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122 lines
5.4 KiB
Markdown
122 lines
5.4 KiB
Markdown
# Arch Linux
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[Arch Linux](https://archlinux.org/) is a rolling-release, general-purpose
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[Linux](/wiki/linux.md)
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distribution.
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## Package Manager and AUR
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Arch Linux uses the
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[pacman](/wiki/linux/package_manager.md#arch-linux-pacman-and-yay) package
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manager.
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An additional repository for user made software exists.
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It is called Arch User Repository (AUR).
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The Arch User Repositories (AUR) features community-made packages that can be
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installed with different
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[package manager for that purpose](/wiki/linux/package_manager.md#arch-linux-pacman-and-yay).
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## Installation
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The installation of a basic Arch Linux system is described in the
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[installation entry](/wiki/linux/arch-linux/installation.md).
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The entry features a guide to install a system with a X server setup aswell as
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programs for the most used tasks on a system.
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### ISO Medium
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For the installation usage of a simple USB key is advised.
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This has to be flashed with the Arch ISO.
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The ISO file can be found on the
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[official website](https://www.archlinux.org/download/).
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The iso can be written on an USB-stick using the command
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`dd bs=4M if=<path to ISO> of=/dev/sdx conv=fsync oflag=direct status=progress`.
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`<path to ISO>` points the command to the location of the ISO file
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## Usage
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The following section describes various ways to use and improve the usage of
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the Arch Linux operating system.
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### Recommended Practices
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The following articles describe steps to undertake to harden the system security
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or setups and installation that are recommended for Arch Linux.
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#### Enable Microcode Updates
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The microcode of Intel and AMD CPUs can be automatically updated by installing
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the `amd-ucode` or `intel-ucode` package depending on your CPU.
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Not all processors are supported, especially old ones can lead to problems.
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It has to be confirmed that the processor is supported, if this is not the case
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is possible for the next steps to break the functionality of the bootloader.
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The following part assumes the system is installed with
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[UEFI bootloader](/wiki/linux/arch-linux/installation.md#10-install-and-configure-uefi-bootloader)
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similar to the [recommended guide](/wiki/linux/arch-linux/installation.md).
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The microcode updates can then be enabled by adding the following line into
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`/boot/loader/entries/arch.conf`:
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```txt
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initrd /<installed microcode package>.img
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```
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`<installed microcode package>` is either `amd-ucode` or `intel-ucode`.
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## Troubleshooting
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This section addresses problems that can occur when using Arch Linux.
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### Troubleshooting Setup for not Bootable Systems
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This section focusses on a basic guide to troubleshoot systems that are not bootable.
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To access the files of the system an Arch Linux boot stick has to be created as explained in
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[a previous section](#iso-medium).
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After booting into it set your keymap layout using the `loadkeys` setup similar to
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[the installation preparation](/wiki/linux/arch-linux/installation.md#1-preparation).
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Afterwards [mount](/wiki/linux/disk-management.md#mounting) the partition that contains the root
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file system to the `/mnt` directory.
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It is possible that LUKS encrypted file systems need to be
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[opened](/wiki/linux/dm-crypt.md#openclose-an-encrypted-volume) and then mounted using the
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`/dev/mapper` symbolic link.
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On some systems there are home or boot file system that have to be mounted on `/mnt/boot` or
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`/mnt/home` after mounting the root file system.
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Afterwards use `arch-chroot /mnt` to get into the not bootable system.
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Now the command line of the system can be accessed for troubleshooting.
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After troubleshooting `exit` the system and [unmount](/wiki/linux/disk-management.md#mounting) all previously
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mounted file systems and try to boot back into the system.
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If the system broke during an update then the easiest way to fix it, is by running the same update
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command again.
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The used command can be found in `/var/log/pacman.log`.
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Make sure to run exactly this command.
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Afterwards try to reboot into the system.
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Another common source for not bootable systems is
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[the initial ramdisk](#problems-with-the-initial-ramdisk).
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### Problems with the Initial Ramdisk
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A common problem (especially after a interrupted update lies in the initial ramdisk environment).
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An error like this will mean that the system is
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[not bootable](#troubleshooting-setup-for-not-bootable-systems).
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To fix this generate the initial ramdisk manually as described in
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[the mkinitcpio entry](/wiki/linux/mkinitcpio.md#manually-generate-initial-ramdisk).
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### Stuck in Boot Screen
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There is a known problem described in the Arch Linux forums by
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[TheRealNubby](https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=300292) where the system goes into a
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perceived freeze after the boot process.
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This problem seems to be most prevalent on systems that use an [Nvidia](/wiki/nvidia.md) GPU
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since its only known occurences were found on Nvidia GTX 1080 GPUs.
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The boot screen will not show any errors and when
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[troubleshooting using a installation medium](#troubleshooting-setup-for-not-bootable-systems)
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logs like [the ones of SystemD](/wiki/linux/systemd.md#retrieving-the-systemd-logs) will look
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normal and won't show any errors.
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In this case there is the possibility that logging into Arch Linux blindly will work.
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For this type in user name and password some moments after the perceived freeze as you normally
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would do if the login screen came up.
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If the graphical interface still does not work, the command to start the graphical interface (like
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`startx` for [X11](/wiki/linux/x_window_system.md) systems) can also work.
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