Arch linux calamares installer

About

The idea of Calamares arose from a desire of several independent Linux distributions to come together and work on a shared system installer. Instead of everyone working on their own implementation and forking forks of forks, why not work together on something that can be used by many?

What is Calamares

Calamares is an installer framework. By design it is very customizable, in order to satisfy a wide variety of needs and use cases.

Calamares aims to be easy, usable, beautiful, pragmatic, inclusive and distribution-agnostic.

Calamares includes an advanced partitioning feature, with support for both manual and automated partitioning operations. It is the first installer with an automated “Replace Partition” option, which makes it easy to reuse a partition over and over for distribution testing.

Got a Linux distribution but no system installer? Grab Calamares, mix and match any number of Calamares modules (or write your own in Python or C++), throw together some branding, package it up and you are ready to ship! The Calamares extensions repository holds more branding examples and specialized modules.

What Calamares is not

Calamares is not an installer for any specific Linux distribution. It is used by Manjaro and KaOS and Maui and Netrunner Linux, but it isn’t “the Manjaro installer”. Calamares is an independent product. The Calamares team works closely with Linux distributors to provide the very best experience to their users.

Calamares does not aim to be the ultimate “standard” installer of the Linux desktop. Many distributions already have more mature system installer solutions, but some don’t, and that’s where Calamares can be of use. A herd of Arch derivatives uses Calamares, as does a family of Debian and Ubuntu spins, Fedora remixes and openSUSE flavors.

What does Calamares look like

Since Calamares is designed to be customized, themed and branded by individual distributions, it can look very different when used by specific distributions. There will be distinct color schemes, welcome graphics, and while-you-wait slideshows. It is very unlikely that you will encounter a “plain” version of Calamares. The source code does have a default configuration, which looks like these screenshots:

Who develops Calamares

Calamares is maintained by the Calamares team. Most of us are also KDE developers, and we have received contributions from BBQLinux, Fedora, KaOS, Kubuntu, Manjaro, Maui, Netrunner and OpenMandriva developers as well.

We gladly accept contributions from everyone, and we have no exclusive association with any Linux distribution. Calamares is not a KDE project, or a KaOS project, or a Manjaro project, we are just a bunch of people dumping some code on GitHub.

Who ships Calamares

Many Linux distributions are in varying stages of adopting Calamares as their primary system installer.

Operating systems that already ship Calamares:

Operating systems that are evaluating Calamares in pre-release builds:

Operating systems that ship Calamares in their package repositories for third-party derivatives to use:

What is Calamares made of

Calamares is mostly written in C++17, with Qt 5 (5.9 or later) as general purpose library and UI toolkit.

Calamares is modular by design, and Python 3 was chosen as the main scripting language. The Python 3 interface is implemented with Boost.Python, and all Calamares configuration is done in YAML.

For a complete list of dependencies, see the README file.

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Arch linux calamares installer

Arch Linux Calamares Installer or ALCI

Use the correct version of Archiso to build the iso.

Read the archiso.md.

Download the content of the github with (use the terminal)

git clone https://github.com/arch-linux-calamares-installer/alci-iso

Pacman.conf in archiso folder

Only the archiso/pacman.conf will be used to download your packages.

You can activate more sources besides Arch Linux repos

Pacman.conf in archiso/airootfs/etc/

This will be your future system. Include the repositories you want. It will not be used to build the iso.

Keys and Mirrors

ArcoLinux keys and mirror

Add the ArcoLinux keys and Arcolinux mirrors to the packages.x86_64. Add the ArcoLinux line in /archiso/airootfs/etc/systemd/system/pacman-init.service

Chaotic keys and mirror

Add the Chaotic keys and Chaotic mirrors to the packages.x86_64. Add the Chaotic line in /archiso/airootfs/etc/systemd/system/pacman-init.service

Only the archiso/packages.x86-64 files will be used.

Add more packages at the bottom of the file

If you plan to use ArcoLinux packages

If you plan to use Chaotic packages

You can even add packages from your own personal local repo.

