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| -rw-r--r-- | doc/official_installation_guide_en | 134 |
1 files changed, 72 insertions, 62 deletions
diff --git a/doc/official_installation_guide_en b/doc/official_installation_guide_en index e591cfd..90a74f0 100644 --- a/doc/official_installation_guide_en +++ b/doc/official_installation_guide_en @@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ General installation documentation for the Arch Linux distribution. +This guide is only valid for release 2009.08 or newer + **Related articles** [Beginners Guide](http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners_Guide "Beginners Guide") (If you are new to Arch) @@ -34,11 +36,10 @@ General installation documentation for the Arch Linux distribution. * [3.2.1.1.2.2 Choose Mirror](#Choose_Mirror) * [3.2.1.2 Set Clock](#Set_Clock) * [3.2.1.3 Prepare Hard Disks](#Prepare_Hard_Drive) - * [2.5.5.1 Auto-Prepare](#Auto-Prepare) - * [2.5.5.2 Manual](#Manual) - * [2.5.5.2.1 Manually partition](#Manual_partition) - * [2.5.5.2.2 Manually partition](#Manual_configure) - * [2.5.5.3 Rollbacks (optional)](#Rollback) + * [3.2.1.3.1 Auto-Prepare](#Auto-Prepare) + * [3.2.1.3.2 Manually partition](#Manual_partition) + * [3.2.1.3.3 Manually configure block devices, filesystems and mountpoints](#Manual_configure) + * [3.2.1.3.4 Rollbacks (optional)](#Rollback) * [3.2.1.4 Select Packages](#Select_Packages) * [3.2.1.5 Install Packages](#Install_Packages) * [3.2.1.6 Configure System](#Configure_System) @@ -318,82 +319,91 @@ Next the setup will want you to select your continent/country (timezone), and allow you to set the date and time (for which you can also use [NTP](http://www.ntp.org/) if your network is up) -#### Prepare Hard Drive +##### Prepare Hard Drive Prepare Hard Drive will lead you into a submenu offering two alternatives of -preparing your target drive for installation. - -##### Auto-Prepare - -The first choice is Auto-Prepare, which will automatically partition your hard -drive into a /boot, swap, a root partition, and a /home using the remaining -space and then create filesystems on all four. These partitions will also be +preparing your target drive(s) for installation, and a means to undo changes if +you want to retry. + +* Auto-prepare will automatically partition (and fully overwrite) one disk of your choice. + It creates a simple layout with a /boot, swap, / and /home partition where + you have some control over the used filesystems and sizes thereof where relevant. +* If you wish/need more control you can manually partition one or more hard + disks and then manually specify a complete setup using the partitions on your + disks. You can also use things such as lvm and dm_crypt here. +* The Rollback feature will check which filesystems were created by either + of these methods, unmount the relevant filesystems and destroy lvm and + dm_crypt volumes if they were created by you. You need this option if you + want to undo or redo a certain scheme. You will be prompted for this if + you forget. + +###### Auto-Prepare + +Auto-Prepare will automatically partition a hard drive of your choice +into a /boot, swap, a root partition, and a /home and then create filesystems on all four. These partitions will also be automatically mounted in the proper place. To be exact, this option will create: * 32 MB ext2 /boot partition - * 256 MB swap partition - * 7.5 GB root partition - * /home partition with the remaining space You will be prompted to modify the sizes to your requirements, but /home will -always use the remaining disk space. +always use the remaining disk space. You can customize the used filesystem +for /boot and for both of root and /home at once. **AUTO-PREPARE WILL ERASE ALL DATA ON THE CHOSEN HARD DRIVE!** -If you prefer to do the partitioning manually, use the other two options, -Partition Hard Drives and Set Filesystem Mountpoints to prepare the target -media according to your specifications as outlined below. After successful -preparation, choose Return to Main Menu. - -##### Partition Hard Drives - -Partition Hard Drives should be skipped if you chose Auto-Prepare already! +###### Manually partition Hard Drives -Otherwise you should select the disk(s) you want to partition, and you'll be +Here you can select the disk(s) you want to partition, and you'll be dropped into the cfdisk program where you can freely modify the partitioning information until you [Write] and [Quit]. You will need at least a root -partition to continue the installation, and it's helpful to note somewhere -which partition you're going to mount where, as you'll be asked exactly that -in the next step. - -##### Set Filesystem Mountpoints - -Set Filesystem Mountpoints should also be skipped if you chose to Auto-Prepare -your hard drive. You should select this choice once the partition information -is edited to your liking with the previous menu selection, or already existent -through whatever other means. - -The first question to answer is what partition to use as swap. Select the -previously created swap partition from the list, or NONE, if you don't want to -use a swap partition. Using a swap file is not directly supported by the -installer. Instead choose NONE here, finish the mountpoint associations, and -activate a swap file on your desired, formatted partition with the swapon -command. If you chose to use a swap partition, you will be asked whether to -create a filesystem on it, and since this partition uses a specific filesystem -of it's own, you should always answer YES here. - -After setting up the swap partition, you'll be asked to specify the partition -to be used as the root partition. This is mandatory. The association process -is then repeated until you choose DONE from the list. The installer will -suggest /boot for all following mountpoints after choosing swap and root. Each -time a partition to mount is specified, you will be asked if you want to -create a filesystem on the respective partition. Selecting YES, will prompt -you for the filesystem type to create. The partition will then be formatted -with the chosen filesystem type, destroying all data in the process. It should -be no problem, however, to say NO at this point to preserve any existing files -on the partition. Before the actual formatting is done, the installer will -present a list of all of your choices for review. After formatting and -mounting all partitions, you may return to the Main Menu and proceed with the -next step. - -#### Select Packages +partition to continue the installation. + +###### Manually configure block devices, filesystems and mountpoints + +In this menu all recognized partitions are listed. On top of these you can +create new filesystems. +You should be aware of three things: + +* All of this is just a model, and everything will only be set up after you confirmed it. +* Not all blockdevices support all filesystems (Eg you cannot put an LVM volumegroup on something other then a LVM physical volume). + The installer will automatically filter the list of possible filesystems and even select the one automatically for you if there's only one option. +* Some filesystems will cause new blockdevices to be created. This is the case for dm_crypt and lvm volumes. + You will see them appear in the model and you can use them to put another filesystem on top of it. + +Once you've setup some filesystems, you can select 'Done'. At this point a +check will be run which will tell you any critical errors (such as no root +filesystem) and/or give you some warnings which you may ignore (like no +swap). +If anything is found, you can go back to fix these issues, or continue at +which point everything will be setup the way you asked. + +###### Rollbacks + +The rollback function will do everything necessary to "undo" changes you +made in the 'Manually configure block devices, filesystems and mountpoints' +or 'Autoprepare' step, to allow you completely redo your setup. + +It will: + +* unmount filesystems from the target system +* destroy/undo lvm and dm_crypt volumes. + +It will not: + +* undo any partitioning +* remove 'simple' filesystems such as ext3, xfs, swap etc. + +The reason for this is simple: only things that might disturb subsequent +hard disk preparations need to be undone. + +##### