archinstall script new (to me) bug

shloz · 2021-12-10 00:53:15

Hi

I tried installing Arch using the archinstall script on the 12-2021 ISO and..
It never asked me to create a regular user! I went through the script twice. And ended up with not being able to log in with the SDDM greeter.

(I ended up installing the old-fashioned way. For some reason SDDM wouldn't start the KDE desktop even after I added a user manually using arch-chroot, although it showed the user.)

Can someone check to see if I'm right? Because if so this needs to be fixed... According to videos I watched it should prompt to create a user right after entering the root password...

Regards, Shloz

Lone_Wolf · 2021-12-10 17:57:12

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Archinstall doesn't mention anything about creating a normal user.

are you 100% sure it's supposed to do that ? Is there any proof outside of internet videos ?

WorMzy · 2021-12-10 18:27:11

Mod note: moving to archinstall.

progandy · 2021-12-10 21:17:10

Lone_Wolf wrote:

are you 100% sure it's supposed to do that ? Is there any proof outside of internet videos ?

It looks like the guided installer should ask for additional users directly after setting the root password, but you can skip that if you want:
https://github.com/archlinux/archinstal … ed.py#L136

Last edited by progandy (2021-12-10 21:18:32)

shloz · 2021-12-12 03:23:34

All I know is that after entering my root password (twice) it moved on to installing a DE but it never gave me an opportunity to create a regular user. Whereas in videos I watched it was supposed to prompt me to create a regular user right after the root password part. As I said I ran through it twice and I definitely didn't just miss it. That's why I'm asking if anyone else can check if this is a new bug...

Head_on_a_Stick · 2021-12-12 09:24:27

I've just tested this image in QEMU and I can confirm that user creation is only prompted if a root password is not set. I have no idea if this is considered a bug but if you want to set a root password but still be prompted to create a user then I think you will have to set the root password after installation.

robt77 · 2021-12-12 10:13:41

shloz wrote:

Hi
I tried installing Arch using the archinstall script on the 12-2021 ISO and..
It never asked me to create a regular user! I went through the script twice. And ended up with not being able to log in with the SDDM greeter.
(I ended up installing the old-fashioned way. For some reason SDDM wouldn't start the KDE desktop even after I added a user manually using arch-chroot, although it showed the user.)
Can someone check to see if I'm right? Because if so this needs to be fixed... According to videos I watched it should prompt to create a user right after entering the root password...
Regards, Shloz

According to the documentation it is a feature.
https://python-archinstall.readthedocs. … uided.html

"Setting a root password disables sudo permissions for additional users.
It’s there for recommended to skip this step!"

progandy · 2021-12-12 10:45:01

That docuement talks about superusers. Normal users are not mentioned at all and the code comments read as if it should always ask for normal users, but force a superuser if there was no root password. The code does something different. I guess that might be a bug.

Last edited by progandy (2021-12-12 10:53:44)

Lone_Wolf · 2021-12-12 10:49:59

Root password
Warning
Setting a root password disables sudo permissions for additional users.
It’s there for recommended to skip this step!
This gives you the option to re-enable the root account on the machine. By default, the root account on Arch Linux is disabled and does not contain a password.
You are instead recommended to skip to the next step without any input.

Quoting the whole section for clarity.

So the guided installer author feels disabling root account by default and enabling root rights for users through sudo without even asking if that's desired is best practice ?

shloz · 2021-12-12 17:59:48

https://youtu.be/FAGMFqiPrrI
Ermanno just did a video on the Archinstall script and ended up adding a user manually at the end. I consider this a bug because someone (like me) who doesn't know how to add a user manually off the top of his head, will follow the script, and end up with an unusable installation (like I did) because SDDM doesn't list any users and there's no obvious way to login as root. (And I at least knew enough to realize what was missing...)