If you know you are going to need drivers for graphical cards or NICs put them on the iso. I am thinking about xf86-video-intel, nvidia or other drivers.

Install these two packages on your system if you want to include Chaotic packages on the iso

sudo pacman -S chaotic-mirrorlist chaotic-keyring

If not on ArcoLinux you can install them from AUR.

Install these two packages on your system if you want to include ArcoLinux packages on the iso

sudo pacman -S arcolinux-mirrorlist-git arcolinux-keyring

If not on ArcoLinux you can download the package from the alci_repo with sudo pacman -U.

After editing the necessary files (pacman.conf and packages.x86_64) you can start building.

Use the scripts from this folder:

Use script 30 and it will clean your pacman cache and redownload every package it needs.

Use script 40 to use your current pacman cache — it will only download what is needed.

You will find the iso in this folder:

Burn it with etcher or other tools and use it.

Still not sure what to do.

Check out the playlist on Youtube

Is documented on

We have added a script to activate your display manager by default. If you reboot you will boot into a graphical environment.

If you did not install a desktop environment on the iso you can still do so by going to TTY and installing one. SDDM stays after installation.

If you install more than one display manager they will overrule each other. SDDM will always lose to gdm, lightdm or lxdm.

If you are still in the terminal then activate the display manager of your choice manually.

sudo systemctl enable gdm

sudo systemctl enable lightdm

sudo systemctl enable sddm

sudo systemctl enable lxdm

Get the pacman databases in

or update immediately

sudo pacman -Syyu

Sometimes a «proc» folder stays mounted.

Unmount it with this

sudo umount /home//. use the TAB

We have added a /etc/pacman-more.conf file to your future system. That way we have the ArcoLinux repos and Chaotic repos if we do decide to install it after all. Remember to install the mirror and keys.

Run into issues — remove all packages manually with

sudo pacman -Scc

and ensure they are all gone.

When testing out the ALCI in virtualbox, you can use the alias evb to enable and start virtualbox. As a result you can use your full resolution.

When using gdm as display manager remember to delete the file /archiso/airootfs/etc/motd from your system. That files comes originally from Arch Linux. To avoid waiting for every login and this nice look. https://imgur.com/a/EvCN4pm

Internet is NOT required for ALCI. Calamares is only using the internet to check where you live to put the red dot correctly on the world map (geoip). Calamares willnot download anything.

The list you created in the packages.x86_64 file will be installed on the iso and on your future system.

On demand of our users we have added 3 links to the archiso folder so that in the live environment they will have network manager.

/archiso/airootfs/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/NetworkManager.service /archiso/airootfs/etc/systemd/system/network-online.target.wants/NetworkManager-wait-online.service /archiso/airootfs/etc/systemd/system/dbus-org.freedesktop.nm-dispatcher.service

If you do not use Networkmanager, you can delete them. You can also keep them as they are pointing to services you have not installed. The links will have no effect at all.

Remember there is still nmtui if the gui Networkmanager fails you in some way.

If you did NOT install it on the iso. These are the steps you can still do.

setxkbmap be — I will set my keyboard to azerty

sudo pacman -Sy — get the pacman databases in

sudo pacman -S networkmanager — installing the software

sudo systemctl enable NetworkManager — mind the capital letters

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Created for Arch Linux based systems

Archiso package at the core of the building

ALCI or Arch Linux Calamares Installer

• Too complex to install ArchLinux
• Tired of going through the Arch Way installation commands
• Want an encrypted system – but it is just toocomplex to understand
• No time to waste
• Build an iso with all your packages from ArchLinux
• Build an iso with all your packages from AUR
• Build an iso with all your services (bluetooth, cups, …)

Use a graphical installer called CALAMARES to get your system up and running.

Decide to type every command
after installation

Decide to include already
xorg, Lightdm, XFCE4, …

When your reboot, you decide what you install.
Xfce4 as an example:

sudo pacman -Syyu

sudo pacman -S xorg-server xorg-apps

sudo pacman -S lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter

sudo pacman -S xfce4 xfce4-goodies

Edit the packages.x86_64 and add the packages you want.

