramatically improve pacman performance, and your overall Arch Linux experience.
Edit /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist:
- Manually:
# nano /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
Remove all mirrors which are not on your continent, or are extremely distant. In nano, [CTRL]+K will cut each unneeded line.
Edit /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist by placing the best mirror at the top of the list. (Recall that archlinux.org is throttled to 50KB/s). In nano, [ALT]+A selects an area, cursor down marks the lines, [CTRL]+K cuts the selected area and [CTRL]+U uncuts, or pastes it.
- Alternative, using the rankmirrors script:
/usr/bin/rankmirrors is a python script which will attempt to detect the mirrors which are closest to you.
First, use pacman to install python:
# pacman -Sy python
cd to the /etc/pacman.d/ directory:
# cd /etc/pacman.d
Backup your existing /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist:
# cp mirrorlist mirrorlist.backup
Edit mirrorlist.backup and uncomment mirrors you want to test with rankmirrors.
Run the script against the mirrorlist.backup with the -n switch and redirect output to a new /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist file:
# rankmirrors -n 6 mirrorlist.backup > mirrorlist
-n 6: rank the 6 fastest mirrors
Force pacman to refresh the package lists
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.
Mirrorcheck for up-to-date packages
Some of the official mirrors may contain packages that are out-of-date. [ArchLinux Mirrorcheck] reports various aspects about the mirrors such as, those experiencing network problems, data collection problems, reports the last time they have been synced, etc.
One may wish to manually inspect the mirrors in the /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist insuring that it only contains up-to-date mirrors if having the latest and greatest package versions is important to you.
Ignoring packages
When you execute the command "pacman -Syu", your entire system will be updated. It is possible that you want to prevent a package from being upgraded. An example could be the kernel (kernel26) or a package for which an upgrade may prove problematic for your system. In this case, you have two options; indicate the package(s) you want to skip in the pacman command line using the --ignore switch (do pacman -S --help for details) or permanently indicate the package(s) you want to skip in your /etc/pacman.conf file in the IgnorePkg array. List each package, with one intervening space :
IgnorePkg = wine
The typical way to use Arch is to use pacman to install all packages unless there is no package available, in which case you can build your own package using ABS. Many user-contributed package build scripts are also available in the AUR.
You are expected to keep your system up to date with pacman -Syu, rather than selectively upgrading packages. You may diverge from this typical usage as you wish; just be warned that there is a greater chance that things will not work as intended and that it could break your system. The majority of complaints happen when selective upgrading, unusual compilation or improper software installation is performed. Use of IgnorePkg in /etc/pacman.conf is therefore discouraged, and should only be used sparingly, if you know what you are doing.
Ignoring Configuration Files
In the same vein, you can also "protect" your configuration/system files from being overwritten during "pacman -Su" using the following option in your /etc/pacman.conf
NoUpgrade = etc/lilo.conf boot/grub/menu.lst
Get familiar with pacman
pacman is the Arch user's best friend. It is highly recommended to study and learn how to use the pacman(8) tool. Try:
$ man pacman
For more information,please look up the pacman wiki entries at your leisure.
Powerpill, a pacman wrapper script
Before you continue, consider installing Xyne's powerpill (now in [community]) which is a pacman wrapper script that speeds up package retrieval by using aria2c (an external download helper) for concurrent/segmented downloads. In other words, powerpill pulls packages in parallel effectively speeding up your downloads. This is particularly advantageous on new installs when pulling down hundreds of megs of packages.
# pacman -S powerpill
Treat powerpill as pacman as you consider installations, for example, the following will update your system:
# powerpill -Syu
See the Powerpill wiki article for more.
Step 3: Update System
You are now ready to upgrade your entire system. Before you do, read through the news (and optionally the announce mailing list). Often the developers will provide important information about fixes for known issues. Consulting these pages before any upgrade is good practice.
Sync, refresh, and upgrade your entire new system with:
# pacman -Syu
you may also use:
# pacman --sync --refresh --sysupgrade
pacman will now download a fresh copy of the master package list from the server(s) defined in pacman.conf(5) and perform all available upgrades. (You may be prompted to upgrade pacman itself at this point. If so, say yes, and then reissue the pacman -Syu command when finished.)
Reboot if a kernel upgrade has occurred.
Pacman output is saved in /var/log/pacman.log.
See Package Management FAQs for answers to frequently asked questions regarding updating and managing your packages.
The Arch rolling release model
Keep in mind that Arch is a rolling release distribution. This means there is never a reason to reinstall or perform elaborate system rebuilds to upgrade to the newest version. Simply issuing pacman -Syu periodically keeps your entire system up-to-date and on the bleeding edge. At the end of this upgrade, your system is completely current. Reboot if a kernel upgrade has occurred.
