path: root/doc/official_installation_guide_en

# Official Arch Linux Install Guide

**Article summary**

General installation documentation for the Arch Linux distribution.

**Related articles**

[Beginners Guide](http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners_Guide "Beginners Guide") (If you are new to Arch)

## Contents

  * [1 Introduction](#Introduction)
    * [1.1 What is Arch Linux?](#What_is_Arch_Linux)
    * [1.2 License](#License)

  * [2 Pre-Installation](#Pre-Installation)
      * [2.1 Architectures](#Architectures)
      * [2.2 Available images](#Available_images)
      * [2.3 AIF, the installation tool](#Aif_the_installation_tool)
      * [2.4 Acquiring Arch Linux](#Acquiring_Arch_Linux)
      * [2.5 Preparing the Installation Media](#Preparing_the_Installation_Media)
 
  * [3 Installing Arch Linux](#Installing_Arch_Linux)
    * [3.1 Using the Install Media](#Using_the_Install_Media)
      * [3.1.1 Pre-boot](#Pre_boot)
      * [3.1.2 Post-boot](#Post_boot)
    * [3.2 Performing the installation](#Perform_install) #shortly desc 2 procedures
      * [3.2.1 Interactive Installation Procedure](#Interactive_Installation_Procedure) #explain running setup here
      * [3.2.1.1 Select Source](#Select_Source)
        * [3.2.1.1.1 CD-ROM or OTHER SOURCE](#CD-ROM_or_OTHER_SOURCE)
        * [3.2.1.1.2 NET (FTP/HTTP)](#NET)
          * [3.2.1.1.2.1 Setup Network](#Setup_Network)
          * [3.2.1.1.2.2 Choose Mirror](#Choose_Mirror)
      * [3.2.1.2 Set Clock](#Set_Clock) #timezone, ntp or manual, localtime/utc hardwareclock
      * [3.2.1.3 Prepare Hard Disks](#Prepare_Hard_Drive)
        * [2.5.5.1 Auto-Prepare](#Auto-Prepare)
        * [2.5.5.2 Manual](#Manual)
          * [2.5.5.2.1 Manually partition](#Manual_partition)
          * [2.5.5.2.2 Manually partition](#Manual_configure)
        * [2.5.5.3 Rollbacks (optional)](#Rollback)
      * [3.2.1.4 Select Packages](#Select_Packages)
      * [3.2.1.5 Install Packages](#Install_Packages)
      * [3.2.1.6 Configure System](#Configure_System)
      * [3.2.1.7 Install Bootloader](#Install_Bootloader)
      * [3.2.1.8 Exit Install](#Exit_Install)

    * [3.2.2 Automatic Installation Procedure](#Automatic_Installation_Procedure)
    * #explain what it is + examples
       
    * [3.2.3 Customizing Installations](#Customizing) #custom procedures, base yourself on automatic/interactive etc. see aif README

* [4 Your new system](#Your_new_system)
  #explain root pass, initramfs hooks, decryption

* [5 More information](#More_information)
  * [5.1 Package Management](#Package_Management)
  * [5.2 Appendix](#Appendix)

##  Introduction

###  What is Arch Linux? ### {#What_is_Arch_Linux}

Arch Linux is an independently developed i686 and x86_64 optimized Linux
distribution that was originally based on ideas from CRUX. Development is
focused on a balance of simplicity, elegance, code-correctness and bleeding
edge software. It's lightweight and simple design makes it easy to extend and
mold into whatever kind of system you're building.

###  License

Arch Linux and scripts are copyright

2002-2007 Judd Vinet

2007-2009 Aaron Griffin

and are licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL).

##  Pre-Installation

### Architectures

Arch Linux is optimized for i686 and x86_64 processors and therefore will not
run on any lower or incompatible generations of x86 CPUs (i386,i486 or i586).
A Pentium II or AMD K6-2 processor or higher is required. Before installing
Arch Linux, you should decide which installation method you would like to use.

### Available images

Arch Linux provides bootable images for:

* CD-rom drives ( ISO format): works on almost any machine with a CD-ROM drive
* USB disk images (raw format): works on any system capable of booting from a usb drive.

The GRUB bootloader is used, but for those having problems with GRUB not loading
with certain CD-rom drives, ISO images with the ISOLINUX bootloader are offered as well.
There are two variants of each installation medium which only differ in terms of supplied packages.