6 screens later
you boot into
Arch linux

You can use our alci-dwm
or
the desktop you want to install

31 Create Cinnamon iso – no ArcoLinux repo – no Chaotics repo – just Arch Linux repo and drivers

In this video we talk about drivers and about daring to experiment so you know what drivers you need for pc 1 and laptop 2. Test it out and write it down. We talk about nvidia, nvidia-lts and nvidia-dkms. We decide to install Cinnamon and not use the ALCI-DWM desktop.

30 How to create a linux-lts iso – created from scratch

After creating the zen iso on my own time without recording it we can now create a linux-lts iso together. We create githubs for the iso and the Calamares config. We build a new Calamares config for linux-lts. We decide against putting packages on our system because.

29 How to create an linux-zen iso – how did I create it

This video is an after the facts video. See which files matter if you want to change from a linux kernel to a linux-zen kernel. We created an additional Calamares configuration to remove linux and decided NOT to put broadcom-wl on our system. Our next article we will.

28 If Arch Linux removes a package from its repos you need to act

The package list contains all the packages we can use for our iso. These are pre-build packages from Arch Linux. If Arch Linux decides not to build the packages anymore it will result in an error during the build. error: target not found: termite-terminfo Then there.

27 Booting up with your deskop in the live environment

Two things to change and you are good to go if you start with the dev github and want xfce4. We change the content of packages.x86_64 and remove alci-dwm-nemesis. A few lines down we have already a desktop — xfce4 and xfce4-goodies.Change the packages if you want.

26 Archiso 55-1 changes incorporated

It is always the same workflow. Compare the releng folder coming in from the Archiso package (sometimes also the mkarchiso script). Decide what you like to include on your future iso with the use of Meld. Double-check. Triple-check. Build the iso. Test the iso.

25 Compare archiso 53-1 with our githubs

It is always the same workflow. Compare the releng folder coming in from the Archiso package (sometimes also the mkarchiso script). Decide what you like to include on your future iso with the use of Meld. Double-check. Triple-check. Build the iso. Test the iso.

24 Rebuild Calamares when kpmcore gets an update

You see a message in Calamares and you did not change anything. Maybe Calamares did not changeMaybe the configuration did not change but everything else did change. New kernels, new systemd and also the packages that are needed to make Calamares work. In this instance.

23 Rebuild Calamares when one of its dependencies gets an update – boost and boost-libs

You see a message in Calamares and you did not change anything. Maybe Calamares did not change Maybe the configuration did not change but everything else did change. New kernels, new systemd and also the packages that are needed to make Calamares work. Here the two.

22 Archiso 52-1 compared and implemented

It is always the same workflow. Compare the releng folder coming in from the Archiso package (sometimes also the mkarchiso script). Decide what you like to include on your future iso with the use of Meld. Double-check. Triple-check. Build the iso. Test the iso.Let us.

21 Building a new Calamares v3.2.39.1

Building a new Calamares is something YOU can do. You do not need us for it. You can build it and put it on the local repo on your pc. You can make your own Calamares configurations. See example below.You can make your own packages list and it will become YOUR.

20 Creating an ALCI Sddm theme and testing it out – BTRFS as formatting

We are moving the arcolinux-sddm-plasma-archpaint to the ALCI project. We show you how that can be done via Github. Lots of elements need to be changed. We do not want to keep any trace of ArcoLinux anywhere. We show you how we will change the current ArcoLinux.

19 Change the configuration of Calamares to use BTRFS by default

Can we change the configuration of Calamares so that it will no longer use EXT4 as default format but BTRFS? We will show you where to get this knowledge and how to accomplish such a whatif. From A till we boot into the new installation with BTRFS.

18 Building our ALCI iso with our local repo and our newly created nemesis-wallpapers – what changed since last time

We build our iso and go over all the changes. we create our local repo we build a package called nemesis-wallpapers to test our local repo we keep sddm on our future system — you will boot into a graphical environment we give you an example how a local repo should.

17 How to build your own package for your local repository

It is fun to make your Operating System just the way you like. In our example we will put several wallpapers on our github and create a package for it. The advantage of a package is that Pacman can control it. sudo pacman -S or -R will work. If we copy/pasted the.

