Arch Linux

WebReflection

Member

Registered: 2014-07-08

Posts: 106

archibold.io

I'd like to introduce you a little project which aim is to simplify a full Desktop installation on top of ArchLinux and usiing GNOME:
archibold.io

The idea is that once you flush an USB stick, you can perform a full installation grabbing the archibold.sh file via curl and launching it via:

DISK=/dev/sdX USER=myuser sh archibold.sh

That's pretty much it ( and "what happens next, is unbelievable" )

Any sort of comment or eventual contribution via the repo is welcome.

Best Regards

Last edited by WebReflection (2015-02-06 00:36:25)

bstaletic

Member

Registered: 2014-02-02

Posts: 658

Re: archibold.io

Which kind of users is the script ment for?

If it's supposed to be for everyone then there's no option for separate /home /var, lvm, RAID, some other bootloader, drive encryption, etc.
But since you want to provide automatic installation of a full blown DE I guess any kind of more complicated install is of no interest.

You pacstrap "archibold", what is that?

Why sh? Archiso has both bash and zsh. I know sh is portable, but archiso is uniqueand we know it has the aforementioned shells.

Interesting way of handling chroot.

---

My dotfiles

Rasi

Member

From: Germany

Registered: 2007-08-14

Posts: 1,914

Website

Re: archibold.io

hmm. reading through your page, i can't see the value of this project. It still needs quite a bit of manual setup and all it does is create a user and install gnome plus the driver packages. more or less. thats 2 commands. 3 if you count enabling gdm.

but ah well, good luck with the project.

---

He hoped and prayed that there wasn't an afterlife. Then he realized there was a contradiction involved here and merely hoped that there wasn't an afterlife.

Douglas Adams

WebReflection

Member

Registered: 2014-07-08

Posts: 106

Re: archibold.io

@bstaletic correct, any kind of more complicated install can be done manually. If you are that advanced, you would probably ignore this indeed.

I pacstrap the env in the archibold folder

mkdir -p archibold
sudo mount $ROOT archibold
sudo mkdir -p archibold/boot/EFI
sudo mount $EFI archibold/boot/EFI


pacstrap archibold base ....

I didn't bother at all with sh, I didn't even think about any alternative, that just did the job ;-)

The chroot trick .... looks a bit dirty but works and I don't have to do much, except writing root and USER password during the installation.
About the full blown DE though, I might add a GNOME=0 or similar flag to simply boot to the user and avoid installation of GNOME.

I was already thinking about it, now I know it'd be better for some.

@rasi ... your "just two" commands have been a very long and tedious waste of time for me. I guess you type very fast and remember each time all essentials you need to Syslinux in UEFI systems and stuff, good for you, you don't need this ;-)

Also, is not that I am making money or anything, is a help/easy-going way to promote both Arch and GNOME to newcomers. I don't need luck in this sense, I need them to not have problem during the process

Thanks both for comments though, appreciated the time to have a look.

ANOKNUSA

Member

Registered: 2010-10-22

Posts: 2,141

Re: archibold.io

@bstaletic correct, any kind of more complicated install can be done manually. If you are that advanced, you would probably ignore this indeed.

@rasi ... your "just two" commands have been a very long and tedious waste of time for me. I guess you type very fast and remember each time all essentials you need to Syslinux in UEFI systems and stuff, good for you, you don't need this ;-)

I believe their point was that if someone finds the Beginner's Guide and GNOME wiki page to be too advanced and a tedious waste of time, they shouldn't be using Arch. All this script offers those types is a shortcut to disappointment.

---

Linux != Windows  ::  Ask Questions the Smart Way  ::  Configs

WebReflection

Member

Registered: 2014-07-08

Posts: 106

Re: archibold.io

Naaa, few devs already appreciated the fact next setup will take 5 minutes instead of way more.

Moreover, you won't find many details on Syslinux in UEFI only systems, that bit took ages to work as expected.

I'm not saying I've not learned a lot in order to be able to write such "all-in-one" utility, I'm rather saying being unable to use Arch daily due steep learning curve has been quite frustrating, and next time I want to setup an old or new machine, I have one line to write instead of remember all "those fews", and a reference file to look at, whenever I don't remember bits of the "how to"

Good news is, I've read more philosophical complains than script issues, so I'm actually happy it looks like I've done a decent job there.

Best regards

Last edited by WebReflection (2015-02-06 22:31:04)

WebReflection

Member

Registered: 2014-07-08

Posts: 106

Re: archibold.io

P.S. about the steep learning curve, I meant compared with usual known alternatives.