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How do you realistically build your own OS with Arch Linux? (lemm.ee)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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As a Linux newbie, all I know about Arch Linux is that it is a DIY distro where you assemble the entirely of the OS by scratch. Somehow it feels like it is too easy than it needs to be, even if it is primarily meant for experienced users. I imagine it to be less like building your PC from parts bought from the market and more like building each and every component of the PC by scratch along with building the PC, which I assume to be much harder for the average consumer. It seems absurd how it is possible for a single person to incorporate the innumerable components required for functionality in a personal system that does not crash 100% of the time due to countless incompatibility errors that come with doing something like this.

I would like someone to elaborate on how it feels to 'build' a system software by yourself with Arch and how it is reasonable to actually do so in a simple language. I do have some experience in programming, mainly in webdev, so it's not like I need a baby-like explanation in how this works but it would be nice to get to know about this from someone who could understand where this confusion/curiosity is coming from.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

I've installed Arch a dozen times at least over the years on various machines.

First off, some advice. People will tell you to watch videos or read some specific guide, and by all means do so to get an overview of the process, but I'd highly recommend double-checking everything against the official install guide. It's fairly terse but contains everything you need to do, and if you research the topics you don't understand you'll learn a lot quickly. This is best done in a virtual machine the first time unless you have a spare machine laying around.

Overall, it amounts to creating the install medium, booting it, any post boot configuration (including networking), partitioning and mounting your disk(s), writing some config files and installing the base packages and a bootloader, plus anything else you may need or want. I'm glossing over a lot of individual steps and "anything you may need or want" is essentially endless, but you get the point.

Overall it's involved but not terribly difficult. Like I think others have said, fairly similar to building a desktop from parts. Gentoo is a step up, and installing Linux From Scratch another few steps above that.