Customizing 'Base' Installation

Carlwill · 2013-04-24 15:15:46

I followed the Arch Wiki last night for fun since it's the 1st time I've attempted to install since they've removed the installer framework menu. So I got to this section where I begin to install the 'base' package group on my new system:

pacstrap -i /mnt base

Now I am given the option to review the 'base' package group and select entries from 1-52 or... I can just select the entire 'base' group package defaults. The deal is there's a bunch of stuff in the 'base' install group I would like to omit for example (nano, mail-x, sed, etc etc etc)

Is there an easy way to omit packages I don't want? I mean beyond typing: 1 2 3 4 7 8 9 10 11 13 14 15...?

Also, when I am advised the following:

# echo myhostname > /etc/hostname

Should I be using just the system's unique hostname or should I be adding the entire FQDN there: myhostname.mydomain.tld?

hadrons123 · 2013-04-24 15:21:10

1. There is only the option for selectig the packages.
2.You can have any hostname you want.

teateawhy · 2013-04-24 16:39:35

Carlwill wrote:

The deal is there's a bunch of stuff in the 'base' install group I would like to omit for example (nano, mail-x, sed, etc etc etc)
Is there an easy way to omit packages I don't want? I mean beyond typing: 1 2 3 4 7 8 9 10 11 13 14 15...?

Do not omit packages from the base group. Removing 'sed' as you said will break things. Without this warning i assume you would have removed other crucial packages, too.

Last edited by teateawhy (2013-04-24 16:39:53)

Carlwill · 2013-04-24 18:47:10

hadrons123 wrote:

1. There is only the option for selectig the packages.
2.You can have any hostname you want.

******thx

Last edited by Carlwill (2013-04-24 19:11:02)

hadrons123 · 2013-04-24 18:57:20

1. You will be presented options to select packages but not deselect packages. There is no pacstrap or pacman switch or options for deselecting packages.
2. You can put any name into the file /etc/hostname confined by what's given in

 man hostname

Raynman · 2013-04-24 19:04:01

Carlwill wrote:

hadrons123 wrote:
1. There is only the option for selectig the packages.
2.You can have any hostname you want.
1. Vaguest answer ever.
2. That wasn't even a question. I asked if it's simply hostname ONLY or hostname AND domain. The Wiki isn't specific.

Answer 1 is a bit vague, yes, but I think he's trying to say you can only select which ones you want to include.

You should just read man pages; the wiki is not the only or the best source of information. `man 5 hostname` says no dots, for example, and pacman's man page contains a paragraph describing the package selection (which does not agree with hadrons123's answer).

opt1mus · 2013-04-24 19:05:14

Also worth checking out;

$ hostnamectl status
$ man hostnamectl

alphaniner · 2013-04-24 19:05:28

There's nothing wrong with omitting packages from base providided you know you don't need them. I'd never omit sed though; it's a functional necessity in many shell scripts. This is in contrast to nano, mailx, pcmciautils, and mdadm, which are among those I exclude.

I don't know of any better way to do it than providing pacman with a list of all packages from base you want to install. Even that can be made easy with some shell-fu. But if you don't really know what you're doing, you should probably reconsider...

Trilby · 2013-04-24 19:11:41

You can also just remove them after the installation is complete. I installed base and base-devel, then removed a few including nano and mdadm. But, it's been 'sed' before and it will be 'sed' again: don't remove sed.

Carlwill · 2013-04-24 19:13:34

alphaniner wrote:

There's nothing wrong with omitting packages from base providided you know you don't need them. I'd never omit sed though; it's a functional necessity in many shell scripts. This is in contrast to nano, mailx, pcmciautils, and mdadm, which are among those I exclude.

Ugh so confusing. Those are the exact packages I want to exclude: madm, mailx, nano, pcmciautils, etc etc etc. How do you omit them? Do you simply just enter the fourty something numbers you want and leave off the few you don't?

graysky · 2013-04-24 19:16:36

Yes... it would be nice if you could do !30 for example to pull everything BUT 30 but I don't think it works this way.

alphaniner · 2013-04-24 19:25:44

Carlwill wrote:

Do you simply just enter the fourty something numbers you want and leave off the few you don't?