Network Time Protocol
You may wish to set the system time now using OpenNTPD to sync the local clock to remote NTP servers. OpenNTPD may also be added to the DAEMONS= array in /etc/rc.conf to provide this service at each boot. (See the Network Time Protocol article.)
Step 4: Add a user and setup groups
UNIX is a multi-user environment. You should not do your everyday work using the root account. It is more than poor practice; it is dangerous. Root is for administrative tasks. Instead, add a normal, non-root user account using the
/usr/sbin/useradd program:
# useradd -m -G [groups] -s [login_shell] [username]
- -m Creates user home directory as /home/username. Within their home directory, a user can write files, delete them, install programs, etc. Users' home directories shall contain their data and personal configuration files, the so-called 'dot files' (their name is preceded by a dot), which are 'hidden'. (To view dotfiles, enable the appropriate option in your file manager or run ls with the -a switch.) If there is a conflict between user (under /home/username) and global configuration files, (usually under /etc/) the settings in the user file will prevail. Dotfiles likely to be altered by the end user include .xinitrc and .bashrc files. The configuration files for xinit and Bash respectively. They allow the user the ability to change the window manager to be started upon login and also aliases, user-specified commands and environment variables respectively. When a user is created, their dotfiles shall be taken from the /etc/skel directory where system sample files reside.
- -G A list of supplementary groups which the user is also a member of. Each group is separated from the next by a comma, with no intervening spaces. The default is for the user to belong only to the initial group (users).
- -s The path and filename of the user´s default login shell.
Useful groups for your non-root user include:
- audio - for tasks involving sound card and related software
- floppy - for access to a floppy if applicable
- lp - for managing printing tasks
- optical - for managing tasks pertaining to the optical drive(s)
- storage - for managing storage devices
- video - for video tasks and 3d acceleration
- wheel - for using sudo
- power - used w/ power options (ie. shutdown w/ off button)
A typical desktop system example, adding a user named "archie" specifying bash as the login shell:
# useradd -m -G users,audio,lp,optical,storage,video,wheel,power -s /bin/bash archie
Next, add a password for your new user using
An example for our user, 'archie':
# passwd archie
(You will be prompted to provide the new
UNIX password.)
Your new non-root user has now been created, complete with a home directory and a login password.
Alternative method, using
Alternatively, you may use
adduser, an interactive user adding program which will prompt you for the above data: (recommended for beginners)
# adduser
Deleting the user account:
In the event of error, or if you wish to delete this user account in favor of a different name or for any other reason, use
# userdel -r [username]
- -r Files in the user´s home directory will be removed along with the home directory itself and the user´s mail spool.
If you want to change the name of your user or any existing user, see the Change username page of the wiki and/or the Groups and User Management articles for further information. You may also check the man pages for
usermod(8) and
Step 5: Install and setup Sudo (Optional)
To install Sudo:
# pacman -S sudo
To add a user as a sudo user (a "sudoer"), the visudo command must be run as root. If you do not know how to use vi, you may set the EDITOR environment variable to the editor of your choice before running visudo. e.g.:
# EDITOR=nano visudo
If you are comfortable using vi, issue the visudo command without the EDITOR=nano variable:
# visudo
This will open the file /etc/sudoers in a special session of vi. visudo copies the file to be edited to a temporary file, edits it with an editor, (vi by default), and subsequently runs a sanity check. If it passes, the temporary file overwrites the original with the correct permissions.
To give the user full root privileges when he/she precedes a command with "sudo", add the following line:
where USER_NAME is the username of the individual.
For more information, such as sudoer <TAB> completion, see Sudo
Part III: Install X
Step 1: Install X
The X Window System version 11 (commonly X11, or just simply X) is a networking and display protocol which provides windowing on bitmap displays. It provides the standard toolkit and protocol to build graphical user interfaces (GUIs) on
UNIX-like operating systems.
X provides the basic framework, or primitives, for building GUI environments: drawing and moving windows on the screen and interacting with a mouse and/or keyboard. X does not mandate the user interface — individual client programs handle this.
X is so named because it was preceded by the W Window System, originally developed at Stanford University.
# pacman -S libgl
(Proprietary video drivers provide their own gl library implementations.)
A: Install X
Now we will install the base Xorg packages using pacman. This is the first step in building a GUI.
# pacman -S xorg
With newer versions of xorg, it is suggested (and possibly necessary in most cases) to install the input driver evdev, which should be installed as a dependency for xorg-server, but many seem to be lacking somehow:
# pacman -S xf86-input-evdev
The 3d utilities glxgears and glxinfo are included in the mesa package:
# pacman -S mesa
B: Install Video Driver Package
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 X.org 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
If you need a list of all open-source video drivers, do:
# pacman -Ss xf86-video | less
Here is a list of open source drivers, and the corresponding video chipsets.
