Ultimate Arch Linux Installation Guide

Table of Contents

Introduction

An ultimate guide for Arch linux, from a black screen to streaming bloons TD 6 to your friends on discord.

You might notice the style of writing changes from section to section, that’s because this guide took me a couple of weeks to finish

Hardware

There aren’t any hardware requirements to run linux, but you need to configure some stuff before starting

  • Preferably enable UEFI mode in BIOS.
  • Disable secure boot for an easy installation.
  • If you have an NVME SSD then you need to disable RAID mode in the bios.

Downloading Arch

Download the Arch ISO from the official site, preferably with torrent then copy it to an USB using Ventoy or rufus.

Make sure you select GPT for the partition type.

Installation

Read the official Installation guide on the Arch wiki until you reach the Installation section then you can continue with my guide.

pacstrap -K /mnt base base-devel linux linux-firmware git networkmanager nano efibootmgr sudo

You can also add:

  • amd-ucode if you have an AMD cpu
  • intel-ucode if you have an Intel cpu
  • fish or zsh if you want a different shell
  • os-prober for dual-boot if you have a Windows installation on the system

Then chroot into the system

arch-chroot /mnt

And enable the network manager

systemctl enable NetworkManager

Bootloader

On Linux you have many options for booting your system, but for this guide I’ll only go through GRUB and EFI Stub.

  • GRUB is a popular bootloader that provides a UI at boot time, allowing you to select from multiple OSes. It supports theming, fallback configurations, and advanced options like chainloading other bootloaders. GRUB is configured through a configuration file (grub.cfg), which can be generated or modified manually.
  • EFI Stub uses your Linux kernel as a direct EFI executable. When using EFI stub, the kernel is loaded directly by the UEFI firmware, making the boot process faster. However, it lacks a graphical user interface or boot menu, and switching between different operating systems requires configuring the boot options directly in the BIOS.

If you’re still new just use GRUB and enjoy theming it, if you want your PC to boot as fast as possible then use EFI Stub

Regardless of which loader you use you need to install efibootmgr.

GRUB

Although there are other boot managers, grub has the most features and can be themed

Install grub.

$ grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=GRUB
$ nano /etc/default/grub # enable OS_PROBER and verbose logging
$ grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

If you have an MSI motherboad then you need to add --removable to the grub-install command.

Then reboot. Source: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GRUB#Installation

EFI Stub

To create an EFI entry for a kernel:

efibootmgr --create --disk /dev/sdX --part <Y> --label "Arch Linux" --loader /vmlinuz-linux --unicode 'root=UUID=<drive-uuid> rw loglevel=3 verbose initrd=\initramfs-linux.img'
  • /dev/sdX is the drive containing your boot partition
  • <Y> is the boot partition’s number
  • <drive-uuid> is the UUID of your root partition, you can find it with lsblk -o "NAME,UUID,MOUNTPOINTS"

an example with my system:

sudo efibootmgr --create --disk /dev/sda --part 1 --label "Arch Linux" --loader /vmlinuz-linux --unicode 'root=e1f5c537-cb17-4d24-98c9-00b5085856b4 rw loglevel=3 verbose initrd=\initramfs-linux.img'

Then reboot.

Source: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/EFI_boot_stub#Using_UEFI_directly

Deleting Bootloader

If you have multiple bootloaders configured and want to delete the ones you don’t need anymore you can delete them.

First list your bootloaders

$ efibootmgr
# Boot0000* Arch Linux Stub HD(1,GPT,e1f5c537-cb17-4d24-98c9-00b5085856b4,0x800,0x200000)/\vmlinuz-linux72006f006f0074003d005500550049004400...
# Boot0001* GRUB HD(1,GPT,e1f5c537-cb17-4d24-98c9-00b5085856b4,0x800,0x200000)/\EFI\GRUB\grubx64.efi

Then delete the bootloader using it’s id, for example I’ll delete the GRUB entry:

while the previous command lists GRUB as Boot0001, when deleting you only need to write the number 1.

sudo efibootmgr --delete-bootnum --bootnum "1"

Account

Set up your PC’s Hostname, this is a label that is assigned to a device connected to a network that is used to identify the device.

echo pc-name > /etc/hostname

Create a user account

I prefer fish shell because it’s fish and funny, so I’ll create my user with that as the default shell.

