Artix is a "rolling release" distribution. Although unlikely, sometimes an updated package will not work. If it is a critical system package, for example glibc, it can cause the system to become unbootable on next boot. Most often, however, failure to boot will be caused by user misconfiguration.
It is a VERY good idea to have pacman-static installed in your system. That way, you can repair almost anything without having to resort to external help, i.e. a live ISO. You can get pacman-static from the AUR.
First thing to do in such a case is to have a bootable medium, or obtain an Artix Live ISO image and create the bootable medium. You can download fresh ISO images from the Download page. Boot from the ISO, open the terminal (or just login into a live system if using a base ISO), and login as user artix with the password artix. You can then inspect what media are recognized by the kernel by using the command
lsblk -f
For example
NAME FSTYPE FSVER LABEL UUID FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS fd0 loop0 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /run/artix/sfs/livefs loop1 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /run/artix/sfs/rootfs sda ├─sda1 vfat FAT32 NO_LABEL 74EC-8A05 └─sda2 ext4 1.0 5fd4dc34-1f6f-49aa-ab2f-80669d374369 sr0 iso9660 ARTIX_202107 2021-07-25-19-06-42-00 0 100% /run/artix/bootmnt
Here, /dev/sda2 is the ext4 partition holding the root filesystem. From there, you can try to mount your root system by using the commands
su # If asked, use the password "artix" mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
and modify any needed files by accessing them under /mnt, for example
vi /mnt/etc/pacman.conf
If pacman isn't working in the installed system, here you can also download any needed Artix packages by using programs preinstalled in LiveISO, such as curl or scp. You can also temporarily install any other programs you need to recover, say, wget in the live environment with pacman -Sy wget. Afterwards, you can chroot to a mounted system by using the command
artix-chroot /mnt
Any subsequent commands in that terminal will be carried out as though issued on the root filesystem from the hard disk. For example, you can type
pacman -U /path/to/package_name.tar.zst
to install the manually downloaded file, or just
pacman -Syyu
to update your system.
A bug in kbd-2.6.0 combined with one in ncurses (and some liberties taken by OpenRC regarding printf) are to blame. It only occurs when the consolefont service is enabled at boot runlevel. Quick fix:
rc-update del consolefont boot rc-update add consolefont default
Things to try:
nomodeset to the kernel command line.
Make sure you have the correct repositories activated in /etc/pacman.conf. Testing ([*-gremlins]) repositories should be disabled by default. These must be above all other repositories.
The official Artix ISOs do not enable Arch repositories; only exception are the community editions, which come with Arch repositories enabled and may contain some packages from there.
Note: [gremlins] is Artix equivalent of Arch [testing]
#[system-gremlins] #Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist #[world-gremlins] #Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist #[galaxy-gremlins] #Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist #[lib32-gremlins] #Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist [system] Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist [world] Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist [galaxy] Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist # If you want to run 32 bit applications on your x86_64 system, # enable the multilib repositories as required here. [lib32] Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
Some version mismatches during updates may occur when the Artix team builds newer versions; usually, a few hours of patience shall reward users with the correct versions, once the mirrors have picked up the updates. If it takes longer than a day, the best course of action is to report the problem at the official Artix IRC channel or the forum.
The list below might not be updated, always check the Gitea repository.