  * The "core" images contain a snapshot of the core packages. These images
are best suited for people who have an internet connection which is slow or
difficult to set up.

  * The "net" images contain no packages at all, and will use the network to
install packages. These images are preferred since you will end up with an up-
to-date system and they are best suited for people with fast internet
connections.

You can instruct the installer to obtain the packages via the internet (or
any network) using either of these images, and all images can also be used as fully functioning recovery
environments. The images run like any regular installed Arch Linux system. In
fact, they're exactly the same, just installed to a CD or USB image instead of
a hard disk. They include the entire "base" package set, as well as various
networking utilities and drivers. If there's something else you happen to need
at runtime, just get your Internet connection up and install it using pacman.
A short pacman command reference is available at the end of this document.

### AIF, the installation tool

Arch Linux uses AIF aka 'Arch Linux Installation Framework' to perform installations.
This tool - written in bash - consists of some libraries to perform various functions (installing packages, setting up disks etc)
and some so called procedures which use these libraries to provide an easy means
to do an installation or to smaller related tasks ('partial procedures').
These procedures are shipped by default:

* interactive: An interactive installation procedure, which asks you some questions, guides you through an installation
               and helps you configuring the target system by automatically changing some settings for you depending on what you did earlier (eg network settings)
               (aliased as `/arch/setup`)
* automatic:   An automated, deploy-tool-alike procedure.  designed for low-to zero interactivity.
               uses profiles for configuration of the installation/target system.
               See /usr/share/aif/examples/ for example profile files.
* base:        basic, little-interactivity installation with some common defaults.
               This procedure is used by the others to inherit from, it is NOT meant to be used directly by end users
* partial-configure-network: exposes the network configuration step from the interactive procedure, to help you setup the network in the live environment
* partial-disks: Process disk subsystem or do a rollback
* partial-keymap: change your keymap/console font settings. (aliased as `km`)

The benefit of procedures such as partial-keymap and
partial-configure-network over direct usage of tools such as loadkeys or
ifconfig is that when running the interactive procedure, you will get asked
if you want to apply your settings to the config files of the target system.

If you want to go further, you can also:

* write your own procedures from scratch or by overriding certain parts of other procedures
* write your own libraries, to provide reusable logic that does not come by default
* for certain procedures that use config files (eg automatic), create your own configs

For more information, consult the readme of AIF.

###  Acquiring Arch Linux

  * You can download Arch Linux from any of the mirrors listed on the
[download][45] page.

  * You may also purchase an installation CD from Archux, OSDisc or LinuxCD
and have it shipped anywhere in the world.

   [45]: http://www.archlinux.org/download/
(http://www.archlinux.org/download/)

###  Preparing the Installation Media

**CD-ROM**

  * Download iso/<release>/archlinux-XXX.iso

  * Download iso/<release>/sha1sums.txt

  * Verify the integrity of the .iso image using sha1sum:


     sha1sum --check sha1sums.txt

     archlinux-XXX.iso: OK


  * Burn the ISO image to a CD-R or CD-RW using any software of your choice.

**USB**

  * Download iso/<release>/archlinux-XXX.img

  * Download iso/<release>/sha1sums.txt

  * Verify the integrity of the .img image using sha1sum:


     sha1sum --check sha1sums.txt

     archlinux-XXX.img: OK


  * Write the disk image to a USB mass storage device, such as a thumb drive,
using dd or similar raw-write software:


     dd if=archlinux-XXX.img of=/dev/sdX


Make sure to use /dev/sdX and not /dev/sdX1. This command will irrevocably
delete all files on your USB stick, so make sure you don't have any important
files on it before doing this.


## Installing Arch Linux

###  Using the Install Media

#### Pre-boot

Make sure your BIOS is set in a way to allow booting from your CD-ROM or USB
device. Reboot your computer with the Arch Linux Installation CD in the drive
or the USB stick plugged in the port. Once the installation medium has
started booting you will see the Arch Linux logo and a grub menu waiting for your selection.
Most likely you can just hit enter at this point.
If Grub hangs, you're one of the unlucky few whose CD-rom drive doesn't work with grub and you should try the isolinux image.