Fish shell also has some other features but they’re not as important.

I prefer using Fish shell because, well, it’s hooked me with its user-friendly features—and it’s just fin-tastic.

Sure, Fish shell has a bunch of other cool features, but let’s be honest… it’s mostly about being the catch of the day.

$ passwd
$ useradd -mG wheel -s /bin/fish melty
$ passwd melty
$ nano /etc/sudoers

If you prefer another shell (like bash or zsh), then replace /bin/fish with it’s path, or omit the -s flag entirely to default to Bash.

In the /etc/sudoers file just scroll down and uncomment the rule for wheel, this will give all users in the wheel group access to sudo.

- # %wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL
+ %wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

If you want only your user to have sudo access then you can re-write the live but with your name at the start

melty ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

Install yay

yay is an AUR helper, there’s also paru but yay sounds better

$ git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git
$ cd yay && makepkg -si
$ yay -Y --gendb # init
$ yay -Y --devel --save # always check for -git apps
$ yay -S less # less is an optional package for yay
$ cd .. && rm -rf yay

configure yay and pacman

# edit as you wish
nano ~/.config/yay/config.json

# enable multilib and colors
sudo nano /etc/pacman.conf

# Misc options
#UseSyslog
- #Color
+ Color
#NoProgressBar
CheckSpace
#VerbosePkgLists
ParallelDownloads = 4

...

- #[multilib]
- #Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
+ [multilib]
+ Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

# initialize pacman
$ sudo pacman-key --init && sudo pacman-key --populate
$ yay # update the system

Add a GPG server

This is required to verify some packages on the AUR

$ mkdir ~/.gnupg
$ echo "keyserver hkps://keyserver.ubuntu.com" >> ~/.gnupg/gpg.conf

Install a UI

For the login manager i’ll use SDDM because it’s customizable, and for the system UI I’ll go with Hyprland because from my trials it’s the best wayland window manager for nvidia users, also the config is super easy

$ yay -S sddm # install `weston` if you want to launch sddm in wayland mode
$ yay --needed -S hyprland hyprpaper hypridle xdg-desktop-portal-hyprland hyprpolkitagent
$ sudo systemctl enable sddm

Some other nice alternatives for hyprland:

Basic apps to pair with hyprland

yay -S waybar rofi-wayland foot wl-clip-persist

Pick pipewire-jack when inatalling waybar

Edit ~/.config/hypr/hyprland.conf to use the above packages.

I like to organize my config in seperate files, so i create a sources folder in hypr

mkdir ~/.config/hypr/sources

In it I’ll make keybinds.conf, startup.conf, envs.conf and window-rules.conf here are some config you need

startup.conf

# https://wiki.hypr.land/Hypr-Ecosystem/xdg-desktop-portal-hyprland/#share-picker-doesnt-use-the-system-theme
exec-once = dbus-update-activation-environment --systemd --all && systemctl --user import-environment QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME WAYLAND_DISPLAY XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP

# https://gist.github.com/brunoanc/2dea6ddf6974ba4e5d26c3139ffb7580#editing-the-configuration-file
exec-once = dbus-update-activation-environment --systemd WAYLAND_DISPLAY XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP

# https://wiki.hypr.land/Hypr-Ecosystem/hyprpolkitagent/#usage
exec-once = systemctl --user start hyprpolkitagent

# https://wiki.hypr.land/Hypr-Ecosystem/hypridle/#configuration
exec-once = hypridle

exec-once = dunst & hyprpaper & waybar & kdeconnect-indicator

# https://github.com/Linus789/wl-clip-persist#usage
exec-once = wl-clip-persist --clipboard regular

Then import them in your hypr config ~/.config/hypr/hyprland.conf

source = sources/envs.conf
source = sources/nvidia.conf
source = sources/startup.conf
source = sources/keybinds.conf
source = sources/window-rules.conf

