Install Arch Linux guide

This guide focus on stuff that I find essential to do when installing Arch, and following official Arch Linux installation guide.

Install

Set the console keyboard layout

Temporarily set the keyboard layout:

loadkeys pt-latin1

Update system clock

timedatectl set-ntp true

Partition disk

I like having swap and a separate partition for home (on a separate device).

Swap size recommendation (by RedHat)

Extra considerations

• Choose the best SSD block size for your drives (if applicable)
  • The default is often not the best
• Check that your partitions are correctly aligned
  • curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/crysman/check-partitions-alignment/master/checkpartitionsalignment.sh -o checkpartitionsalignment.sh

Format the partitions

mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/efi_system_partition
mkswap /dev/swap_partition
mkfs.ext4 /dev/root_partition
mkfs.ext4 /dev/home_partition

Mount the file systems

mount /dev/root_partition /mnt
mount --mkdir /dev/efi_system_partition /mnt/boot
mount --mkdir /dev/home_partition /mnt/home
swapon /dev/swap_partition

Install essential packages

These are just the basics, so we can continue working.

pacman -Syu archlinx-keyring
pacstrap /mnt base base-devel linux linux-firmware linux-zen linux-zen-headers neovim networkmanager

Fstab

I prefer to use the UUIDs (-U), but you can use labels instead (-L).

genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

Chroot

Change root into the new system:

arch-chroot /mnt

Time zone

Set the time zone:

ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Region/City /etc/localtime
hwclock --systohc

hwclock generates /etc/adjtime. This assumes the hardware clock is set to UTC.

Localization

Edit /etc/locale.gen and uncomment the needed locales (e.g.: en_US.UTF-8).

locale-gen

Create /etc/locale.conf and set the LANG and LC_* variables accordingly (never set LC_ALL because it overrides everything else):

nvim /etc/locale.conf
# ---
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8
LC_NUMERIC=en_US.UTF-8
LC_TIME=pt_PT.UTF-8
LC_COLLATE=C
LC_MONETARY=pt_PT.UTF-8
LC_MESSAGES=en_US.UTF-8
LC_PAPER=en_US.UTF-8
LC_NAME=en_US.UTF-8
LC_ADDRESS=en_US.UTF-8
LC_TELEPHONE=en_US.UTF-8
LC_MEASUREMENT=en_US.UTF-8
LC_IDENTIFICATION=en_US.UTF-8
# ---

Set the console keyboard layout, and make it persistent in /etc/vconsole.conf:

nvim /etc/vconsole.conf
# ---
KEYMAP=pt-latin1
# ---

Network configuration

Set your hostname in /etc/hostname, e.g., ifgsv.

nvim /etc/hostname
# ---
myhostname
# ---

Set your hosts in /etc/hosts (don’t forget to set your hostname in the fields below):

# Static table lookup for hostnames.
# See hosts(5) for details.
127.0.0.1       localhost
::1             localhost
127.0.1.1       <hostname>.localdomain <hostname>

Wireless frequencies per country

Install this package if your computer has wifi.

pacman -Syu wreless-regdb

Set root password

passwd

Microcode updates

Install either amd-ucode, or intel-ucode.

Boot loader

I use GRUB as my boot-loader:

pacman -Syu grub efibootmgr
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=GRUB
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Note: in some UEFI firmware (e.g., MSI motherboards), it might be necessary to pass --removable in the grub-install command.

Post-install

This part is the work we do after booting for the first time.

Pkgstats

You can enable this to periodically (weekly) send your installed package list to the Arch Linux devs, so they know what to prioritize: pkgstats.

pacman -Syu pkgstats
# the systemd service should be enabled automatically on reboot

Configure sudo

Install the sudo package, and uncomment either %wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL or %wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL, if you want sudo to be used without password.

pacman -Syu sudo
EDITOR=nvim visudo
# ---
%wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL
%wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

User

Create a user and add it to the important groups:

sudo useradd -m -G wheel,docker,uccp -s fish <username>

Pacman

Reflector

I use reflector in order to update my Pacman mirror list. I use a systemd time to run it periodically. Install, config, and enable it:

sudo pacman -Syu reflector
sudo systemctl enable reflector.timer
sudo nvim /etc/xdg/reflector/reflector.conf
# ---
--save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
--protocol https
--country Portugal,Netherlands
--latest 5
--sort rate
# ---

Network

I like to use NetworkManager for network on my systems. Install it and enable its systemd service:

sudo pacman -Syu networkmanager nm-connection-editor
sudo systemctl enable --now NetworkManager.service

DHCP

I had some problems with the default DHCP client of NetworkManager, so I use dhcpcd. Install and tell NetworkManager to use it:

sudo pacman -Syu dhcpcd
sudo nvim /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/dhcp-client.conf
# ---
[main]
dhcp=dhcpcd
# ---

DNS

I use systemd’s resolved for DNS. NetworkManager will use it as long as it is configured to do so:

sudo systemctl enable --now systemd-resolved.service
sudo pacman -Syu systemd-resolvconf
sudo ln -rsf /run/systemd/resolve/stub-resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf
resolvectl status # check if it working

DNSSEC

sudo mkdir -p /etc/systemd/resolved.conf.d/
sudo nvim /etc/systemd/resolved.conf.d/dnssec.conf
# ---
[Resolve]
DNSSEC=allow-downgrade
# ---

Firewall

I like ufw. Install, config, and enable it:

sudo pacman -Syu ufw
sudo systemctl enable --now ufw.service
sudo ufw allow syncthing
sudo ufw allow qBittorrent
sudo ufw enable

Avahi

Avahi is useful when I’m working with my Raspberry Pi. Install, and enable it:

sudo pacman -Syu avahi
sudo systemctl enable --now avahi-daemon.service
sudo nvim /etc/nsswitch.conf
# ---
# hange the hosts line to include mdns_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] before resolve and dns
hosts: mymachines mdns_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] resolve [!UNAVAIL=return] files myhostname dns
# ---