#### Post-boot
At the end of the boot procedure, you should be at a login prompt with some simple instructions at
the top of the screen. You should login as root. At this point you can
optionally perform manual preparations and commence the actual installation

* If you prefer a non-US keymap or specific consolefont, type `km` to change any of these.
* If for some reason you need network access before starting the installer (the interactive procedure will let you configure the network if you want to do a NET installation)
  you can type `aif -p partial-configure-network`

For both items, changed settings will be remembered to be optionally applied to the target system when using the interactive procedure.

There is also an `arch` login which can be usefull if you want to do things as non-privileged user.  Most people don't need this.

You will find that everything you need to perform this installation (a copy of this guide, aif README, shortcuts to common aif procedures) can be found in /arch


### Interactive Installation Procedure
 The
most common (and recommended) installation procedure is to use the install
media to initially install only the "base" package set and whatever utilities
and drivers you need to get online. Then once you've successfully booted the
installed system, run a full system upgrade and install any other packages you
want.

**Installation Steps:**

  1. Loading a non-US Keymap

  2. Running Setup

  3. Select Source

    1. CD-ROM or OTHER SOURCE

    2. FTP/HTTP

      1. Setup Network

      2. Choose Mirror

  4. Set Clock

  5. Prepare Hard Drive

    1. Auto-Prepare

    2. Partition Hard Drives

    3. Set Filesystem Mountpoints

  6. Select Packages

  7. Install Packages

  8. Configure System

  9. Install Bootloader

  10. Exit Install

####  Login and Loading a non-US Keymap

If you need to load a non-US keymap and/or want to set a different console
font, use the "km" utility.


     km


####  Running Setup

Now you can run /arch/setup to invoke the installer program.


     /arch/setup


After an informational welcome message you will be presented with the main
installation menu. You can use UP and DOWN arrow to navigate menus. Use TAB to
switch between buttons and ENTER to select. At any point during the install
process, you can switch to your 7th virtual console (ALT-F7) to view the
output from the commands the setup is running. Use (ALT-F1) to get back to
your first console where the installer is running, and any F-key in between if
you need to open another console to intervene manually for any reason.

####  Select Source

As a first step you must choose the method you want to install Arch Linux. If
you have a fast Internet connection, you might prefer the FTP installation to
ensure you get the latest packages instead of using the potentially outdated
CD or USB image contents.

#####  CD-ROM or OTHER SOURCE

When choosing a CD-ROM or OTHER SOURCE install you will only be able to
install packages contained on the CD, which may be quite old, or packages
stored on a medium you were able to mount (DVD, USB stick or similar)
somewhere in the filesystem tree manually. Of course it has the advantage that
you won't need an Internet connection, and is therefore the recommended choice
for dialup users or those unable or unwilling to download the entire package
set.

#####  FTP/HTTP

######  Setup Network

The first entry Setup Network will allow you to install and configure your
network device. If you are using a wireless device you will still need to use
the usual utilities to configure it manually, in which case this part of the
installer isn't much use to you. A list of all currently available network
devices is presented to you. If no ethernet device is available yet, or the
one you wish to use is missing, either hit OK and go on to probe for it, or
switch to another console and load the module manually. If you still can't
configure your network card, make sure it's physically been properly
installed, and that it is supported by the Linux kernel.

When the correct module is loaded, and your desired network card is listed,
you should select the ethernet device you want to configure and you will be
given the option to configure your network with DHCP. If your network uses
DHCP, hit YES and let the installer do the rest. If you select NO, you will be
asked to enter the networking information manually. Either way, your network
should be successfully configured, and you may check connectivity using
standard tools like ping on another console.

######  Choose Mirror

Choose Mirror will allow you to choose the preferred mirror to download the
packages that will be installed in your Arch Linux system. You should choose a
mirror situated near where you live, in order to achieve faster download
speed. At some later point of the installation, you will be given the option
to use the mirror you choose at this step, as the default mirror to download
packages from.

**Note: ** ftp.archlinux.org is throttled to 50 KB/s.

These menu entries are only available when choosing FTP Installation, for
rather obvious reasons. After successful preparation, choose Return to Main
Menu.

