Howto create own archlinux distro

configure os

download latest archlinux cloud image:

wget https://linuximages.de/openstack/arch/arch-openstack-LATEST-image-bootstrap.qcow2

make sure we have libguestfs installed:

pacman -S libguestfs guestfs-tools multipath-tools nbd --noconfirm

install this packages on debian or ubuntu:

apt-get install -y multipath-tools libguestfs-tools nbd 

resize image:

cp arch-openstack-LATEST-image-bootstrap.qcow2 arch-openstack-LATEST-image-bootstrap_100G.qcow2
qemu-img resize arch-openstack-LATEST-image-bootstrap_100G.qcow2 +99G

expand image:

virt-resize --expand /dev/sda1 arch-openstack-LATEST-image-bootstrap.qcow2 arch-openstack-LATEST-image-bootstrap_100G.qcow2

change password:

virt-sysprep -a arch-openstack-LATEST-image-bootstrap_100G.qcow2 -q --root-password password:vidalinux

uninstall cloud-init:

virt-sysprep -a arch-openstack-LATEST-image-bootstrap_100G.qcow2 --run-command "pacman -R cloud-init --noconfirm"

on centos copy the image to this directory:

cd /var/lib/libvirt/images/

mount image:

modprobe nbd
qemu-nbd -c /dev/nbd0 arch-openstack-LATEST-image-bootstrap_100G.qcow2 
kpartx -a /dev/nbd0
mkdir /mnt/archlive
mount /dev/mapper/nbd0p1 /mnt/archlive
mount -o bind /dev /mnt/archlive/dev
mount -o bind /proc /mnt/archlive/proc

enter enviroment with arch-chroot:

arch-chroot /mnt/archlive

initialize the pacman keyring and populate signing keys:

pacman-key --init
pacman-key --populate archlinux

configure /etc/hosts:

cat > /etc/hosts << EOF
127.0.0.1 localhost
10.44.1.44 archlive
EOF

edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config:

sed -i 's/#PasswordAuthentication yes/PasswordAuthentication yes/g' /etc/ssh/sshd_config
sed -i 's/#PermitRootLogin prohibit-password/PermitRootLogin yes/g' /etc/ssh/sshd_config

enable sshd service:

systemctl enable sshd 

configure hostname:

echo "archlive" > /etc/hostname

configure timezone:

ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Puerto_Rico /etc/localtime

stop and disable systemd-resolved:

systemctl disable systemd-resolved

nameserver configuration:

rm /etc/resolv.conf
echo "nameserver 4.2.2.1" > /etc/resolv.conf
echo "nameserver 4.2.2.2" >> /etc/resolv.conf

update entire os:

pacman -Syuu --noconfirm

install packages:

pacman -Sy --noconfirm vim screen nano net-tools bind-tools networkmanager ethtool wget unzip socat gptfdisk lvm2 git

configure networkmanager:

cat > /root/net << EOF
systemctl start NetworkManager && systemctl enable NetworkManager
nmcli con del eth0
nmcli con del Wired\ connection\ 1
nmcli con add con-name eth0 ipv4.method manual type ethernet ifname eth0 ipv4.addresses 10.44.1.44/24 ipv4.gateway 10.44.1.1 ipv4.dns 4.2.2.1,4.2.2.2 autoconnect yes
EOF

install chrony:

pacman -S chrony --noconfirm

enable and start chrony:

systemctl enable chronyd

exit chroot:

exit

umount qcow2 image:

umount /mnt/archlive/dev -l
umount /mnt/archlive/proc -l
umount /mnt/archlive -l
nbd-client -d /dev/nbd0
dmsetup remove /dev/mapper/nbd0p1

enable chaotic repo

install chaotic repo:

pacman-key --recv-key 3056513887B78AEB --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com
pacman-key --lsign-key 3056513887B78AEB
pacman -U --noconfirm 'https://cdn-mirror.chaotic.cx/chaotic-aur/chaotic-keyring.pkg.tar.zst' \
'https://cdn-mirror.chaotic.cx/chaotic-aur/chaotic-mirrorlist.pkg.tar.zst'

run the following command to add chaotic repo to /etc/pacman.conf:

cat >> /etc/pacman.conf << EOF
[chaotic-aur]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/chaotic-mirrorlist
EOF

install yay:

pacman -Sy yay --noconfirm

enable ovox.io repo

download ovox.io pubkey:

wget http://archlinux.ovox.io/acvelez@ovox.io.asc

add ovox.io pub key to pacman:

pacman-key --add acvelez@ovox.io.asc
pacman-key --lsign-key acvelez@ovox.io

add repo to pacman.conf:

cat >> /etc/pacman.conf << EOF
[ovox.io]
Server = http://archlinux.ovox.io
EOF

configure archiso

install archiso:

pacman -S archiso-git dos2unix patch --noconfirm

copy releng directory:

cp -rf /usr/share/archiso/configs/releng/ /root/archlive

retreive the following packages file from vidalinux repo:

cd /root/archlive
cp packages.x86_64 packages.x86_64.default
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vidalinux/archiso/main/packages.x86_64 -O packages.x86_64
dos2unix packages.x86_64

fix syslinux mbr:

cd /root/archlive/syslinux/
wget -O sys-linux.patch https://pastebin.com/raw/BVarduzC
dos2unix sys-linux.patch
patch -p0 < sys-linux.patch

