Arch Linux's Install Media Adds "Archinstall" For Quick/Easy Installations

[X_m7]

This is great news. I have installed Arch Linux many time. Each time is a struggle, at some level. I get the idea, that it's a learning experience, but after doing it possibly 30 or more times, the process has become unproductive. So in a pinch, the last few times I've had to reinstall---sometimes, when I've rebooted before a long update has completed in the background, or so I suspect---I've taken the easy way out: Manjaro. Manjaro is expertly configured, but I always prefer to run the real Arch LInux. Wonderful news. Wonderful.

My son wanted to try Arch, but at his college, the wifi setup was confounded by campus policies. Somehow. He installed Manjaro with ease. Hopefully this will be good news.

I'm guessing said campus policy is that the network uses WPA2-Enterprise, which is a pain to do with no GUI tools. I had to go through that myself the first time I installed Arch, ended up writing out a wpa_supplicant config file manually and using that until I get to the point where the DE's NetworkManager frontend is available. Sadly this installer doesn't help with that, but it does make the setup a lot less tedious to the point where installing to an empty VM is a pinch.

[elatllat]

This will make peoples install scripts a lot shorter (only n00bs don't automate).

The haters can go use LFS.

[BingoNightly]

I don't like it. Forums will be flooded with users not knowing what they have installed.

I've visited the Kali Linux Reddit; I've looked into the abyss, and it did stare back.

[TemplarGR]

Good Move !

There is a difference between keep it simple and keeping it retarded.
I have run Arch for 12 years and this has been sorely needed. Even veteran users who go years without issues dread a reinstall.
Guided is Good.

This is not true. I am a veteran user with slightly more years than you and i don't dread a reinstall, i have done it plenty of times on multiple machines. It is very easy because systemd and other improvements have made it very automatic compared to the past. With a few commands copy pasted from the guide you can have a full blown GNOME or KDE desktop in like 5 minutes (based on your internet connection speed). There are not many configs you need to do these days. Perhaps another hour or two while being in a DE, you do any other installations/configurations you need, and voila, you are good to go!

Obviously a reinstall is never something you want to do, because who wants to lose a working system and set it up from the start? BUT, this applies to all distros/OSes, not just Arch. And Arch users rarely have to do a reinstall because it is a rolling distro and assuming you don't screw up your installation and follow any news from the website for needed interventions, you are good to go.

[TemplarGR]

This will make peoples install scripts a lot shorter (only n00bs don't automate).

The haters can go use LFS.

This is reverse elitism. You are hating the "elitists" and telling them to go LFS, because "only n00bs don't automate". Well, i am not a n00b, and i don't automate my Arch installations. Why would i? I am using it on my personal computers, i don't reinstall that often. Automating it would be a waste of time, when i can simply do it manually in the not frequent occasion i need a reinstall.

And honestly, i wouldn't use Arch for professional environments. I would use a stable distro for that, whether it was for servers or workstations. So again, i don't see the use case for using automation. I mean, you can do it, all the power to you, but automation has some downsides vs fully manual and there is no reason to do it for 1-2 computers only.

[sandy8925]

l33t Arch user: Oh muh god, they're pandering to noobs and making it too easy! Must make it tough to do things in Arch so I can have a sense of achievement!

[sandy8925]

forum is already full of people not being able to do simple things that they can do with other distros. and that same forum is full of people that slap the noobs and close their posts.
plus i for one would enjoy very much an easy way to install arch instead of running all over wiki on a phone and jumping from page to page to page to page to ....and having to come back from the start and so on and on....

Yeah, setting up a proper encrypted system gets annoying. On the other hand, I've kind of got the hang of it, and you don't really need a separate /boot partition if you're using GRUB to unlock LUKS partitions.

[Torxed]

Main developer here, trying to answer some questions and feedback

Man, Gnome looks positively retro in that screenshot.

Hah, gave me a good chuckle. The interface could use some polishing ^^ I did what I could at the time hehe.

I also think this is great - I appreciate how Arch can be as advanced or as simple as you want, with minimal compromises. Sure, even this guided installer isn't the most glamorous or user-friendly, but frankly, if you can't handle this then you can't handle Arch in general. So it's a good way for newcomers to get into Arch without getting too frustrated or overwhelmed.

I very much welcome this attitude and I think you nailed it.
The target audience is newcomers, who maybe don't want to commit the hours or days getting arch up and running just to realize the echo system isn't for them.
Or users who know what gets installed and just want a quick re-install before beginning final configurations.

It'll never replace a fully customized Arch installation, because there's no way it ever could hehe.
I just hope people remember this when they think of the debate. And any feedback is welcome!

This is amazing the arch team actually pays attention to the critiques, while still maintaining the kiss principle.

I really tried sticking to keeping it simple and "force" as little stuff as possible upon the users. Which is why desktop environments are optional, even network configuration is optional. The only "wasted" package I force in via the installer is nano, just to give new linux users something that's "as easy as notepad.exe".
I'm also bringing in statistics for which packages gets installed and logging will continuously improve so that giving support for these installs become easier.

I also welcome any feedback, and Giancarlo has done amazing work massaging this in to the official ISO in a smooth controlled manner, allowing some time for testing and people getting used to it.

I don't like it. Forums will be flooded with users not knowing what they have installed.

This is a guess, and my hope is that this will be no different from when people blindly follow the guide and copy paste commands not knowing what they installed.
While the repository was under my account all support information pointed towards me and I was guiding and helping everyone that used it, now that it had to be moved to the official Arch Linux repository on GitHub, I'm trying to follow all the support channels and questions can be redirected to me, but I would appreciate a ping every now and then because it's hard to get notifications properly from all the support channels.

[Torxed]

Yeah, setting up a proper encrypted system gets annoying. On the other hand, I've kind of got the hang of it, and you don't really need a separate /boot partition if you're using GRUB to unlock LUKS partitions.

Grub is coming, and so is MBR support.
We kept it simple for the first launch to ease this into the community and focus on a specific "field" of support questions.

And it's worth remembering, this is an optional command - nothing that will ever run by default.
So users need to know about it to run it, and I try to be in every support channel answering questions and helping users

[Torxed]

I'm guessing said campus policy is that the network uses WPA2-Enterprise, which is a pain to do with no GUI tools. I had to go through that myself the first time I installed Arch, ended up writing out a wpa_supplicant config file manually and using that until I get to the point where the DE's NetworkManager frontend is available. Sadly this installer doesn't help with that, but it does make the setup a lot less tedious to the point where installing to an empty VM is a pinch.

I've thought about adding a wifi-configuration step some where.
Archinstall is branded as a "guided installer", but in it's basic form it's actually a lib/api that ships a guided installer. And I'm thinking to add wifi configuration to the library part - and users would be able to in a very simplified manner configure `iwd` to some extent. Essentially just ask "Which wifi? and what's the password?" and set up the appropriate iwd systemd script for it. But people haven't been outspoken about this specific need so haven't added it yet

But I'm always open to feedback (main developer here)