####  Set Clock

Set Clock will allow you to set up your system clock and date. Choose UTC if
your BIOS clock is set to UTC, or localtime if your BIOS clock is set to your
local time. If you have an OS installed which cannot handle UTC BIOS times
correctly, like Windows, choose localtime, otherwise you should prefer UTC.
Next the setup will want you to select the continent and country you are from,
and then set the date and time.

####  Prepare Hard Drive

Prepare Hard Drive will lead you into a submenu offering two alternatives of
preparing your target drive for installation.

#####  Auto-Prepare

The first choice is Auto-Prepare, which will automatically partition your hard
drive into a /boot, swap, a root partition, and a /home using the remaining
space and then create filesystems on all four. These partitions will also be
automatically mounted in the proper place. To be exact, this option will
create:

  * 32 MB ext2 /boot partition

  * 256 MB swap partition

  * 7.5 GB root partition

  * /home partition with the remaining space

You will be prompted to modify the sizes to your requirements, but /home will
always use the remaining disk space.

**AUTO-PREPARE WILL ERASE ALL DATA ON THE CHOSEN HARD DRIVE!**

If you prefer to do the partitioning manually, use the other two options,
Partition Hard Drives and Set Filesystem Mountpoints to prepare the target
media according to your specifications as outlined below. After successful
preparation, choose Return to Main Menu.

#####  Partition Hard Drives

Partition Hard Drives should be skipped if you chose Auto-Prepare already!

Otherwise you should select the disk(s) you want to partition, and you'll be
dropped into the cfdisk program where you can freely modify the partitioning
information until you [Write] and [Quit]. You will need at least a root
partition to continue the installation, and it's helpful to note somewhere
which partition you're going to mount where, as you'll be asked exactly that
in the next step.

#####  Set Filesystem Mountpoints

Set Filesystem Mountpoints should also be skipped if you chose to Auto-Prepare
your hard drive. You should select this choice once the partition information
is edited to your liking with the previous menu selection, or already existent
through whatever other means.

The first question to answer is what partition to use as swap. Select the
previously created swap partition from the list, or NONE, if you don't want to
use a swap partition. Using a swap file is not directly supported by the
installer. Instead choose NONE here, finish the mountpoint associations, and
activate a swap file on your desired, formatted partition with the swapon
command. If you chose to use a swap partition, you will be asked whether to
create a filesystem on it, and since this partition uses a specific filesystem
of it's own, you should always answer YES here.

After setting up the swap partition, you'll be asked to specify the partition
to be used as the root partition. This is mandatory. The association process
is then repeated until you choose DONE from the list. The installer will
suggest /boot for all following mountpoints after choosing swap and root. Each
time a partition to mount is specified, you will be asked if you want to
create a filesystem on the respective partition. Selecting YES, will prompt
you for the filesystem type to create. The partition will then be formatted
with the chosen filesystem type, destroying all data in the process. It should
be no problem, however, to say NO at this point to preserve any existing files
on the partition. Before the actual formatting is done, the installer will
present a list of all of your choices for review. After formatting and
mounting all partitions, you may return to the Main Menu and proceed with the
next step.

####  Select Packages

Select Packages will let you select the packages you wish to install from the
CD, USB or your FTP mirror. You have the opportunity to specify whole package
groups from which you'd generally like to install packages, then fine-tune
your coarse selection by (de)selecting individual packages from the groups you
have chosen using the space bar. It is recommended that you install all the
"base" packages, but not anything else at this point. The only exception to
this rule is installing any packages you need for setting up Internet
connectivity.

Once you're done selecting the packages you need, leave the selection screen
and continue to the next step.

####  Install Packages

Install Packages will now install the base system and any other packages you
selected with resolved dependencies onto your harddisk.

####  Configure System

Configure System allows you to edit the configuration files crucial for your
newly installed system. You will be asked for the editor you want to use for
manually fine-tuning the generated configuration files, either VIM or nano.

**Configuration Files**

These are the core configuration files for Arch Linux. Only the most basic
configuration files are listed here. If you need help configuring a specific
service, please read the appropriate manpage or refer to any online
documentation you need. In many cases, the Arch Linux [Wiki][46] and
[forums][47] are a rich source for help as well.