- xf86-video-apm — Alliance ProMotion video driver
- xf86-video-ark — ark video driver
- xf86-video-ati — ATI(AMD) video driver
- xf86-video-r128 — ATI(AMD) video driver for X.org ati Rage128 video
- xf86-video-mach64 — ATI(AMD) video driver for X.org mach64 video
- xf86-video-radeonhd — open source radeonhd driver
- xf86-video-chips — Chips and Technologies video driver
- xf86-video-cirrus — Cirrus Logic video driver
- xf86-video-dummy — dummy video driver
- xf86-video-fbdev — framebuffer video driver
- xf86-video-glint — GLINT/Permedia video driver
- xf86-video-i128 — Number 0 i128 video driver
- xf86-video-i740 — Intel i740 video driver
- xf86-video-i810 — Intel i810/i830/i9xx video drivers (deprecated - use -intel)
- xf86-video-intel — Newer Version of Intel i810/i830/i9xx video drivers
- xf86-video-intel-legacy — Legacy-driver for older intel cards as 82865G (xf86-video-intel currently crashes with older cards)
- xf86-video-imstt — Integrated Micro Solutions Twin Turbo video driver
- xf86-video-mga — mga video driver (Matrox Graphics Adapter)
- xf86-video-neomagic — neomagic video driver
- xf86-video-nv — Nvidia nv video driver
- xf86-video-nouveau — Open Source 3D acceleration driver for nVidia cards (experimental), check: [1] for Current Status
- xf86-video-openchrome — VIA/S3G UniChrome, UniChrome Pro and Chrome9 video driver
- xf86-video-rendition — Rendition video driver
- xf86-video-s3 — S3 video driver
- xf86-video-s3virge — S3 Virge video driver
- xf86-video-savage — savage video driver
- xf86-video-siliconmotion — siliconmotion video driver
- xf86-video-sis — SiS video driver
- xf86-video-sisusb — SiS USB video driver
- xf86-video-tdfx — tdfx video driver
- xf86-video-trident — Trident video driver
- xf86-video-tseng — tseng video driver
- xf86-video-unichrome — VIA S3 Unichrome video drivers
- xf86-video-v4l — v4l video driver
- xf86-video-vesa — vesa video driver
- xf86-video-vga — VGA 16 color video driver
- xf86-video-vmware — vmware video driver
- xf86-video-voodoo — voodoo video driver
Note: The vesa driver is the most generic, and should work with almost any modern video chipset. If you cannot find a suitable driver for your video chipset, vesa should work.
Use pacman to install the appropriate video driver for your video card/onboard video. e.g.:
# pacman -S xf86-video-savage
(for the Savage driver.)
- If you have an NVIDIA or ATI graphics card you may wish to install the proprietary NVIDIA or ATI drivers. Installing proprietary video drivers is covered below..
- If you do not want to install the proprietary drivers or do not have an NVIDIA or ATI graphics card, you should skip down to Step 3: Configure X.
NVIDIA Graphics Cards
The NVIDIA proprietary drivers are generally considered to be of good quality, and offer 3D performance, whereas the open source nv driver offers only 2d support at this time.
Before you configure your Graphics Card you will need to know which driver fits. Arch currently has several different driver packages that each match a certain subset of Cards:
1. nvidia-96xx slightly newer cards up to the GF 4.
2. nvidia-173xx Geforce FX series cards
3. nvidia newest GPUs after the GF FX
Consult the NVIDIA website to see which one is for you. The difference is only for the installation; Configuration works the same with every driver.
Select and install the appropriate NVIDIA driver for your card, e.g.:
# pacman -S nvidia-96xx
The NVIDIA package has a utility for updating your existing /etc/X11/xorg.conf for use with the NVIDIA driver:
# nvidia-xconfig
It also has several options which will further specify the contents and options of the xorg.conf file. For example,
# nvidia-xconfig --composite --add-argb-glx-visuals
For more detailed information, see nvidia-xconfig(1).
Some useful tweaking options in the device section are (beware that these may not work on your system):
Option "RenderAccel" "true" Option "NoLogo" "true" Option "AGPFastWrite" "true" Option "EnablePageFlip" "true"
Make sure all instances of DRI are commented out:
# Load "dri"
Double check your /etc/X11/xorg.conf to make sure your default depth, horizontal sync, vertical refresh, and resolutions are acceptable.
Update kernel module dependencies using
# depmod -a
(A reboot may be necessary.)
You may now continue with Step 3: Configure X to familiarize yourself further, or continue the installation process with Test X.
ATI Graphics Cards
ATI owners have multiple options for drivers.
- The open source radeon driver provided by the xf86-video-ati package.
- This is the original, reverse-engineered open source driver which fully supports Radeon chipsets up to X1950 (latest R500 chipsets). Cards up to the 9200 series are fully supported, stable, and provide full 2D and 3D acceleration. Cards from 9500 to X1950 feature full 2D acceleration, and good 3D acceleration, but lack certain features provided by the proprietary driver, (for example, powersaving is still in a testing phase). Cards from HD2xxx (R6xx) to the newest are supported by xf86-video-ati, but only offer 2d support at this time.