As of June 19 2025 hyprpolkitagent will fail to run on boot

Install GPU driver

Read the Nvidia guide

Install apps

Must have apps

$ yay -S dolphin vesktop librewolf-bin zed dunst
# i chose ttf-liberation as i need it for steam later
  • dolphin: File explorer.
  • vesktop: Discord, but cuter.
  • librewolf-bin: Tracking stripped fork of firefox in binary form, remove the -bin if you believe your CPU can compile a browser.
  • zed: VS Code alternative, but if you want vscode then use vscodium.
  • dunst: Notification daemon.

After installing dolphin if it can’t open any apps by default try running this command

sudo ln -s /etc/xdg/menus/plasma-applications.menu /etc/xdg/menus/applications.menu

https://discuss.kde.org/t/dolphin-doesnt-show-a-single-app-in-the-open-with-menu/14799/12

Candy

$ yay -S kdeconnect kio-admin ffmpegthumbs sshfs yt-dlp-git qt6ct fastfetch
  • qt6ct: Theming for QT6 apps
  • sshfs: Browsing phone storage from dolphin when connected with kdeconnect.
  • kio-admin: Managing files in dolphin as root.
  • fastfetch: Continuation of neofetch.
  • kdeconnect: Application to link your phone with your pc and share files.
  • yt-dlp-git: CLI tool to download videos from youtube, twitter etc… (mpv can also use it to play online videos).

Install audio

yay --needed -S pipewire lib32-pipewire wireplumber pwvucontrol pipewire-alsa pipewire-jack lib32-pipewire-jack

If you have a laptop then also install sof-firmware if that doesn’t work then also alsa-firmware

Enable wireplumber and pipewire for the user

$ systemctl --user enable wireplumber
$ systemctl --user enable pipewire

Or globally with

$ systemctl --global enable wireplumber
$ systemctl --global enable pipewire

Voice noise suppression

For a system level solution for noise suppression

$ yay -S noise-suppression-for-voice pipewire-pulse
$ systemctl --user enable pipewire-pulse

And follow the project’s guide

For Arch linux the plugin’s path is /usr/lib/ladspa/librnnoise_ladspa.so

Install media players

I only need a video player and an Image viewer

yay -S mpv nomacs-git

using the git version of nomacs because the version available in the arch repo is old and doesn’t work with the latest openssl package

Install fonts

For languages:

yay -S noto-fonts noto-fonts-cjk noto-fonts-extra

For emojis (pick at least 1):

  • ttf-twemoji-color (i use this)
  • noto-fonts-emoji (i use this)
  • ttf-font-awesome
  • otf-openmoji

If you installed ttf-twemoji-color then run this

sudo ln -sf /usr/share/fontconfig/conf.avail/46-ttf-twemoji-color.conf /etc/fonts/conf.d/46-ttf-twemoji-color.conf

Set up font fallback, for my case this fixes Noto fonts using the Urdu font for arabic and prioritizes twitter emojis

~/.config/fontconfig/fonts.conf

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "urn:fontconfig:fonts.dtd">
<fontconfig>
    <alias>
        <family>sans-serif</family>
        <prefer>
            <family>Noto Sans</family>
            <!-- find the others here https://fonts.google.com/noto/fonts?query=arabic -->
            <family>Noto Sans Arabic</family>
            <!-- chinese and stuff -->
            <family>Noto Sans CJK SC</family>
            <!-- ttf-twemoji-color -->
            <family>Twitter Color Emoji</family>
            <!-- fallback to noto-fonts-emoji -->
            <family>Noto Color Emoji</family>
        </prefer>
    </alias>