## ## Artix Linux repository mirrorlist ## Generated on 2023-05-28 ## # Artix mirrors # Use rankmirrors(1) to get a list of the fastest mirrors for your location, # e.g.: rankmirrors -v -n 5 /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist # Then put the resulting list on top of this file. # Default mirrors Server = https://mirrors.dotsrc.org/artix-linux/repos/$repo/os/$arch Server = https://mirror.clarkson.edu/artix-linux/repos/$repo/os/$arch Server = http://ftp.ntua.gr/pub/linux/artix-linux/$repo/os/$arch ## Europe # Czech Republic Server = https://ftp.sh.cvut.cz/artix-linux/$repo/os/$arch # Denmark Server = https://mirrors.dotsrc.org/artix-linux/repos/$repo/os/$arch Server = https://mirror.one.com/artix/$repo/os/$arch # France Server = https://artix.cccp.io/$repo/os/$arch Server = https://ftp.crifo.org/artix/repos/$repo/os/$arch Server = https://mirror.opensrv.org/artixlinux/$repo/os/$arch # Hungary Server = https://quantum-mirror.hu/mirrors/pub/artix-linux/$repo/os/$arch # Germany Server = https://mirror.netcologne.de/artix-linux/$repo/os/$arch Server = http://mirrors.redcorelinux.org/artixlinux/$repo/os/$arch Server = https://mirror.pascalpuffke.de/artix-linux/$repo/os/$arch Server = https://ftp.uni-bayreuth.de/linux/artix-linux/$repo/os/$arch Server = https://ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de/artixlinux/$repo/os/$arch Server = https://artix.unixpeople.org/repos/$repo/os/$arch Server = https://mirror1.artixlinux.org/repos/$repo/os/$arch Server = https://eu-mirror.artixlinux.org/repos/$repo/os/$arch # Greece Server = https://ftp.cc.uoc.gr/mirrors/linux/artixlinux/$repo/os/$arch Server = http://ftp.ntua.gr/pub/linux/artix-linux/$repo/os/$arch # Monaco Server = https://mirrors.qontinuum.space/artixlinux/$repo/os/$arch # Poland Server = https://artix.sakamoto.pl/$repo/os/$arch # Sweden Server = https://ftp.ludd.ltu.se/mirrors/artix/$repo/os/$arch Server = https://mirror.linux.pizza/artix-linux/$repo/os/$arch # Switzerland Server = https://artix.kurdy.org/$repo/os/$arch # United Kingdom Server = http://artist.artixlinux.org/repos/$repo/os/$arch Server = https://mirror.vinehost.net/artix-linux/$repo/os/$arch ## North America # United States Server = https://artix.wheaton.edu/repos/$repo/os/$arch Server = https://mirror.clarkson.edu/artix-linux/repos/$repo/os/$arch Server = https://mirrors.rit.edu/artixlinux/$repo/os/$arch Server = https://mirrors.ocf.berkeley.edu/artix-linux/$repo/os/$arch Server = http://www.nylxs.com/mirror/repos/$repo/os/$arch Server = https://mirrors.nettek.us/artix-linux/$repo/os/$arch Server = https://us-mirror.artixlinux.org/$repo/os/$arch # Canada Server = https://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/artixlinux/$repo/os/$arch ## South America # Brazil Server = https://gnlug.org/pub/artix-linux/$repo/os/$arch # Chile Server = https://mirror1.cl.netactuate.com/artix/repos/$repo/os/$arch ## Asia # China Server = https://mirrors.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/artixlinux/$repo/os/$arch Server = https://mirrors.aliyun.com/artixlinux/$repo/os/$arch Server = https://mirror.nju.edu.cn/artixlinux/$repo/os/$arch # India Server = https://mirror.albony.xyz/artix/$repo/os/$arch # Korea, Republic of Server = https://mirror.funami.tech/artix/$repo/os/$arch # Singapore Server = https://mirror.freedif.org/Artix/$repo/os/$arch # Taiwan Server = https://mirrors.cloud.tencent.com/artixlinux/$repo/os/$arch # Vietnam Server = https://mirrors.42tm.tech/artix-linux/$repo/os/$arch ## Oceania # Australia Server = https://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/artix/$repo/os/$arch
If pacman warns you about invalid or corrupted packages, it may be due to obsolete PGP keys or Arch-signed packages in the repos. Make sure the Artix repos are above the Arch ones and:
1. Reinstall keyrings including the latest keys:
pacman -Sy archlinux-keyring artix-keyring
If you can't install the artix-keyring because of signature errors, perform step 2 and repeat 1, otherwise proceed to step 3.