- The open source radeonhd driver provided by the xf86-video-radeonhd package.
- This driver supports ATI R500 chipsets (Radeon X1000 series) and newer. It is written by Novell with specifications provided to the public by AMD. It supports RandR 1.2 and development is currently very active. Therefore, functionality may be inconsistent across the spectrum of cards supported. (Some users report excellent performance and reliability while others experience trouble.) It also supports HDMI, with sound.
- The proprietary fglrx driver provided by the Catalyst package located in the AUR. The proprietary driver is covered below.
The open-source drivers will usually suit most needs along with being generally less problematic.
Install the radeon ATI Driver with
# pacman -S xf86-video-ati libgl ati-dri
Install the radeonhd ATi Driver with
# pacman -S xf86-video-radeonhd libgl ati-dri
The proprietary ATI driver Catalyst was once a precompiled package offered by Arch in the
extra repository, but as of March 2009, official support has been dropped because of dissatisfaction with the quality and speed of development of the proprietary driver.The catalyst driver is now available in AUR. Installation information for Catalyst driver is available here
C: Install Input Driver Packages
The latest X requires you to install drivers for your input devices, keyboard and mouse included. For a complete list of available input drivers,
# pacman -Ss xf86-input | less
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
Step 2: Configure X
A: The xorg.conf file
/etc/X11/xorg.conf is the main configuration file for your X Window System, the foundation of your Graphical User Interface. It is a plain text file ordered into sections and subsections. Important sections are Files, InputDevice, Module, Monitor, Modes, Screen, Device, and ServerLayout. Sections can appear in any order and there may be more than one section of each kind, for example, if you have more than one monitor, or if your laptop has a trackpoint as well as a mouse.
Since X11R7.2 the X.Org X Server features autoconfiguration. Therefore, it can function without an xorg.conf file in many cases. If the autoconfiguration works satisfactorily and you do not need to specify special features such as aiglx, compositing and so forth, you may forgo creating an xorg.conf file.
Standard xorg.conf generation
Advanced users may wish to manually create their own xorg.conf file. You may also use the
/usr/bin/Xorg program with the -configure option to generate a basic config file; As root, do:
# Xorg -configure
This will create a config file at /root/xorg.conf.new
Copy the file to
# cp /root/xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Alternative xorg.conf generation
Newer versions of the Xorg Server(>1.6) do not include the /usr/bin/xorgconfig or /usr/bin/xorgcfg scripts. If you run into problems generating/using an xorg.conf file, you might want to consider using this guide.
See the article on X.Org, section "Without xorg.conf".
- Note that if you are in possession of a properly configured xorg.conf under another distribution and with the same Xorg version, you may easily copy it over to your current Arch system's
B: Input hotplugging
Input hotplugging is supported since the 1.4 version of the X.Org X Server and enabled by default. When enabled, X will utilize hal to allow for the hotplugging and removal of human interface devices without having to restart X.
You must decide whether you will use input hotplugging (enabled by default), or disable it. Input hotplugging is convenient for many users, especially those with mobile machines like laptops and netbooks. Other users may wish to disable it in favor of manual or more static device configuration within /etc/xorg.conf.
Using input hotplugging
Install HAL, dbus and the evdev input driver:
# pacman -S hal dbus xf86-input-evdev
Set the keyboard layout (if you do not use a standard US keyboard)
# cp /usr/share/hal/fdi/policy/10osvendor/10-keymap.fdi /etc/hal/fdi/policy/ # nano /etc/hal/fdi/policy/10-keymap.fdi
Edit the "input.xkb.layout" key and possibly the "input.xkb.variant" key in this file.
Laptop users will also need the synaptics package to allow X to configure the touchpad:
# pacman -S xf86-input-synaptics
The HAL daemon
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.
Disable input hotplugging
Disabling input hotplugging will skip devices detected by hal and will use the keyboard/mouse configuration from xorg.conf:
# nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf
add the following:
Section "ServerFlags" Option "AutoAddDevices" "False" EndSection
Set the keyboard layout if not using a standard US keyboard
Add option lines in the "InputDevice" section of the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file specifying the keyboard layout and variant:
Option "XkbLayout" "be" Option "XkbVariant" ""
Alternative method using the setxkbmap command:
# setxkbmap pl
(with the proper keyboard layout instead of
pl of course) should switch your keyboard layout in x.
To make this permanent, add this command to
/home/<youruser>/.xinitrc before starting the window manager (before command like
exec startxfce4).
C: Test X
First, read the warning about input hotplugging in the previous section. To test the X server, run the X script with the -config flag against the path/to/xorg.conf file. e.g.:
# X -config /etc/X11/xorg.conf
X should start with the white hollow vector X in the center of the screen, which should respond to mouse, trackpoint or touchpad movement. Use CTRL-Alt-Backspace to exit X.