    <alias>
        <family>serif</family>
        <prefer>
            <family>Noto Serif</family>
            <family>Noto Naskh Arabic</family>
            <family>Twitter Color Emoji</family>
            <family>Noto Color Emoji</family>
        </prefer>
    </alias>

    <alias>
        <family>monospace</family>
        <prefer>
            <family>Noto Sans Mono</family>
            <family>Noto Kufi Arabic</family>
            <family>Twitter Color Emoji</family>
            <family>Noto Color Emoji</family>
        </prefer>
    </alias>
</fontconfig>

Enable some presets to improve readability on 1080p screens and lower

$ mkdir -p ~/.config/fontconfig/conf.d
$ ln -s /usr/share/fontconfig/conf.avail/70-no-bitmaps.conf ~/.config/fontconfig/conf.d/
$ ln -s /usr/share/fontconfig/conf.avail/10-sub-pixel-rgb.conf ~/.config/fontconfig/conf.d/
$ ln -s /usr/share/fontconfig/conf.avail/10-hinting-slight.conf ~/.config/fontconfig/conf.d/
$ ln -s /usr/share/fontconfig/conf.avail/11-lcdfilter-default.conf ~/.config/fontconfig/conf.d/

Add drives

Time to add your extra storage drives

If you want to mount an NTFS drive then install ntfs-3g

First get your drive’s ID by running

$ lsblk -o "NAME,FSTYPE,UUID,SIZE,MOUNTPOINTS"

Then add it to fstab

/etc/fstab

# for ext4 drives
UUID=XXXXXXX /mnt/linux ext4 rw,relatime 0 1
# for NTFS drives
UUID=XXXXXXX  /mnt/windows ntfs uid=1000,gid=1000,auto,rw,user,exec,windows_names,umask=000 0 0

after adding an EXT2/EXT3/EXT4/XFS/BTRFS (or any other POSIX-compliant format) drive, and you want it to be writable by your user you need to run the following:

sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /mnt/linux # replace with your drive's mountpoint obv

Notes:

  • if your drive doesn’t have any system files then disable fsck by putting a 0 at the end instead of 1
  • /mnt/linux and /mnt/windows are placeholders and can be anywhere on your system, just make sure you create the folder manually
  • Optionally you can add big_writes to drives that you’ll mostly be reading and writing into in big chunks (game storage for example)
  • Optionally you can add noatime to skip modifying the files’ access time on the drive which will improve read performance slightly.

Reboot to apply changes

Gaming

This part is too long so I moved it into it’s own post Gaming on Linux

OBS

Install obs-studio

  • aur/wlrobs: Native wlroot recording.
  • v4l2loopback-dkms: Virtual camera support.
  • obs-vkcapture / lib32-obs-vkcapture: Vulkan and OpenGL apps capture (games), You also need to run the app with OBS_VKCAPTURE=1

Hyprland Global keybinds

Hyprland supports global keybinds, but it’s a bit weird, first setup your keybinds in OBS then in your hypr config add

bind = SUPER, F10, pass, class:^(com\.obsproject\.Studio)$
bind = , F11, pass, class:^(com\.obsproject\.Studio)$

Notice on the second line there’s an empty space then a comma, that’s because Hyprland expects 2 keys, so if you want to have a single key passed you need to leave the first or second one empty

Development

Git

Install git and openssh

openssh is required to use services that provide git hosting (github, gitlab, codeberg, etc…)

Podman

Read the podman guide

Configuration

SDDM

$ sudo mkdir /etc/sddm.conf.d
$ sudo cp /usr/lib/sddm/sddm.conf.d/default.conf /etc/sddm.conf.d/general.conf
$ sudo nano /etc/sddm.conf.d/general.conf # have fun

Enable Numlock on SDDM start, only works for X11 session

[General]
Numlock=on

Change SDDM keyboard layout, this also only works for X11 session

sudo localectl set-x11-keymap ar

Hyprland

I won’t post my entire config, but here are some snippets

environment variables

Set GTK to fallback to X11 if wayland isn’t possible

env = GDK_BACKEND,wayland,x11,*

Set QT to fallback to X11 if wayland isn’t possible, and set the theme manager to qt6ct