16 How to add services on your future system – workflow explained

If you know how to add a certain service to you current system you can figure out how to install it on ALCI. This is not about samba, bluetooth, avahi, . This is about ANY service you will ever encounter. This is a workflow tutorial.

15 Theming ALCI Xfce

This was me just having fun. Changing Xfce4 in all kinds of ways.

14 Build a new Calamares

In this video we show you all the steps you have to take to build and test out a new Calamares. It is super easy. Combined with article 13 — adding a local repo — you can be faster than the developers and become independent. You do not have to wait for anyone updating.

13 How to add your local custom repo to ALCI

The core of ALCI is the packages list and ofcourse pacman.conf which will tell where the pacakages are. You can get the packages from: Arch Linux ArcoLinux Chaotic AUR . many others But you can also create a local repo on your computer system. You build the packages.

12 How to figure out what to put on ALCI

ALCI is all about choosing packages and adding them too the packages.x86_64. Here we show you where you can find the sources. Where to get the Lego blocks and which you might want or will need?

11 What if Calamares crashes when creating the partitions

ALCI is designed to be as minimal as possible. Hence our choice to make our personalized ALCI DWM. Gparted could be installed on the fly and you can do your workflow that way. But what if you just want to start from scratch and delete all partitions and go on with the.

10 ArcoFy your ALCI – get your personal configuration in

You can add your personal look to ALCI. Just keep the .config files and folders that matter save and copy/paste them in the /archiso/airootfs/etc/skel. Super easy and quick.

9 Changing ALCI when a new Archiso package arrives – procedure – choices

The major difference for this project is the cloud service that is now in our systemd/system. This is the website what it is all about: https://cloud-init.io/ The package is called : cloud-init

8 How to create an ALCI iso on Arch Linux

ALCI is an ArcoLinux project. By default we have the ArcoLinux mirrors and ArcoLinux keys. If you would like to install packages from ArcoLinux you need to get the keys in and know where the mirrors are.Since my Arch Linux system contains all the keys and mirrors from.

7 ALCI contains the ArcoLinux keys by default

ALCI is an ArcoLinux project. We would like to install packages from ArcoLinux. IF HOWEVER you are not planning to install anything from ArcoLInux repos you can remove one line of code. Edit this file /archiso/airootfs/etc/systemd/system/pacman-init.service and delete.

6 Sharing the info to build ALCI between users

We have now the possibilty to ask people what the content of the packages.x86_64 file is and learn from it. On Discord we have a separate channel for Arch Linux Calamares Installer or ALCI. On that channel we can exchange configs via https://pastebin.com. That is.

5 Adding packages to the ALCI iso

Adapt ALCI to your needs . Less typing is always better We have added some ideas at the bottom of the packages.x86_64. The content of this file will change over time.Read the text at the bottom. Some packages will always be removed by Calamares.

4 Installing ALCI – Xorg – Lightdm – Mate – Encrypted – zapping our harddisk

In this article we decided to encrypt our harddisk and install Mate. A great tip is when we talk about really removing any trace of files, folders or formatting from your harddisk. wipefs -a /dev/sda or sgdisk -Z /dev/sda

3 Installing ALCI – Xorg – Sddm – Cinnamon – ASA – ATT- Awesome

The iso is already built when we start our video. See article 2 to learn how to build the iso. Content of the video we install ALCI together — choose any of the options available on Calamares we install xorg-server, xorg-apps, sddm, and cinnamon we enable sddm.

2 How to get started with ALCI

Synthesis check you have the correct archiso version git clone the project git clone https://github.com/arcolinuxiso/alci-iso change content of archiso/packages.x86_64 or not use meld to compare the other packages files — example-packages.x86_64 and.

1 Creation of ALCI or Arch Linux Calamares Installer

I have recorded every single step of the way. It took a bit longer than expected. I did make some mistakes that made everything a bit longer. The goal is as always outgrow the master. Become smarter by watching the videos, Get your own what-ifs and be able to carry.

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