Yup, that's what I do. But honestly, Trilby's method is much more sensible: just let them be installed and remove them later.

Raynman · 2013-04-24 19:48:12

like I said: RTFM

man pacman wrote:

In addition to packages, groups can be specified as well. For example, if gnome is a defined package group, then pacman -S gnome will provide a prompt allowing you to select which packages to install from a numbered list. The package selection is specified using a space and/or comma separated list of package numbers. Sequential packages may be selected by specifying the first and last package numbers separated by a hyphen (-). Excluding packages is achieved by prefixing a number or range of numbers with a caret (^).

Carlwill · 2013-04-24 20:09:09

alphaniner wrote:

Carlwill wrote:
Do you simply just enter the fourty something numbers you want and leave off the few you don't?
Yup, that's what I do. But honestly, Trilby's method is much more sensible: just let them be installed and remove them later.

Thanks all. I will give it another shot. I for some reason cringe at the thought of installing useless packages only to be removed post install. Chances are there are always traces left of junk we remove. I want my fresh install to be exactly that...fresh.

I'll give it another go and only omit stuff I know I don't need / want.

Trilby · 2013-04-24 20:21:42

Carlwill wrote:

Chances are there are always traces left of junk we remove.

That sounds like some traces of PTSD left from using that other operating system - or even perhaps other distros without quality package managers - but we have pacman.

If the packages are remove right after the installation, there will be absolutely nothing left. If they're removed after the first "Syu" after the installation, then the package may remain in the cache, but you could clear this too, then there would be absolutely nothing left.

The only way they'd leave anything behind in your root file system is if you modified their configuration files. The only way they could leave anything in your home partition is if you ran the associated program.

Last edited by Trilby (2013-04-24 20:22:10)

Arogers10 · 2013-04-25 21:01:10

The simplest way, I think, and the way I do it when I am installing something myself (such as gnome) is to do

 1-4 6-8 12-52

especially if you only have a few things to omit.

mhertz · 2013-04-25 22:53:20

Another solution:

pacstrap -i /mnt base{,-devel} --ignore nano,mailx,pcmciautils,mdadm

The '--ignore' flag is just sent unmodified to pacman by pacstrap...

You need the '-i' flag of pacstrap to disable it adding '--noconfirm' to the generated pacman command-line, since pacman will ask "foo is in ignorepkg, install anyway? [Y/n]" and which defaults to "Y"...

Last edited by mhertz (2013-04-25 23:14:24)

Arch Linux

#1 2013-04-24 15:15:46

Customizing 'Base' Installation

#2 2013-04-24 15:21:10

Re: Customizing 'Base' Installation

#3 2013-04-24 16:39:35

Re: Customizing 'Base' Installation

#4 2013-04-24 18:47:10

Re: Customizing 'Base' Installation

#5 2013-04-24 18:57:20

Re: Customizing 'Base' Installation

#6 2013-04-24 19:04:01

Re: Customizing 'Base' Installation

#7 2013-04-24 19:05:14

Re: Customizing 'Base' Installation

#8 2013-04-24 19:05:28

Re: Customizing 'Base' Installation

#9 2013-04-24 19:11:41

Re: Customizing 'Base' Installation

#10 2013-04-24 19:13:34

Re: Customizing 'Base' Installation

#11 2013-04-24 19:16:36

Re: Customizing 'Base' Installation

#12 2013-04-24 19:25:44

Re: Customizing 'Base' Installation

#13 2013-04-24 19:48:12

Re: Customizing 'Base' Installation

#14 2013-04-24 20:09:09

Re: Customizing 'Base' Installation

#15 2013-04-24 20:21:42

Re: Customizing 'Base' Installation

#16 2013-04-25 21:01:10

Re: Customizing 'Base' Installation

#17 2013-04-25 22:53:20

Re: Customizing 'Base' Installation

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