You also need to install qt6-wayland or qt5-wayland, you can install both, but i’d recommend only installing the QT6 package for now unless you need the other one

env = QT_QPA_PLATFORM,wayland;xcb
env = QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME,qt6ct # can fix some missing functionality in QT apps if qt5ct is installed

To run clutter apps with wayland

env = CLUTTER_BACKEND,wayland

For SDL3 wayland is used by default but to enable it on SDL2

env = SDL_VIDEODRIVER,wayland,x11

It’s recommened to always have X11 as a fallback, you can also install libdecor to enable window decoration

GLFW supports wayland with

env = XDG_SESSION_TYPE,wayland

For electron apps using electron 28 and above

env = ELECTRON_OZONE_PLATFORM_HINT,wayland # or auto

For all electron apps you need a seperate config file

~/.config/electron-flags.conf

--ozone-platform-hint=auto
--enable-features=WaylandWindowDecorations
# uncomment to enable apps to sharescreen with pipewire
# --enable-features=WebRTCPipeWireCapturer

Or ~/.config/electronXX-flags.conf where XX is Electron version to target a specific electron version

Note: These configuration files only work for the Electron packages in the official repositories and packages that use them. They do not work for packages that bundle their own build of Electron such as slack-desktop. Sometimes alternatives exist such as slack-electron.

latency

Enabling tearing may improve responsiveness of games

general {
    allow_tearing = true
}

windowrule = immediate, class:^(cs2)$

Source: https://wiki.hypr.land/Configuring/Tearing/

Zooming

Make a keybind that calls a script

# zoom in and out with the +/- numpad keys
bind = $mainMod, code:86, exec, ~/.config/hypr/scripts/zoomin.sh
bind = $mainMod, code:82, exec, ~/.config/hypr/scripts/zoomout.sh

You need to install bc for the math, also note that the scripts need to be bash because fish doesn’t support <<< the scripts are

zoomin.sh

#!/bin/bash

# current zoom
CURZOOM=$(hyprctl getoption cursor:zoom_factor | grep float)
CURZOOM=${CURZOOM:7:8} # https://stackoverflow.com/a/428580

# next zoom
NEXTZOOM=$(bc -l <<<"${CURZOOM}+0.5") # https://stackoverflow.com/a/34286545

hyprctl keyword cursor:zoom_factor $NEXTZOOM

zoomout.sh

#!/bin/bash

# current zoom
CURSZOOM=$(hyprctl getoption cursor:zoom_factor | grep float)
CURSZOOM=${CURSZOOM:7:8} # https://stackoverflow.com/a/428580

# next zoom
NEXTZOOM=$(bc -l <<<"${CURSZOOM}-0.5")

if [ $(bc -l <<<"${NEXTZOOM} < 1") == 1 ]; then
    NEXTZOOM=(1)
fi

hyprctl keyword cursor:zoom_factor $NEXTZOOM

Hypridle

I simply want my screen to turn off after 5 min to save energy, i don’t want to lock it

~/.config/hypr/xdph.conf

general {
    after_sleep_cmd = hyprctl dispatch dpms on  # to avoid having to press a key twice to turn on the display.
}

# turn off keyboard backlight, comment out this section if you dont have a keyboard backlight.
# listener {
#     timeout = 150                                          # 2.5min.
#     on-timeout = brightnessctl -sd rgb:kbd_backlight set 0 # turn off keyboard backlight.
#     on-resume = brightnessctl -rd rgb:kbd_backlight        # turn on keyboard backlight.
# }

listener {
    timeout = 300                                 # 5min
    on-timeout = hyprctl dispatch dpms off        # screen off when timeout has passed
    on-resume = hyprctl dispatch dpms on          # screen on when activity is detected after timeout has fired.
}