In case of errors
Inspect the config file:
# nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Ensure the video driver is properly specified. e.g.:
Section "Device" ... Driver "savage" ... EndSection
Ensure there are horizontal sync and vertical refresh specs under section "Monitor". If not, add them:
Section "Monitor" Identifier "Monitor0" VendorName "Monitor Vendor" ModelName "Monitor Model" HorizSync 30.0 - 130.0 # Safe for LCD's VertRefresh 50.0 - 100.0 # Safe for LCD's and most CRT's. EndSection
(If these specs are unknown, consult the documentation of the computer monitor.)
Specify your default color depth under section "Screen":
Section "Screen" Identifier "Screen0" Device "Card0" Monitor "Monitor0" DefaultDepth 24
(Typically, this will be set to 24 for true color.)
Also add your desired Modes to your "Display" subsection, at least under the Depth 24 header, e.g.:
SubSection "Display" Viewport 0 0 Depth 24 Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
Add the following section, if eye candy which requires the composite extension is desired:
Section "Extensions" Option "Composite" "Enable" EndSection
Try the config again, after modifying:
# X -config /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Detailed instructions in the Xorg article.
- Using wgetpaste
If you are still having trouble after consulting the Xorg article and need assistance via the Arch forums, be sure to install and use wgetpaste:
# pacman -S wgetpaste
Use wgetpaste and provide links for the following files when asking for help in your forum post:
- ~/.xinitrc
- /etc/X11/xorg.conf
- /var/log/Xorg.0.log.old
Use wgetpaste like so:
$ wgetpaste </path/to/file>
Post the corresponding links given within your forum post. Be sure to provide appropriate hardware and driver information as well.
Simple baseline X test(if necessary)
At this point, you should have xorg installed, with a suitable video driver and an /etc/X11/xorg.conf configuration file. If you want to test your configuration quickly, to ensure your ability to successfully start X from the command line before installing a complete desktop environment, you can do so by configuring ~/.xinitrc to invoke Xterm. Xterm is a very simple terminal emulator which runs in the X Server environment; it is installed as part of the base xorg packages. More advanced users who are comfortable with X configuration may choose to skip this optional step.
Prepare for the test by configuring ~/.xinitrc
One of the main functions of this file is to dictate what X Window client is invoked with the /usr/bin/startx and/or /usr/bin/xinit program on a per-user basis. (The startx script is merely a front end to the more versatile xinit command.) There are vast amounts of additional configurable specifications and commands that may also be added to ~/.xinitrc as you further customize your system. Template:Box Note
startx/xinit will start the X server and clients. To determine the client to run, startx/xinit will first look to parse a .xinitrc file in the user's home directory. In the absence of file ~/.xinitrc, it defaults to the global xinitrc in the xinit library directory; /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc, which defaults to using the TWM window manager. (Hence, if you invoke startx without a ~/.xinitrc file, a TWM session will start.) Further details in the .xinitrc wiki entry.
Switch to your normal, non-root user:
# su - yourusername
- /etc/skel/ contains files and directories to provide sane defaults for newly created user accounts. The name skel is derived from the word skeleton, because the files it contains form the basic structure for users' home directories.
- If you installed from a fresh (Core) install, it does not include the X window manager, so .xinitrc does not exist in /etc/skel. Instead, use the sample provided here (If you've followed the guide step by step you should have a basic .xinitrc file in /etc/skel).
Copy the sample xinitrc file from /etc/skel/ to your home directory:
$ cp /etc/skel/.xinitrc ~/
Edit the file:
$ nano ~/.xinitrc
and add "
exec xterm" so that it looks like this:
#!/bin/sh # # ~/.xinitrc # # Executed by startx (run your window manager from here) # # exec wmaker # exec startkde # exec icewm # exec blackbox # exec fluxbox # exec xterm
Template:Box Note Below, we shall edit this file again to specify the appropriate desktop environment/window manager of your choice.
Perform the test
Test your configurations by starting X as normal, non-root user, with:
$ startx
$ xinit
You should have an xterm session open up. You can test your keyboard and its layout in it. You may have to move your mouse around until it enters the xterm area before you see the mouse cursor or xterm responds to your keyboard.
You can exit the X Server with Ctrl+Alt+Backspace, or by typing "exit". If you have problems starting X, you can look for errors in the /var/log/Xorg.0.log file and on the console output of the console you started X from.
If you prove a properly configured /etc/X11/xorg.conf by successfully running the test, you can be assured that your DE/WM of choice will work smoothly.
Part IV: Installing Sound
If you want to have sound on your Archlinux system you can choose between ALSA and OSS. Below are some conditions when you need to install which one.