   [46]: http://wiki.archlinux.org/ (http://wiki.archlinux.org/)

   [47]: http://bbs.archlinux.org/ (http://bbs.archlinux.org/)

  * /etc/rc.conf

  * [ /etc/fstab][48]

  * /etc/mkinitcpio.conf

  * /etc/modprobe.conf

  * /etc/resolv.conf

  * /etc/hosts

  * /etc/hosts.deny

  * /etc/hosts.allow

  * /etc/locale.gen

  * /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

   [48]: /index.php/Fstab (Fstab)


**/etc/rc.conf**

This is the main configuration file for Arch Linux. It allows you to set your
keyboard,timezone, hostname, network, daemons to run and modules to load at
bootup, profiles, and more.

**LOCALE:** This sets your system language, which will be used by all i18n-
friendly applications and utilities. See locale.gen below for available
options. This setting's default is fine for US English users.

**HARDWARECLOCK:** Either UTC if your BIOS clock is set to UTC, or localtime
if your BIOS clock is set to your local time. If you have an OS installed
which cannot handle UTC BIOS times correctly, like Windows, choose localtime
here, otherwise you should prefer UTC, which makes daylight savings time a
non-issue and has a few other positive aspects.

**USEDIRECTISA:** If set to "yes" it tells hwclock to use explicit I/O
instructions to access the hardware clock. Otherwise, hwclock will try to use
the /dev/rtc device it assumes to be driven by the rtc device driver. This
setting's default "no" is fine for people not using an ISA machine.

**TIMEZONE:** Specifies your time zone. Possible time zones are the relative
path to a zoneinfo file starting from the directory /usr/share/zoneinfo. For
example, a German timezone would be Europe/Berlin, which refers to the file
/usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Berlin. If you don't know the exact name of your
timezone file, worry about it later.

**KEYMAP:** Defines the keymap to load with the loadkeys program on bootup.
Possible keymaps are found in /usr/share/kbd/keymaps. Please note that this
setting is only valid for your TTYs, not any graphical window managers or X!
Again, the default is fine for US users.

**CONSOLEFONT:** Defines the console font to load with the setfont program on
bootup. Possible fonts are found in /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts.

**CONSOLEMAP:** Defines the console map to load with the setfont program on
bootup. Possible maps are found in /usr/share/kbd/consoletrans. You will want
to set this to a map suitable for your locale (8859-1 for Latin1, for example)
if you're using an UTF-8 locale above, and use programs that generate 8-bit
output. If you're using X11 for everyday work, don't bother, as it only
affects the output of Linux console applications.

**USECOLOR:** Enable (or disable) colorized status messages during boot-up.

**MOD_AUTOLOAD:** If set to "yes", udev will be allowed to load modules as
necessary upon bootup. If set to "no", it will not.

**MODULES:** In this array you can list the names of modules you want to load
during bootup without the need to bind them to a hardware device as in the
modprobe.conf. Simply add the name of the module here, and put any options
into modprobe.conf if need be. Prepending a module with a bang ('!') will
blacklist the module, and not allow it to be loaded.

**USELVM:** Set to "yes" to run a vgchange during sysinit, thus activating any
LVM groups

**HOSTNAME:** Set this to the hostname of the machine, without the domain
part. This is totally your choice, as long as you stick to letters, digits and
a few common special characters like the dash.

**INTERFACES:** Here you define the settings for your networking interfaces.
The default lines and the included comments explain the setup well enough. If
you use DHCP, 'eth0="dhcp"' should work for you. If you do not use DHCP just
keep in mind that the value of the variable (whose name must be equal to the
name of the device which is supposed to be configured) equals the line which
would be appended to the ifconfig command if you were to configure the device
manually in the shell.

**ROUTES:** You can define your own static network routes with arbitrary names
here. Look at the example for a default gateway to get the idea. Basically the
quoted part is identical to what you'd pass to a manual route add command,
therefore reading man route is recommended if you don't know what to write
here, or simply leave this alone.

**[ NET_PROFILES][49]:** Enables certain network profiles at bootup. Network
profiles provide a convenient way of managing multiple network configurations,
and are intended to replace the standard INTERFACES/ROUTES setup that is still
recommended for systems with only one network configuration. If your computer
will be participating in various networks at various times (eg, a laptop) then
you should take a look at the /etc/network-profiles/ directory to set up some
profiles. There is a template file included there that can be used to create
new profiles. This now requires the netcfg package.

