Quick Start - Console

This is a quick run through of the steps needed to download larch and use it to build a live system from one of the example profiles provided in the 'larch-profiles' package. You can use this as an introduction to larch, and as a basis for your own customised system if you like.

  • Make sure you have 'python' and 'python-pexpect' packages installed.
  • Download the latest larch-setup script to an empty working directory. Then run it (it is a shell script). It will download and prepare the 'larch', 'liblarch' and 'larch-profiles' packages so that they can be used within this directory.
  • Several links will appear in the working directory. These point at the individual larch scripts. Each has a usage message which you can read by running the script with the '-h' option (e.g. './larch-archin -h')
  • For this example run I will use the 'xmini' profile (which builds a simple XFCE based system). The following steps must be carried out as root.
  • Install the base Arch system to the default location ('/home/larchbuild'):
    • If you are running Arch the default package mirror is taken from /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist. On a non-Arch system this file (probably) won't exist, in which case the first uncommented server in larch0/data/mirrorlist is used (this file comes from the 'pacman-allin' package, which should be downloaded automatically in this case). The default server might be alright, but if not you should edit this file. 
    • ./larch-archin -p larch0/profiles/xmini install
  • Prepare the live system. This script compresses the installation using squashfs and also builds a squashed overlay containing all the customisations necessary for the live system, plus those specified in the profile: 
    ./larch-larchify -p larch0/profiles/xmini
  • Create a bootable 'iso' containing the live system: 
    ./larch-medium -p larch0/profiles/xmini
  • As an alternative to the last step, make a bootable USB-stick: Insert the stick and double-check the name of the partition to install to. I will assume /dev/sdb1 here: 
    ./larch-medium -p larch0/profiles/xmini /dev/sdb1
  • If all that worked, you can test the resulting 'iso' in (for example) virtualbox (select the 'vesa' option from the boot menu, otherwise xorg might not start), or try to boot from the USB-stick.
  • If you want to try your hand at designing your own system, the main place to look for details of the customisation process is the section Profiles.
  • Share and Enjoy!
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