enable services at boot:

cd /root/archlive/airootfs/etc/systemd/system

ln -s /usr/lib/systemd/system/gdm.service display-manager.service
ln -s /usr/lib/systemd/system/NetworkManager.service multi-user.target.wants/NetworkManager.service
ln -s /usr/lib/systemd/system/NetworkManager-dispatcher.service NetworkManager-dispatcher.service
ln -s /usr/lib/systemd/system/NetworkManager-wait-online.service network-online.target.wants/NetworkManager-wait-online.service

set hostname:

echo "archlive" > /root/archlive/airootfs/etc/hostname

set localtime:

cp /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Puerto_Rico /root/archlive/airootfs/etc/localtime

configure sudo:

mkdir /root/archlive/airootfs/etc/sudoers.d/

cat > /root/archlive/airootfs/etc/sudoers.d/wheel << EOF
%wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL
Defaults timestamp_timeout = 0
EOF

add user archlive with vidalinux as password:

echo 'archlive:x:1000:1000::/home/archlive:/bin/bash' >> /root/archlive/airootfs/etc/passwd
echo 'archlive:$y$j9T$OUqRlu65oVBl08eze57XM/$acVf7HTozoZ3Y18uAnZbPfxSLLQPI/rGaX18QP/h3lD:19678::::::' >> /root/archlive/airootfs/etc/shadow

add user to groups:

cat >> /root/archlive/airootfs/etc/gshadow << EOF
root:::root
sys:!!::archlive
network:!!::archlive
power:!!::archlive
adm:!!::archlive
wheel:!!::archlive
uucp:!!::archlive
optical:!!::archlive
rfkill:!!::archlive
video:!!::archlive
storage:!!::archlive
audio:!!::archlive
users:!!::archlive
nopasswdlogin:!::archlive
autologin:!::archlive
archlive:!::
EOF

cat >> /root/archlive/airootfs/etc/group << EOF
root:x:0:root
sys:x:3:bin,archlive
network:x:90:archlive
power:x:98:archlive
adm:x:999:archlive
wheel:x:998:archlive
uucp:x:987:archlive
optical:x:990:archlive
rfkill:x:983:archlive
video:x:986:archlive
storage:x:988:archlive
audio:x:995:archlive
users:x:985:archlive
nopasswdlogin:x:966:archlive
autologin:x:967:archlive
archuser:x:1000:
EOF

set automatic desktop user login:

mkdir /root/archlive/airootfs/etc/gdm

cat >> /root/archlive/airootfs/etc/gdm/custom.conf << EOF
[daemon]
AutomaticLoginEnable=True
AutomaticLogin=archlive
EOF

set default locale:

cat > /root/archlive/airootfs/etc/pacman.d/hooks/40-locale-gen.hook << EOF
[Trigger]
Operation = Install
Type = Package
Target = glibc  

[Action]
Description = Uncommenting en_US.UTF-8 locale and running locale-gen
When = PostTransaction
Depends = glibc
Depends = sed
Depends = sh
Exec = /bin/sh -c "sed -i 's/#\(en_US\.UTF-8\)/\1/' /etc/locale.gen && locale-gen"
EOF

configure chaotic:

cp /etc/pacman.d/chaotic-mirrorlist /root/archlive/airootfs/etc/pacman.d/ 
mkdir /root/archlive/airootfs/usr/share/pacman/keyrings -p
cp /usr/share/pacman/keyrings/* /root/archlive/airootfs/usr/share/pacman/keyrings/
cp /etc/pacman.conf /root/archlive/pacman.conf
rm -rf /root/archlive/airootfs/usr/share/pacman/keyrings/archlinux*

uncoment extra and multilib repos from /root/archlive/pacman.conf:

[extra]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

[multilib]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

download calamares config files:

wget -O /root/archlive/airootfs/usr/local/bin/calamares https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vidalinux/archiso/main/airootfs/usr/local/bin/calamares

wget -O /root/archlive/airootfs/usr/local/bin/calamares-before https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vidalinux/archiso/main/airootfs/usr/local/bin/calamares-before

wget -O /root/archlive/airootfs/usr/local/bin/calamares-final https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vidalinux/archiso/main/airootfs/usr/local/bin/calamares-final

fix file permissions on /root/archlive/profiledef.sh:

file_permissions=(
 ["/etc/gshadow"]="0:0:400"
 ["/etc/shadow"]="0:0:400"
 ["/root"]="0:0:750"
 ["/etc/sudoers.d"]="0:0:750"
 ["/root/.automated_script.sh"]="0:0:755"
 ["/root/.gnupg"]="0:0:700"
 ["/usr/local/bin/choose-mirror"]="0:0:755"
 ["/usr/local/bin/Installation_guide"]="0:0:755"
 ["/usr/local/bin/livecd-sound"]="0:0:755"
 ["/usr/local/bin/calamares"]="0:0:755"
 ["/usr/local/bin/calamares-before"]="0:0:755"
 ["/usr/local/bin/calamares-final"]="0:0:755"
)

create the iso:

cd /root/archlive && mkarchiso -v .

references

• https://gitlab.com/SamArcade777/arcade101
• https://gitlab.com/garuda-linux/pkgbuilds
• https://gitlab.com/dtos/etc/dtos-calamares-settings
• https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/archiso
• https://github.com/archlinux/archiso/blob/master/CHANGELOG.rst