Source: https://wiki.hypr.land/Hypr-Ecosystem/hypridle/

Hyprpaper

A nice wallpaper~ I only use 1 wallpaper on both my monitors so this is enough for me

preload = ~/Pictures/wallpaper/mono1.png
wallpaper = , ~/Pictures/wallpaper/mono1.png

If you want to specify the a wallapaper for each monitor then you need to get your monitors name

hyprctl monitors

Example output:

Monitor HDMI-A-1 (ID 1):
  1920x1080@60.00000 at 0x0
  description: Samsung Electric Company S24F350 H4ZM400172
  make: Samsung Electric Company
  model: S24F350
  serial: H4ZM400172
  active workspace: 4 (4)
  special workspace: 0 ()
  reserved: 0 0 0 40
  scale: 1.00
  transform: 0
  focused: yes
  dpmsStatus: 1
  vrr: false
  solitary: 0
  activelyTearing: false
  directScanoutTo: 0
  disabled: false
  currentFormat: XRGB8888
  mirrorOf: none
  availableModes: 1920x1080@60.00Hz 1920x1080@59.94Hz 1920x1080@50.00Hz...

My monitor’s name is HDMI-A-1, so the config would be

preload = ~/Pictures/wallpaper/mono1.png
wallpaper = HDMI-A-1, ~/Pictures/wallpaper/mono1.png
preload = ~/Pictures/wallpaper/mono2.png
wallpaper = HDMI-A-2, ~/Pictures/wallpaper/mono2.png

Source: https://wiki.hypr.land/Hypr-Ecosystem/hyprpaper/

XDG Desktop Portal

Configure XDPH

XDPH stands for “Xdg Desktop Portal Hyprland”

~/.config/hypr/xdph.conf

screencopy {
    max_fps = 60
    allow_token_by_default = true
}

Use a Portal with a file picker

XDPH doesn’t come a with file picker so you’ll need to install another portal that implements that functionality.

You can find a list of available portals on arch and their supported interfaces on the wiki.

For this guide i’ll show you how to use kde or gnome’s implementation, although i’d recommend KDE because it has the most support

First download the portal xdg-desktop-portal-kde / xdg-desktop-portal-gtk (GTK 3) or xdg-desktop-portal-gnome (GTK 4)

Then create ~/.config/xdg-desktop-portal/hyprland-portals.conf and paste this

[preferred]
default = hyprland;kde
org.freedesktop.impl.portal.FileChooser = kde

Change kde with the name in your package, so if you downloaded xdg-desktop-portal-dde (the deepin portal) then write dde.

Source: https://wiki.hypr.land/Hypr-Ecosystem/xdg-desktop-portal-hyprland/

Pacman & yay

Optimize pacman compilation

/etc/makepkg.conf

#-- Compiler and Linker Flags
#CPPFLAGS=""
- CFLAGS="-march=x86-64 -mtune=generic -O2 -pipe -fno-plt -fexceptions \
+ CFLAGS="-march=native -O2 -pipe -fno-plt -fexceptions \
        -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=3 -Wformat -Werror=format-security \
        -fstack-clash-protection -fcf-protection \
        -fno-omit-frame-pointer -mno-omit-leaf-frame-pointer"

#-- Make Flags: change this for DistCC/SMP systems
- #MAKEFLAGS="-j2"
+ MAKEFLAGS="--jobs=$(nproc)"

- OPTIONS=(strip docs !libtool !staticlibs emptydirs zipman purge debug lto)
+ OPTIONS=(strip docs !libtool !staticlibs emptydirs zipman purge !debug lto)

- COMPRESSZST=(zstd -c -T0 -)
+ COMPRESSZST=(zstd -c -T0 --auto-threads=logical --ultra -22 -)

Then rebuild your manually installed packages with

yay -Qqt | yay -Syu --rebuild --answerclean None -

Clean old / unused packages

I use a fish function for this

function yay_clean
    echo "cleaning yay cache..."
    yay -Sc --noconfirm # remove old packages from cache
    # yay -Scc --noconfirm # remove ALL packages from cache
    yay -Yc --noconfirm # remove unneeded dependencies
end

Update mirrors

You can use rate-mirrors to update pacman’s mirrors with the latest and fastest mirrors for your internet.

