Arch Linux

IrvineHimself

Member

From: Scotland

Registered: 2016-08-21

Posts: 275

[Solved] Bootstrapping, how far can you go?

I am seriously considering migrating from Ubuntu Studio to Arch Linux, and, as part of the decision/testing process, am hoping to build an Xfce desktop environment mounted on a USB.  My main problem  is:  I only have one laptop and really need to be able to use the internet and a web browser to see the tutorials and other technical guides.

At the moment I have bootstrapped into "root.x86_64" from Ubuntu, so it's not really a problem, but how far can I take this before I need to install my image onto a USB as a standalone OS?

Thanks for your patience

Irvine

Last edited by IrvineHimself (2016-08-22 16:47:38)

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Et voilà, elle arrive. La pièce, le sous, peut-être qu'il arrive avec vous!

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: London

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 7,732

Website

Re: [Solved] Bootstrapping, how far can you go?

My main problem  is:  I only have one laptop and really need to be able to use the internet and a web browser to see the tutorials and other technical guides.

From the Arch live ISO image, bring up your connection then run:

elinks startpage.com

This has the advantage of precluding any dodgy YouTube video "guides"

This may also help:

less install.txt

Alternatively, try https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/In … ting_Linux

I have no idea what you mean by:

I have bootstrapped into "root.x86_64" from Ubuntu

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Are you infected with Wetiko?

eschwartz

Fellow

Registered: 2014-08-08

Posts: 4,097

Re: [Solved] Bootstrapping, how far can you go?

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/In … ting_Linux

Although personally, I just printed out the Beginner's Guide on paper and proceeded without a web browser. It isn't that hard.

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Managing AUR repos The Right Way -- aurpublish (now a standalone tool)

2ManyDogs

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2012-01-15

Posts: 4,645

Re: [Solved] Bootstrapping, how far can you go?

I have no idea what you mean by:

I have bootstrapped into "root.x86_64" from Ubuntu

I assume he means "chroot into root.x86_64 from a bootstrap image" -- this is the last step in the bootstrap method shown in the wiki.

Irvine, from there, you should be able to follow the rest of the directions in that topic to install onto your USB stick. You can keep a browser window open in Ubuntu, and another terminal window with the chroot, and follow the wiki topic (and the Beginners' Guide) to complete the install.

Last edited by 2ManyDogs (2016-08-21 16:16:59)

IrvineHimself

Member

From: Scotland

Registered: 2016-08-21

Posts: 275

Re: [Solved] Bootstrapping, how far can you go?

Thanks for your replies,

Head_on_a_Stick
"root.x86_64" is folder in the bootstrap image, as illustrated on the page linked to by Eschwartz and 2ManyDogs

2ManyDogs
That is exactly what I was hoping to be able to do, it's just that some of steps seem potentially dangerous to my Ubuntu installation Would it be better to move all the files onto my USB, (currently they are in a desktop folder,) and chroot into the USB?

Irvine

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Et voilà, elle arrive. La pièce, le sous, peut-être qu'il arrive avec vous!

eschwartz

Fellow

Registered: 2014-08-08

Posts: 4,097

Re: [Solved] Bootstrapping, how far can you go?

It won't touch your Ubuntu installation, you will be `pacstrap`ing into a second partition...
As for the chroot itself, it really doesn't make any difference whether you chroot into a folder on your desktop or into a folder on your USB.

I am not sure what you think might actually be a problem.

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Managing AUR repos The Right Way -- aurpublish (now a standalone tool)

IrvineHimself

Member

From: Scotland

Registered: 2016-08-21

Posts: 275

Re: [Solved] Bootstrapping, how far can you go?

Thanks for all your replies, they helped a lot. I now have a basic, working, Arch Linux installation

For reference: I finaly decided to go for an Ubuntu/Arch dual boot, (chroot(ing) into Arch from Ubuntu to complete the install.

Since others may find my method useful, here is a short summary:

• Create a small, (50GB,) Arch partition on the main drive.
  Boot to installation media.
  Connect to Wifi
  Mount the Arch partition
  Install base package, (with extras?)
  Generate fstab
  Reboot back into Ubuntu
  From Ubuntu chroot into Arch and complete the rest of the base installation.
  Edit grub to make the system dual boot. (The GUI based "Grub Customizer" makes this easy! See here. )
  Reboot back into Arch and test

I had a couple of minor problems:

• Possibly due to the non-standard Toshiba keyboard, the "Alt+arrow" didn't switch between virtual consoles.

• At first, while chroot(ing) from Ubuntu, I couldn't get Arch to connect to the Wifi, (a necessary step before you can install things like the Wifi dialoge!) I solved this by opening Arch's resolve.conf in Nano and pasting into it Ubuntu's resolve.conf.

Finally, I expect to be using the basic method quite a lot while I build my Arch installation. So, I made a small bash to chroot into Arch and let me work on the system from Ubuntu. Since others may find it useful, I will post it here:

#!/bin/bash

# Bootstraps into Arch Linux installation from Ubuntu

# see https://shafeeqk.wordpress.com/2012/07/02/archlinux-chroot/

cd /media/memyself/Arch/
sudo mount -t proc proc proc/
sudo mount -t sysfs sys sys/
sudo mount -o bind /dev dev/
sudo mount -t devpts pts dev/pts/
sudo chroot . /bin/bash

Once again, thanks for all your help.

Irvine

PS
By the way, not having a printer, printing out instructions is not really an option.

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Et voilà, elle arrive. La pièce, le sous, peut-être qu'il arrive avec vous!

eschwartz

Fellow

Registered: 2014-08-08

Posts: 4,097

Re: [Solved] Bootstrapping, how far can you go?

You can use the `arch-chroot` script provided by the arch-install-scripts package. It automates the work of adding the various mounts, bind-mounts the current system's resolv.conf, and enters the chroot.

I don't know if Ubuntu has something similar, they probably do though.

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Managing AUR repos The Right Way -- aurpublish (now a standalone tool)

IrvineHimself

Member

From: Scotland

Registered: 2016-08-21

Posts: 275

Re: [Solved] Bootstrapping, how far can you go?

You can use the `arch-chroot` script provided by the arch-install-scripts package. It automates the work of adding the various mounts, bind-mounts the current system's resolv.conf, and enters the chroot.

I don't know if Ubuntu has something similar, they probably do though.

I looked for the arch-chroot script in /bin, and couldn't find it. Similarly, Ubuntu's manpage on chroot was remarkably unhelpful. It was only after I started to write this reply that I realised that, since I had been using arch-chroot when booting into both the bootstrap package and the un-squashed iso, I could have just copied it into /bin.

Sigh

Irvine

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Et voilà, elle arrive. La pièce, le sous, peut-être qu'il arrive avec vous!

ghus

Banned

Registered: 2016-11-14

Posts: 420

Re: [Solved] Bootstrapping, how far can you go?

I hope not to look necrobumping, I'd found it yesterday, while needing to have an internet connection into the Arch already installed and missing some packages to get it. The device has a dual boot, so from Mint I'd found this: https://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/co … oot.1.html (the simple chroot wasn't receiving the Arch mirrors, even if from Mint the internet connection was active: arch-chroot worked fine instead).

Last edited by ghus (2019-03-17 03:19:41)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,707

Re: [Solved] Bootstrapping, how far can you go?

Well the thread is already solved, and since the ubuntu package did not exist when this was first attempted, remarking that it is now available in the repos is nice, but unlikely to still be of relevance to Irvine.

Closing.