2. Remove old and possibly expired, revoked or invalid keys by issuing this command:
rm -r /etc/pacman.d/gnupg
3. Initialize the pacman keyring:
pacman-key --init
4. Load the signature keys:
pacman-key --populate archlinux artix
5. Clear out the software packages downloaded during the aborted installation:
pacman -Scc pacman -Syyu
6. In a pinch, install the package with the -U pacman switch:
pacman -U /var/cache/pacman/pkg/package-1.3.9-1.x86_64.pkg.tar.xz
It is also possible that one of pacman mirrors, perhaps even the first one can't be reached (returning a 404). In this case follow these steps:
1. Change the order of mirror list.
2. Delete sync database:
sudo rm -fr /var/lib/pacman/sync
3. Update database and update the system:
pacman -Syyu
You must enable [lib32] from Artix and [multilib] from Arch in /etc/pacman.conf and install relevant packages for 32bit executables. Make sure [lib32] is above [multilib] (as a matter of fact all Artix repos must be above Arch's).
[lib32] Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist [multilib] Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist-arch
Install parted and execute:
parted -s /dev/sdx set 1 bios_grub on
See next section.
/etc/machine-idThis file originated from dbus development and was adopted by systemd as a universally unique machine identifier. Ergo, it is a useless (for the end user) tag but apparently of some use to dbus because "The important properties of the machine UUID are that 1) it remains unchanged until the next reboot and 2) it is different for any two running instances of the OS kernel. That is, if two processes see the same UUID, they should also see the same shared memory, UNIX domain sockets, local X displays, localhost.localdomain resolution, process IDs, and so forth." Also, "The simple configuration file format of /etc/machine-id originates in the /var/lib/dbus/machine-id file introduced by D-Bus. In fact, this latter file might be a symlink to /etc/machine-id." and This ID uniquely identifies the host. It should be considered "confidential", and must not be exposed in untrusted environments, in particular on the network. Privacy-conscious people might want to regenerate their machine-ids frequently; a new ID can be generated with
dbus-uuidgen >| /etc/machine-id
or
dbus-uuidgen >| /var/lib/dbus/machine-id
You may want to symlink one to another (recommended) or choose to have two different machine IDs (advanced).
Note: Some non-privacy respecting programs might depend on machine-id being accessible (ie. whitelisted when executed from firejail) and not changing on a regular basis. Viber is one such program.
It may be the fault of light-locker (the screenlocker of lightdm). Uninstall the former (light-locker) and let the screenlocker of your chosen DE handle screen locking.
In some setus, Btrfs can't boot if the root filesystem is on RAID subvolumes, despite adding btrfs to /etc/mkinitcpio.conf hooks array (and re-creating a new initramfs) or using rootflags=device=/dev/sda2,device=/dev/sdb2 as a workaround in the kernel command line. The solution is to instruct the btrfs hook create the create the node manually; edit /usr/lib/initcpio/hooks/btrfs as follows:
run_hook() {
mknod /dev/btrfs-control c 10 234
btrfs device scan
}
and re-create the initramfs (mkinitcpio -P).
The init scripts of daemons (also known as 'services') are packaged separately. With very few exceptions, the naming convention is consistent across inits, e.g. for dnsmasq it's dnsmasq-openrc, dnsmasq-runit, dnsmasq-s6 and dnsmasq-dinit. Installing the service package will also pull and install the daemon package too. Example for OpenRC:
pacman -S dnsmasq-openrc rc-update add dnsmasq default rc-service dnsmasq start
Make sure your desktop session is started with dbus-launch in ~/.xinitrc
All Artix ISOs, except base, come slightly preconfigured with a dark theme. To force uniformity across Qt and Gtk, some tricks had to be performed, namely:
/etc/environment.
The overall look of the minimal desktop ISOs is controlled by the following packages, listed alphabetically:
artix-backgrounds artix-dark-theme artix-desktop-presets artix-grub-theme artix-gtk-presets artix-icons artix-qt-presets qt6gtk2
The artix-desktop-presets package contains the common settings which instruct a desktop environment (DE) to use the dark theme. Additional, more toolkit-specific settings are contained in the artix-{gtk,qt}-presets packages. However, not all applications respect the chosen theme and arbitrarily set the background and foreground colours, usually white and black respectively. For those applications that are part of the ISO images, the artix-{gtk,qt}-presets packages also contain configuration files that control their appearance. Finally, artix-community-presets contain settings for a much larger collection of applications, namely the ones found in the community editions ISO images.