I have it setup as a fish function that updates mirrors and does a system wide update

function yay_update_all
    set TMPFILE (mktemp)

    if not sudo true
        echo need sudo permission to run...
        exit
    end

    rate-mirrors --save=$TMPFILE arch --max-delay=21600
    sudo mv /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist-backup
    sudo mv $TMPFILE /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
    yay_clean # from previous step
    yay
end

Source: https://github.com/westandskif/rate-mirrors

Use ALHP

Buildbot for Archlinux based repos with different x86-64 feature levels, -O3 and LTO.

  1. Verify your system’s feature level support
/lib/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 --help

Example output for x86-64-v3 support

Subdirectories of glibc-hwcaps directories, in priority order:
  x86-64-v4
  x86-64-v3 (supported, searched)
  x86-64-v2 (supported, searched)
  1. Install keyrings and mirrorlist
yay -S alhp-keyring alhp-mirrorlist
  1. Add the mirrorlists to your /etc/pacman.conf
[core-x86-64-v3]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/alhp-mirrorlist

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

[extra-x86-64-v3]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/alhp-mirrorlist

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

# if you need [multilib] support
[multilib-x86-64-v3]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/alhp-mirrorlist

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

Replace the v3 at the end with the highest feature level your cpu supports then update your system.

Note that the repos must be in that order so that v3 is prioritized over

Source: https://somegit.dev/ALHP/ALHP.GO

Change cache to /tmp

if you don’t need pacman’s cache at all you can change it’s directory to /tmp/pacman that way the cache is always deleted on shutdown

Misc

Quality of life scripts

First how to manage custom scripts in linux

  • fish

Create the script under ~/.config/fish/functions/my_script.fish and they’ll be available for that user when using fish

  • bash

Bash doesn’t have a scripts folder so you’ll need to make one yourself, I recommend ~/.scripts.

Then add them to your bash config file

~/.bashrc

alias my_script='~/.scripts/my-script.sh'

Like fish, the aliases will only be available for that user when using bash, but unlike fish if you create the scripts in a root folder, let’s say /var/scripts, then all users can alias them (but you’ll need root to run them)

  • Hyprland

Hyprland also doesn’t have a scripts folder, so We’ll use ~/.scripts again

~/.config/hypr/hyprland.conf

bind = $mainMod, SPACE, exec, ~/.scripts/my-script.sh

Screenshots

Either install spectacle if you want an out of the box great experience, or grim, slurp and swappy then a make a script that you can call with hyprland binds

#!/bin/bash
grim -g "$(slurp)" - | swappy -f -

Math

Install bc to do calculations in the terminal, make a bash file and call it

fish

#!/bin/fish
function calc
    echo $argv | bc
end

bash

#!/bin/bash
res=$(bc -l <<< "$@");
echo $res;

One minor issue with the fish script is that it doesn’t show denominators, for example 3 / 2 will only output 1 in fish

System monitoring

It’s useful to know the state of your system, for that you can use the following apps

  • htop / bottom: general system info
  • nethogs: monitoring network traffic
  • nvtop: GPU info

Archiving tools

Install either ark (by kde) or xarchiver (by gnome), then install

  • arj: ARJ format support
  • lrzip: LRZ format support
  • lzop: LZO format support
  • 7zip: 7Z format support
  • unarchiver: RAR format support
  • unrar: RAR decompression support

Terminal download manager

Curl is nice, but aria2 is something else, it has support for direct and torrent download and can deal with HTTP redirects without any extra arguments.

Journald

to save a bit more of space you can configure max size for Journald logs in /etc/systemd/journald.conf

Compress=yes
SystemMaxUse=100M # maximum size in MB for saved logs
MaxFileSec=1month

you can find saved logs in /var/log/journal/<id>