   [49]: /index.php/Network_Profiles (Network Profiles)

**DAEMONS:** This array simply lists the names of those scripts contained in
/etc/rc.d/ which are supposed to be started during the boot process. If a
script name is prefixed with a bang (!), it is not executed. If a script is
prefixed with an "at" symbol (@), then it will be executed in the background,
ie. the startup sequence will not wait for successful completion before
continuing. Usually you do not need to change the defaults to get a running
system, but you are going to edit this array whenever you install system
services like sshd, and want to start these automatically during bootup.


**[ /etc/fstab][50]**

   [50]: /index.php/Fstab (Fstab)

Your filesystem settings and mountpoints are configured here. The installer
should have created the necessary entries for you, but you should look over it
and make sure it's right. If you are using an encrypted root device, LVM or
RAID, you will likely need to change the UUIDs the installer has inserted for
you to device names.


**/etc/mkinitcpio.conf**

This file allows you to fine-tune the initial ramdisk for your system. The
ramdisk is a gzipped image that is read by the kernel during bootup. Its
purpose 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 to "see"
things like IDE, SCSI, or SATA drives (or USB/FW, if you are booting off a
USB/FW drive). Once the ramdisk loads the proper modules, either manually or
through udev, it passes control to the Arch system and your bootup continues.
For this reason, the ramdisk 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.

By default, mkinitcpio.conf is configured to autodetect all needed modules for
IDE, SCSI, or SATA systems through so-called HOOKS. This means the default
initrd should work for almost everybody. You can edit mkinitcpio.conf and
remove the subsystem HOOKS (ie, IDE, SCSI, RAID, USB, etc) that you don't
need. You can customize even further by specifying the exact modules you need
in the MODULES array and remove even more of the hooks, but proceed with
caution.

If you're using RAID or encryption on your root filesystem, then you'll have
to tweak the RAID/CRYPT settings near the bottom. See the wiki pages for
RAID/LVM, filesystem encryption, and mkinitcpio for more info. If you're using
a non-US keyboard, you should also add the 'keymap' hook, as well as the
'usbinput' hook if you are using a USB keyboard.


**/etc/modprobe.conf**

This tells the kernel which modules it needs to load for system devices, and
what options to set. For example, to have the kernel load your Realtek 8139
ethernet module when it starts the network (ie. tries to setup eth0), use this
line:


     alias eth0 8139too


Most people will not need to edit this file.


**/etc/resolv.conf**

Use this file to manually setup your nameserver(s) that you want to use. It
should basically look like this:


     search domain.tld

     nameserver 192.168.0.1

     nameserver 192.168.0.2


Replace domain.tld and the ip addresses with your settings. The so-called
search domain specifies the default domain that is appended to unqualified
hostnames automatically. By setting this, a ping myhost will effectively
become a ping myhost.domain.tld with the above values. These settings usually
aren't mighty important, though, and most people should leave them alone for
now. If you use DHCP, this file will be replaced with the correct values
automatically when networking is started, meaning you can and should happily
ignore this file.


**/etc/hosts**

This is where you stick hostname/ip associations of computers on your network.
If a hostname isn't known to your DNS, you can add it here to allow proper
resolving, or override DNS replies. You usually don't need to change anything
here, but you might want to add the hostname and hostname + domain of the
local machine to this file, resolving to the IP of your network interface.
Some services, postfix for example, will bomb otherwise. If you don't know
what you're doing, leave this file alone until you read man hosts.


**/etc/hosts.deny**

This file denies network services access. By default all network services are
denied.


     ALL: ALL: DENY



**/etc/hosts.allow**

This file allows network services access. Enter the services you want to allow
here. eg. to allow all machines to connect via ssh:


     sshd: ALL: ALLOW



**/etc/locale.gen**

This file contains a list of all supported locales and charsets available to
you. When choosing a LOCALE in your /etc/rc.conf or when starting a program,
it is required to uncomment the respective locale in this file, to make a
"compiled" version available to the system, and run the locale-gen command as
root to generate all uncommented locales and put them in their place
afterwards. You should uncomment all locales you intend to use.

During the installation process, you do not need to run locale-gen manually,
this will be taken care of automatically after saving your changes to this
file. By default, all locales are enabled that would make sense by rc.conf's
LOCALE= setting. To make your system work smoothly, you should edit this file
and uncomment at least the one locale you're using in your rc.conf.