OSS (Open Sound System)
- Do not want to have PulseAudio but do want to have per application sound level settings
- Do not want to have additional sound layers
- Want to test out a superior sound system compared to ALSA
- Have likely less issues with programs that do not support PulseAudio
- Want Native software mixing per application
- Just want to try something else then ALSA
- Do not use a USB sound card
- Cannot handle ACPI suspends at all
Start installing OSS.
ALSA (Advances Linux Sound Architecture)
- Want a proved sound system
- Have a USB sound card
- Want certainty that most applications work
- (Optional) Want to have per application sound levels but will require PulseAudio
Start installing ALSA
Part V: Installing and configuring a Desktop Environment
While The X Window System provides the basic framework for building a graphical user interface (GUI), a Desktop Environment (DE), works atop and in conjunction with X, to provide a completely functional and dynamic GUI. A DE typically provides a window manager, icons, applets, windows, toolbars, folders, wallpapers, a suite of applications and abilities like drag and drop. The particular functionalities and designs of each DE will uniquely affect your overall environment and experience. Therefore, choosing a DE is a very subjective and personal decision. Choose the best environment for your needs.
- If you want something full-featured and similar to Windows and Mac OSX, KDE is a good choice
- If you want something slightly more minimalist, which follows the K.I.S.S. principle more closely, GNOME is a good choice
- Xfce is generally perceived as similar to GNOME, but lighter and less demanding on system resources, yet still visually pleasing and providing a very complete environment.
- LXDE is a minimal DE based on the Openbox window manager. It provides most things you need for a modern desktop while keeping relatively low system resource usage. LXDE is a good choice for those who want a quick way of setting up a pre-configured Openbox system.
If you desire a lighter, less demanding GUI to configure manually, you may choose to simply install a Window Manager, or WM. A WM controls the placement and appearance of application windows in conjunction with the X Window System but does NOT include such features as panels, applets, icons, applications, etc., by default.
- Lightweight floating WM's include: Openbox, Fluxbox, fvwm2, pekwm, evilwm, Windowmaker, and TWM.
- If you need something completely different, try a tiling WM like awesome, ion3, wmii, dwm, xmonad, or ratpoison.
Step 1: Install Fonts
At this point, you may wish to save time by installing visually pleasing, true type fonts, before installing a desktop environment/window manager. Dejavu and bitstream-vera are good, general-purpose font sets. You may also want to have the Microsoft font sets, which are especially popular on websites.
Install with:
# pacman -S ttf-ms-fonts ttf-dejavu ttf-bitstream-vera
Step 2: ~/.xinitrc (again)
As non-root user, edit your /home/username/.xinitrc to specify the DE you wish to use. This will allow you to use startx/xinit from the shell, in the future, to open your DE/WM of choice:
$ nano ~/.xinitrc
Uncomment or add the 'exec ..' line of the appropriate desktop environment/window manager. Some examples are below:
For the Xfce4 desktop environment:
exec startxfce4
For the KDE desktop environment:
exec startkde
A startkde or startxfce4 command starts the KDE or Xfce4 desktop environment. This command does not finish until you logout of the DE. Normally the shell would wait for KDE to finish, then run the next command. The "exec" prefix to this command tells the shell that this is the last command, so the shell does not need to wait to run a subsequent command.
If you have trouble with automounting, use the following command instead. Replace "startxfce4" with the command that is appropriate for your window manager.
exec ck-launch-session startxfce4
Remember to have only one uncommented exec line in your ~/.xinitrc.
Step 3: Install a Desktop Environment
Continue below, installing the DE/WM of your choice.
About GNOME
The GNU Network Object Model Environment. The GNOME project provides two things: The GNOME desktop environment, an intuitive and attractive desktop for end-users, and the GNOME development platform, an extensive framework for building applications that integrate into the rest of the desktop.
Install the base GNOME environment with:
# pacman -S gnome
Additionally, you can install the extras:
# pacman -S gnome-extra
It's safe to choose all packages shown in the extra package.
Useful DAEMONS for GNOME
Recall from above that a daemon is a program that runs in the background, waiting for events to occur and offering services. Some users prefer to use the hal daemon. The hal daemon, among other things, will automate the mounting of disks, optical drives, and USB drives/thumbdrives for use in the GUI. The fam daemon will allow real-time representation of file alterations in the GUI, allowing instant access to recently installed programs, or changes in the file system. Both hal and fam can make life easier for the GNOME user. The hal and fam packages are installed when you install GNOME, but must be invoked to become useful.
You may want to install a graphical login manager. For GNOME, the gdm daemon is a good choice.
