This document is a guide for (manually) installing Artix from the live system booted with the base image.
The default console keymap is US. To list available layouts, run ls /usr/share/kbd/keymaps/**/*.map.gz. To modify the layout, append a corresponding file name to loadkeys, omitting path and file extension. For example, run loadkeys de-latin1 to set a German keyboard layout.
Console fonts are located in /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts/ and can likewise be set with setfont.
If UEFI mode is enabled on an UEFI motherboard, the ISO will boot accordingly. To verify this, list the efivars directory:
# ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars
If the directory does not exist, the system may be booted in BIOS or CSM mode. Refer to your motherboard's manual for details.
The installation image enables the dhcpcd service on boot for wired network devices. The connection may be checked with:
# ping artixlinux.org
If no connection is available, stop the dhcpcd service. Proceed with network configuration for wired devices or wireless network configuration for wireless devices.
When recognized by the live system, disks are assigned to a block device such as /dev/sda. To identify these devices, use lsblk or fdisk.
# fdisk -l
Results ending in rom, loop or airoot may be ignored.
The following partitions (shown with a numerical suffix) are required for a chosen device:
/.
Note: Swap space can be set on a separate partition or a swap file.
To modify partition tables, use fdisk or parted.
# fdisk /dev/sda
See Partitioning for more information.
Note: If you want to create any stacked block devices for LVM, disk encryption or RAID, do it now.
Once the partitions have been created, each must be formatted with an appropriate file system. For example, to format the root partition on /dev/sda1 with ext4, run:
# mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1
If you created a partition for swap (for example /dev/sda3), initialize it with mkswap:
# mkswap /dev/sda3 # swapon /dev/sda3
See the ArchWiki page for File systems#Create a file system for details.
Mount the file system on the root partition to /mnt, for example:
# mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
Create mount points for any remaining partitions and mount them accordingly:
# mkdir /mnt/boot # mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/boot
fstabgen will later detect mounted file systems and swap space.
Packages to be installed must be downloaded from mirror servers, which are defined in /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist (Artix) /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist-arch (Arch). On the live system, all mirrors are enabled, and sorted by their synchronization status and speed at the time the installation image was created.
The higher a mirror is placed in the list, the more priority it is given when downloading a package. You may want to edit the file accordingly, and move the geographically closest mirrors to the top of the list, although other criteria should be taken into account.
Use basestrap to install base package and init package (openrc or runit):
# basestrap /mnt base base-devel openrc linux
or
# basestrap /mnt base base-devel runit elogind-runit linux
Alternatively:
# basestrap -i /mnt base base-devel runit linux
(to interactively select elogind-runit, as pacman alphabetically defaults to elogind-openrc)
Note: It is entirely possible to install an OpenRC system in a runit ISO, vice-versa.
To install packages and other groups such as base-devel, append the names to basestrap (space separated) or to individual pacman commands after the chroot step.
Generate an fstab file (use -U or -L to define by UUID or labels, respectively):
# fstabgen -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
Check the resulting file in /mnt/etc/fstab afterwards, and edit it in case of errors.
Change root into the new system:
# artools-chroot /mnt /bin/bash
Set the time zone:
# ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/<Region>/<City> /etc/localtime
and Run hwclock to generate /etc/adjtime:
# hwclock --systohc
This command assumes the hardware clock is set to UTC.
Uncomment en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 and other needed localizations in /etc/locale.gen, and generate them with:
# locale-gen
Set the LANG variable in /etc/locale.conf accordingly, for example:
#/etc/locale.conf LANG=en_US.UTF-8
You can configure keyboard layout via /etc/conf.d/keymaps and /etc/conf.d/consolefont.
If you set the keyboard layout, make the changes persistent in /etc/vconsole.conf:
KEYMAP=de-latin1
You can set your hostname in /etc/hostname.
#/etc/hostname myhostname
The newly installed environment has no network connection activated by default. See Network configuration.
Creating a new initramfs is usually not required, because mkinitcpio was run on installation of the linux package with basestrap.
For special configurations, modify the /etc/mkinitcpio.conf file and recreate the initramfs image:
# mkinitcpio -p linux
Set the root password:
# passwd
A Linux-capable boot loader must be installed in order to boot Artix Linux. For more information, you can see ArchWiki's page on bootloaders. Except systemd-boot, of course.
If you have an Intel CPU, install the intel-ucode package in addition, and enable microcode updates.
Reboot
Exit the chroot environment by typing exit or pressing Ctrl+D.
Optionally manually unmount all the partitions with umount -R /mnt: this allows noticing any "busy" partitions, and finding the cause with fuser.
Finally, restart the machine by typing reboot: any partitions still mounted will be automatically unmounted. Remember to remove the installation media and then login into the new system with the root account.
See ArchWiki's General recommendations for system management directions and post-installation tutorials (like setting up a graphical user interface, sound or a touchpad).
Do note that the pages instructions may or will include instructions for service management using systemd, in that case, you can look for the equivalent instructions from the Runit page instead.