Torxed · 2022-01-06 14:47:30

shloz wrote:

https://youtu.be/FAGMFqiPrrI
Ermanno just did a video on the Archinstall script and ended up adding a user manually at the end. I consider this a bug because someone (like me) who doesn't know how to add a user manually off the top of his head, will follow the script, and end up with an unusable installation (like I did) because SDDM doesn't list any users and there's no obvious way to login as root. (And I at least knew enough to realize what was missing...)

This has been fixed for v2.3.1.
It was a buggy `if` statement that eliminated the user-setup step if a root password was given.

It should be out in time for the next ISO as we already have a release candidate out.
Apologies for this bug.

Lone_Wolf wrote:

So the guided installer author feels disabling root account by default and enabling root rights for users through sudo without even asking if that's desired is best practice ?

By default in Arch Linux (since some time ago) root is disabled by default.
This is not something I chose and I simply "go with the flow" of what's default after installing the base packages.

However, as mentioned above, if you skip setting a root password I will enforce a sudo user so that users don't lock themselves out of the installation.
There was a bug associated with it which has been fixed

Last edited by Torxed (2022-01-06 14:49:15)

Lone_Wolf · 2022-01-06 16:24:04

By default in Arch Linux (since some time ago) root is disabled by default.

That is new to me , and the installation guide specfiically mentions setting a root password as part of configuring a system.

The users and groups wiki page also doesn't mention it .

If root has indeed been disabled by default, our documentation seems lacking and possibly outdated.
Could you point to a change or commit ?

seth · 2022-01-06 16:54:00

https://github.com/archlinux/svntogit-p … ab1705185b

It's technically not locked - "disabled by default" is vague and I'd call that wrong, but I don't tech English…
You'll *have* to set a password, though.

But I don't understand how any of this correlates w/ sudo (except that if you don't set a root password and don't create a sudo-enabled user, you'll have a hard time maintaining the system unless you boot a root shell)
I guess "Setting a root password disables sudo permissions for additional users." means to say "if you set a root password, the installer will not create a sudo-enabled user" or some such, but at least to a non-native english speaker, this sounds highly misleading.
There's no relation between the root account and sudo.

Lone_Wolf · 2022-01-07 10:40:04

Thanks for the link seth.

That change blocks logging in with root incase the root account has no password set.
The root account and what it can / cannot do are not affected.

I think that's a good change,

Torxed wrote:

This is not something I chose and I simply "go with the flow" of what's default after installing the base packages.
However, as mentioned above, if you skip setting a root password I will enforce a sudo user so that users don't lock themselves out of the installation.

sudo is not in base meta-package and as far as I know there's no requirement for installing everything in core repository.
In my opinion that means sudo is optional and not part of a basic arch install.

The sudo user setup you describe also doesn't use the default configuration of the sudo package.

I would appreciate it if the ALG stayed as close as possible to the (manual) installation guide and document clearly when it deviates from it .

Maybe you could add a warning in ALG about not setting the root password and add some logging entries when the user chooses to let ALG configure sudo users with root rights ?

Arch Linux

#1 2021-12-10 00:53:15

archinstall script new (to me) bug

#2 2021-12-10 17:57:12

Re: archinstall script new (to me) bug

#3 2021-12-10 18:27:11

Re: archinstall script new (to me) bug

#4 2021-12-10 21:17:10

Re: archinstall script new (to me) bug

#5 2021-12-12 03:23:34

Re: archinstall script new (to me) bug

#6 2021-12-12 09:24:27

Re: archinstall script new (to me) bug

#7 2021-12-12 10:13:41

Re: archinstall script new (to me) bug

#8 2021-12-12 10:45:01

Re: archinstall script new (to me) bug

#9 2021-12-12 10:49:59

Re: archinstall script new (to me) bug

#10 2021-12-12 17:59:48

Re: archinstall script new (to me) bug

#11 2022-01-06 14:47:30

Re: archinstall script new (to me) bug

#12 2022-01-06 16:24:04

Re: archinstall script new (to me) bug

#13 2022-01-06 16:54:00

Re: archinstall script new (to me) bug

#14 2022-01-07 10:40:04

Re: archinstall script new (to me) bug

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