Arch Linux

archtry

Member

Registered: 2015-04-08

Posts: 1

arch install, how my first attempt went

Decided to give arch a try.  Simple test: sda1 as boot and asd2 as / inside VirtualBox.

Download and md5 of iso went fine.  made virtual machine and fired up the iso ...

Arch install. Attempt number One

Well, turns out that once one chroots, there are *no* text editors. None. Really.  I went to /usr/bin and piped a ls through less but ... nope, none.  Yet the installation instructions tell one to edit files. Riiiiight.

I tried to install an editor with pacman but ... there is no install command according to pacman's built in help. And no man page for pacman.

OK: web search reveals that one performs "pacman -S <packagename>" to find and install a package. The (newbie/detailed) install instructions for Arch fail to mention that.

Right: was able to continue along.

Bug: sometimes running pacman causes something in the chroot mapping to be screwed up: files that I know exist in /etc appear to vanish. Solution: exit chroot and re-chroot. Now ... how old is Arch? Things like that should have been fixed ten years ago.

Skipped network setup, because the "ip" command that is required to do this ... does not exist. From other distros I am aware that this is one thing that can be sorted out post-install.

Bug: there is no mkinitcpio command in the chroot. Skipping and hoping for the best.

After exiting chroot and typing "halt", machine would not shut all the way down. Something about a loop file system refusing to dismount. Whatever. Powered machine down.

Boot failed. Stuck at "grub>" prompt. Apparently no one told grub where the kernel is or what it is named. Fail.

Will try again.  Watch this thread.

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 12,416

Re: arch install, how my first attempt went

Decided to give arch a try.  Simple test: sda1 as boot and asd2 as / inside VirtualBox.

Download and md5 of iso went fine.  made virtual machine and fired up the iso ...

Arch install. Attempt number One

Well, turns out that once one chroots, there are *no* text editors. None. Really.  I went to /usr/bin and piped a ls through less but ... nope, none.  Yet the installation instructions tell one to edit files. Riiiiight.

I tried to install an editor with pacman but ... there is no install command according to pacman's built in help. And no man page for pacman.

OK: web search reveals that one performs "pacman -S <packagename>" to find and install a package. The (newbie/detailed) install instructions for Arch fail to mention that.

Right: was able to continue along.

Bug: sometimes running pacman causes something in the chroot mapping to be screwed up: files that I know exist in /etc appear to vanish. Solution: exit chroot and re-chroot. Now ... how old is Arch? Things like that should have been fixed ten years ago.

Skipped network setup, because the "ip" command that is required to do this ... does not exist. From other distros I am aware that this is one thing that can be sorted out post-install.

Bug: there is no mkinitcpio command in the chroot. Skipping and hoping for the best.

After exiting chroot and typing "halt", machine would not shut all the way down. Something about a loop file system refusing to dismount. Whatever. Powered machine down.

Boot failed. Stuck at "grub>" prompt. Apparently no one told grub where the kernel is or what it is named. Fail.

Will try again.  Watch this thread.

Sounds to me like you didn't install the base group. What guide are you using?

With a normal install, you get two text editors, a pacman man page, the ip command, mkinitcpio, etc.

Last edited by Scimmia (2015-04-08 14:44:48)

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 20,348

Re: arch install, how my first attempt went

I've installed Arch in on two separate machines this week.  Windows 8 hosts and Virtual box. 
Trust me, following the beginners guide works like a charm.  It takes about 15 minutes.

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Silkworm205

Member

From: UK

Registered: 2012-05-21

Posts: 267

Re: arch install, how my first attempt went

What guide were you using? Unless the official one has been set on fire and thrown off a cliff, it should provide all the info you need.

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satanselbow

Member

Registered: 2011-06-15

Posts: 538

Re: arch install, how my first attempt went

Could you post a link to the guide you followed so a comment can be left to advise users that it no longer provides a working installation... if it ever did at all

Schwertspize

Member

Registered: 2015-04-17

Posts: 12

Re: arch install, how my first attempt went

The guide provides a working installation, in my case not exactly (parted did not work properly, I had to use another partition tool, otherwise the pacstrap failed...)
Most likely is that you forgot to use the pacstrap command (before generating fstab)