Configuring a fresh Archlinux Install

Intro

This entry will provide you with the first few steps needed to get a fresh Arch install running and happy.

Setting up a Network Connection

In order to install all missing programs on-the-fly, a working internet connection is important.

We first make sure that the systemd-networkd and systemd-resolved services automatically start when booting:

$ systemctl enable --now systemd-networkd.service
$ systemctl enable --now systemd-resolved.service

If you use programs which rely on /etc/resolv.conf, you need to do the following:

$ ln -sf /run/systemd/resolve/stub-resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf

Next, we establish a wired connection by editing /etc/systemd/network/20-wired.network:

[Match]
Name=<network interface>

[Network]
DHCP=yes

Finally, we restart the service to make it aware of our recent changes:

systemctl restart systemd-networkd.service

“Essential” Programs

In order to complete the following steps, some additional programs might be needed. In order to install those and other cool ones, update the pacman database (pacman -Syy) and install the following applications:

  • vim-minimal - text editing and much more

  • paru - easy installation of AUR packages

  • mplayer/mpv - multimedia player

  • htop - resource usage stats

  • wget - network downloader

  • bash-completion - guess what

  • evince-gtk - pdf viewer

  • feh - image viewer

  • scrot - screenshot application

  • downgrade - downgrad packages

  • pkgfile - find out which package a program is in

  • strace - trace system calls and signals

  • gdb - GNU debugger

  • mtr - ping + traceroute

  • ncdu - du with curses interface

  • ssh-copy-id - copy ssh public key to other host’s authorized_hosts file

  • pacgraph - see which packages are installed and more

  • radare2 - analyze binary files

  • hashcat - crack hashes

  • iodine - tunnel IPV4 via DNS

  • mps-youtube - youtube player in terminal

  • syncthing - share files between computers

Initial Configuration

This section will list a few common first steps after installing the basic system

Set a Hostname

$ hostnamectl set-hostname <hostname>

Set your Timezone

$ timedatectl set-timezone Europe/Berlin

Set locale

$ vim /etc/locale.gen # uncomment: "en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8"
$ locale-gen
$ locale -a # list available types

$ vim .config/locale.conf # export entries from `locale` as env vars
or
$ localectl set-locale LANG=en_US.UTF-8

Handle keyboard layout (console)

Adjust your keyboard layout according to your needs.

$ localectl status # show current configuration
$ localectl list-keymaps # list available layouts
$ loadkeys de-latin1 # temporarily load layout
$ vim /etc/vconsole.conf # add "KEYMAP=de-latin1" for permanent layout

Handle keyboard layout (Xorg)

It might be necessary to adjust X to the layout of your specific keyboard. For german ones, something like the following could be used.

$ vim ~/.xinitrc # add "setxkbmap de nodeadkeys &" at bottom

Set root Password

$ su
$ passwd

Setup Zsh

$ pacman -S zsh zsh-completions

You can now create a new user with Zsh as their default shell (see next section).

Add a Default User

$ useradd --create-home -g users --groups wheel --shell /usr/bin/zsh kpj
$ passwd kpj
[..]

Setting up the GUI

In order to have a fancy window manager, we have to install X and a driver first (the exact packages required depend on your particular GPU setup)

$ pacman -S xorg xorg-xinit
$ cp /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc ~/.xinitrc

To then automatically start X on login, add

[[ -z $DISPLAY && $XDG_VTNR -eq 1 ]] && exec startx

to the bottom of your ~/.zprofile.

In order to automatically login after booting, simply create the file /etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service.d/autologin.conf (assuming you’re using systemd) and paste the following content

[Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=-/usr/bin/agetty --autologin username --noclear %I $TERM
Type=simple

Afterwards, e.g. i3 can then be easily installed and set to automatically start on boot

$ pacman -S i3 dmenu rxvt-unicode noto-fonts
$ vim ~/.xinitrc # add "exec i3" at bottom

Enabling Sound

This can now automagically all be done by installing the following packages:

$ pacman -S pipewire pipewire-alsa pipewire-pulse helvum

And subsequently restarting your computer.

Clock Synchronization

We haven’t used systemd so far, so let’s do it (Ba Dum Tss!)

$ systemctl enable systemd-networkd
$ systemctl enable systemd-timesyncd

Using SSH

$ pacman -S openssh
$ ssh-keygen
$ systemctl enable sshd.service

Handle sudo

$ pacman -S sudo
$ EDITOR=vim visudo # -> %sudo   ALL=(ALL) ALL
$ groupadd sudo
$ usermod -a -G sudo <user>

Init vim

Install this plugin manager and look here for an exemplary configuration file.

Useful .bashrc edits

Colorful prompt for normal user:

PS1='\[\e[1;32m\][\u@\h \W]$\[\e[0m\] '

for root (same color but as background):

PS1='\[\e[1;32m\e[7m\][\u@\h \W]$\[\e[0m\] '

Weechat usage

$ pacman -S weechat
$ weechat
-> /server add freenode chat.freenode.net
-> /set irc.server.freenode.autoconnect on
-> /set irc.server.freenode.autojoin "#channel1,#channel2"
-> /set irc.server.freenode.nicks "kpj"
-> /set irc.server.freenode.command "/msg nickserv identify <password>"
-> /save