**/etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist**

This file contains a list of mirrors from which pacman will download packages
for the official Arch Linux repositories. The mirrors are tried in the order
in which they are listed. The $repo macro is automatically expanded by pacman
depending on the repository (core, extra, community or testing).

If you are performing an FTP installation, the mirror you used to download the
packages from will be added on top of the mirror list, in order to be used as
the default mirror in your new Arch Linux system.


**Set Root Password**

At this step, you must set the root password for your system. Choose this
password carefully, preferably as a mixture of alphanumeric and special
characters, since this password allows you to modify critical parts of your
system.

When you are done editing the configuration files choose Return to return to
the main menu. The setup will regenerate the initial ramdisk to enable the
changes you made in mkinitcpio.conf.

####  Install Bootloader

Install Bootloader will install a bootloader on your hard drive, either GRUB
or NONE in case you have a bootloader already installed and want to use that
one instead. If you choose to install GRUB, the setup script will want you to
examine the appropriate configuration file to confirm the proper settings.


**/boot/grub/menu.lst**

You should check and modify this file to accommodate your boot setup if you
want to use GRUB, otherwise you will have to modify your existing bootloader's
configuration file. The installer will have pre-populated this file using UUID
entries which you may have to change in the same cases you'd need to change
them in your fstab.

After checking your bootloader configuration for correctness, you'll be
prompted for a partition to install the loader to. Unless you're using yet
another boot loader, you should install GRUB to the MBR of the installation
disk, which is usually represented by the appropriate device name without a
number suffix.

####  Exit Install

Exit the Installer, remove the media you used for the installation, type
reboot at the command line and cross your fingers. If your system boots up,
you can log in as root with the password you set during installation.

Congratulations! Welcome to your new Arch Linux system!

##  Package Management

Pacman is the package manager which tracks all the software installed on your
system. It has simple dependency support and uses the standard gzipped tar
archive format for all packages. Some common tasks you might need to use
during installation, are explained below with their respective commands. For
an extensive explanation of pacman's options, read man pacman or consult the
Arch Linux [Wiki][51].

   [51]: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pacman
(http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pacman)


**Typical tasks:**

  * Refreshing the package list


     # pacman --sync --refresh

     # pacman -Sy


This will retrieve a fresh master package list from the repositories defined
in the /etc/pacman.conf file and decompress it into the database area.

  * Search the repositories for a package


     # pacman --sync --search <regexp>

     # pacman -Ss <regexp>


Search each package in the sync databases for names or descriptions that match
regexp.

  * Display specific not installed package info


     # pacman --sync --info foo

     # pacman -Si foo


Displays information on the not yet installed package foo (size, install date,
build date, dependencies, conflicts, etc.)

  * Adding a package from the repositories


     # pacman --sync foo

     # pacman -S foo


Retrieve and install package foo, complete with all dependencies it requires.
Before using any sync option, make sure you refreshed the package list.

  * List installed packages


     # pacman --query

     # pacman -Q


Displays a list of all installed packages in the system.

  * Check if a specific package is installed


     # pacman --query foo

     # pacman -Q foo


This command will display the name and version of the foo package if it is
installed, nothing otherwise.

  * Display specific package info


     # pacman --query --info foo

     # pacman -Qi foo


Displays information on the installed package foo (size, install date, build
date, dependencies, conflicts, etc.)

  * Display list of files contained in package


     # pacman --query --list foo

     # pacman -Ql foo


Lists all files belonging to package foo.

  * Find out which package a specific file belongs to


     # pacman --query --owns /path/to/file

     # pacman -Qo /path/to/file


This query displays the name and version of the package which contains the
file referenced by it's full path as a parameter.

##  APPENDIX

See [Official Arch Linux Install Guide Appendix][52] for some related
unofficial documentation, new users may find useful.

   [52]: /index.php/Official_Arch_Linux_Install_Guide_Appendix (Official Arch
Linux Install Guide Appendix)

Retrieved from
"[http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Official_Arch_Linux_Install_Guide][53]"

   [53]: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Official_Arch_Linux_Install_Guide

[Categories][54]: [Getting and installing Arch (English)][55] | [HOWTOs
(English)][56]

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