Notice: very few themes have complete support for Qt and Gtk2 and Gtk3, namely Breeze, Adwaita, Vertex and Artix-dark. Ergo, using another theme will most probably result in inconsistent look across different toolkit applications.
Most of these settings are installed in /etc/skel, which means that they are copied over to the home directory of every created user upon creation. Installing the packages doesn't mean the settings are applied automatically; the configuration files must be copied from etc/skel to the home directory of each user (be careful not to overwrite existing files without a backup). It also means that removing the package doesn't delete the files from the home directories: they have to be removed manually, if so desired.
Using another theme is generally very easy: just select it in the appearance settings page of your preferred desktop environment. The selected theme will (usually) also change the style and colour theme to its own. If not, select it yourself. For Plasma, the settings are found under Appearance -> Global Theme, Plasma Style, Application Style and Colors.
Plasma and LXQt can also control the appearance of non-native toolkit applications.
/etc/xdg/lxqt/session.conf and perhaps ~/.config/lxqt/session.conf.
Our Gtk-based DEs use the QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME and QT_STYLE_OVERRIDE environment variables to control the appearance of Qt applications. Using an all-toolkit theme like Breeze or Artix-dark is recommended and no additional actions are needed to achieve visually appealing results. Otherwise, those variables may need to be disabled in /etc/environment. For some Qt applications that follow ~/.config/kdeglobals, you may need to remove the lines containing 'artix-dark' (or delete it).
Last, but not least, some applications may partially or completely ignore the user's ~/.gtkrc-2.0 over the global /usr/share/gtk-2.0/gtkrc. The tell-tale of such cases is mixed-colour window widgets (i.e. from both artix-dark and the selected theme). Should you encounter this, just rename /usr/share/gtk-2.0/gtkrc to /usr/share/gtk-2.0/gtkrc.bak and retry. A logout may be necessary.
More information, totally applicable in Artix, can be found on the related Arch Wiki page.
This is harder. Until cross-toolkit themes with Qt6 support mature, you can install qt6gtk2 either from [galaxy] or from the AUR and create aliases for your Qt6 applications in your account's bashrc or the system-wide one:
alias strawberry='QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME=qt5gtk2 strawberry'
This happens because a package on your system — usually from Arch Linux or from the AUR — lists systemd and/or systemd-libs as dependencies.
Since version 246.10-4, Artix's elogind/libelogind package no longer provides systemd. Therefore, to install/update these packages, you'll need to install artix-archlinux-support, which provides a dummy systemd/systemd-libs.
pacman -S artix-archlinux-support
This happens because a package on your system — usually from Arch Linux or from the AUR — lists lib32-systemd as a dependency.
Since version 246.10-2, Artix's lib32-elogind package no longer provides libsystemd. Therefore, to install/update these packages, you'll need to install lib32-artix-archlinux-support, which provides a dummy lib32-systemd.
pacman -S lib32-artix-archlinux-support
Create the file /etc/modules-load.d/uinput with the following text inside:
uinput
Install the Avahi package:
$ sudo pacman -S avahi avahi-{init}
And add avahi-daemon to the list of startup services.
Trigger a manual refresh:
$ kbuildsycoca5
Edit /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf by adding/changing:
[main] plugins=keyfile hostname-mode=none
See next section
It's by design. You have to initialize the system tables yourself and read the post-instalation notes.
sudo mariadb-install-db --user=mysql --basedir=/usr --datadir=/var/lib/mysql
Now you can enable and start the service.
But of course we do. The community editions, which you should be using if you don't like reading documentation, have one. Both pamac (Gtk) and octopi (Qt) are available from the [galaxy] repository.