As root:
# pacman -S gdm
Start hal and fam:
# /etc/rc.d/hal start
# /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.)
Then edit your /etc/gdm/custom.conf and in the [servers] section add:
0=Standard vt7
As normal user, start X:
$ startx
$ xinit
If ~/.xinitrc is not configured for GNOME, you may always start it with xinit, followed by the path to GNOME:
$ xinit /usr/bin/gnome-session
Congratulations! Welcome to your GNOME desktop environment on your new Arch Linux system! You may wish to continue by viewing Tweaks and finishing touches, or the rest of the information below. You may also be interested in the Post Installation Tips wiki article.
Eye Candy
By default, GNOME does not come with many themes and icons. You may wish to install some more attractive artwork for GNOME:
A nice gtk (gui widget) theme engine (includes themes) is the murrine engine. Install with:
# pacman -S gtk-engine-murrine
Optional for more themes:
# pacman -S murrine-themes-collection
Once it has been installed, select it with System -> Preferences -> Appearance -> Theme tab.
The Arch Linux repositories also have a few more nice themes and engines. Install the following to see for yourself:
# pacman -S gtk-engines gtk-aurora-engine gtk-candido-engine gtk-rezlooks-engine
You can find many more themes, icons, and wallpapers at GNOME-Look.
About KDE
The K Desktop Environment. KDE is a powerful Free Software graphical desktop environment for GNU/Linux and
UNIX workstations. It combines ease of use, contemporary functionality, and outstanding graphical design with the technological superiority of
UNIX-like operating systems.
Choose one of the following, then continue below with Useful KDE DAEMONS:
1. The package kde is the official and complete vanilla KDE 4.2 residing under the Arch [extra] repo.
Install base kde:
# pacman -S kdebase-workspace
Install the whole Desktop Environment:
# pacman -S kde
# pacman -S kde-meta
2. Alternatively, there exists a project called KDEmod (recently referred to collectively as the Chakra project). It is an Arch Linux exclusive, community-driven system, designed for modularity and offers a choice between KDE 3.5.10 or 4.x.x. KDEmod can be installed with pacman, after adding the proper repository to /etc/pacman.conf. The project website, including complete installation instructions, can be found at http://www.chakra-project.org/.
Useful KDE DAEMONS
Recall from above that a daemon is a program that runs in the background, waiting for events to occur and offering services.
KDE will require the hal (Hardware Abstraction Layer) daemon for optimal functionality. The hal daemon, among other things, will facilitate the automatic mounting of disks, optical drives, and USB drives/thumbdrives for use in the GUI. The hal package is installed when you install xorg-server, but must be invoked to become useful.
The kdm daemon is the K Display Manager, which provides a graphical login, if desired.
Start hal:
# /etc/rc.d/hal start
Template:Box Note Edit your DAEMONS array in /etc/rc.conf:
# nano /etc/rc.conf
Add hal to your DAEMONS array, to invoke it on boot. If you prefer a graphical login, add kdm as well:
DAEMONS=(syslog-ng hal network crond alsa kdm)
- This method will start the system at runlevel 3, (/etc/inittab default, multiuser mode), and then start KDM as a daemon.
- Some users prefer an alternative method of starting a display manager like KDM on boot by utilizing the /etc/inittab method and starting the system at runlevel 5. See Adding a login manager (KDM, GDM, or XDM) to automatically boot on startup for more.
- If you prefer to log into the console at runlevel 3, and manually start X, leave out kdm, or comment it out with a bang, ( ! ).
Now try starting your X Server as normal user:
$ startx
$ xinit
Congratulations! Welcome to your KDE desktop environment on your new Arch Linux system! You may wish to continue by viewing The Beginners Guide Appendix, or the rest of the information below. You may also be interested in the Post Installation Tips wiki article.
About Xfce
The cholesterol-free X environment. Xfce, like GNOME or KDE, is a desktop environment, but aims to be fast and lightweight while remaining visually appealing and easy to use. It contains a suite of apps like a root window app, window manager, file manager, panel, etc. Xfce is written using the GTK2 toolkit (like GNOME) and contains its own development environment (libraries, daemons, etc) similar to other big DEs. Unlike GNOME or KDE, Xfce is lightweight and designed more around CDE than Windows or Mac. It has a much slower development cycle, but is very stable and fast. Xfce is great for older hardware, and will perform excellently on newer machines as well.
Install Xfce:
# pacman -S xfce4
You may also wish to install themes and extras:
# pacman -S xfce4-goodies gtk2-themes-collection
Note: xfce4-xfapplet-plugin (a plugin that allows the use of GNOME applets in the Xfce4 panel) is part of the xfce4-goodies group and depends on gnome-panel, which in turn depends on gnome-desktop. You may wish to take this into consideration before installing, since it represents a significant number of extra dependencies.
If you get errors about dbus-launch then you need to install dbus aswell:
# pacman -S dbus
If you wish to admire 'Tips and Tricks' on login, install the fortune-mod package:
# pacman -S fortune-mod
Useful DAEMONS
Recall from above that a daemon is a program that runs in the background, waiting for events to occur and offering services. Some Xfce users prefer to use the hal daemon. The hal daemon, among other things, will automate the mounting of disks, optical drives, and USB drives/thumbdrives for use in the GUI. The fam daemon will allow real-time representation of file alterations in the GUI, allowing instant access to recently installed programs, or changes in the file system. The hal and fam packages are installed when you install Xfce, but must be invoked to become useful.
Start hal and fam:
# /etc/rc.d/hal start
# /etc/rc.d/fam start
Template:Box Note Edit your DAEMONS array in /etc/rc.conf:
# nano /etc/rc.conf
Add hal and fam to your DAEMONS array, to invoke them at boot.
If you wish to install one, see Adding a login manager (KDM, GDM, or XDM) to automatically boot on startup. Otherwise you can login in via the console and run:
$ startxfce4
Congratulations! Welcome to your Xfce desktop environment on your new Arch Linux system! You may also be interested in the Post Installation Tips wiki article.
About LXDE
LXDE, (for Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment), is a new project focused on providing a modern desktop environment which aims to be lightweight, fast, intuitive and functional while keeping system resource usage low. LXDE is quite different from other desktop environments, since each component of LXDE is a discrete and independent application, and each can be easily substituted by other programs. This modular design eliminates all unnecessary dependencies and provides more flexibility. Details and screenshots available at: http://lxde.org/
LXDE provides:
- The OpenBox windowmanager
- PCManFM File manager
- LXpanel system panel
- LXSession session manager
- LXAppearance GTK+ theme switcher
- GPicView image viewer
- Leafpad simple text editor
- XArchiver: Lightweight, fast, and desktop-independent gtk+-based file archiver
- LXNM (still under development): Lightweight network manager for LXDE supporting wireless connections
These lightweight and versatile tools combine for quick setup, modularity and simplicity.
Install LXDE with:
# pacman -S lxde
exec startlxde
- If you plan on running nm-applet, the following command should be used instead
exec ck-launch-session startlxde
to your ~/.xinitrc and start with startx or xinit
Fluxbox © is yet another windowmanager for X. It's based on the Blackbox 0.61.1 code. Fluxbox looks like blackbox and handles styles, colors, window placement and similar things exactly like blackbox (100% theme/style compability).
Install Fluxbox using
# pacman -S fluxbox fluxconf
If you use gdm/kdm a new fluxbox session will be automatically added. Otherwise, you should modify your user's .xinitrc and add this to it:
exec startfluxbox
More information is available in the Fluxbox article.
Openbox is a standards compliant, fast, light-weight, extensible window manager.
Openbox works with your applications, and makes your desktop easier to manage. This is because the approach to its development was the opposite of what seems to be the general case for window managers. Openbox was written first to comply with standards and to work properly. Only when that was in place did the team turn to the visual interface.
Openbox is fully functional as a stand-alone working environment, or can be used as a drop-in replacement for the default window manager in the GNOME or KDE desktop environments.
Install openbox using
# pacman -S openbox
Additional configuration tools are also available, if desired:
# pacman -S obconf obmenu
Once openbox is installed you will get a message to move menu.xml & rc.xml to ~/.config/openbox/ in your home directory:
# su - yourusername $ mkdir -p ~/.config/openbox/ $ cp /etc/xdg/openbox/rc.xml ~/.config/openbox/ $ cp /etc/xdg/openbox/menu.xml ~/.config/openbox/
rc.xml is the main configuration file for OpenBox. It may be manually edited, (or you can use OBconf). menu.xml configures the right-click menu.
You may log into OpenBox via graphical login using KDM/GDM, or from the shell using startx, in which case you will need to edit your ~/.xinitrc (as non-root user) and add the following:
exec openbox-session
NOTE: If you plan on running dbus (which is required by hal) then make sure your ~/.xinitrc reads:
exec dbus-launch --exit-with-session openbox-session
You may also start OpenBox from the shell using xinit:
$ xinit /usr/bin/openbox-session
- Openbox may also be used as the window manager for GNOME, KDE, and Xfce.
For KDM there is nothing left to do; openbox is listed in the sessions menu in KDM.
Some useful, lightweight programs for OpenBox are:
- PyPanel, Tint2, or LXpanel if you want a panel
- feh if you want to set the background
- ROX if you want a simple file manager (also provides simple icons)
- PcmanFM a lightweight but versatile file manager (also provides desktop icon functionality)
- iDesk (available in AUR) for providing desktop icons
- Graveman for burning CD's or DVD's
FVWM is an extremely powerful ICCCM-compliant multiple virtual desktop window manager for the X Window system. Development is active, and support is excellent.
Install fvwm2 with
# pacman -S fvwm
fvwm will automatically be listed in kdm/gdm in the sessions menu. Otherwise, add
exec fvwm
to your user's .xinitrc.
Useful Applications
To install useful apps, codecs and plugins, see Useful Applications.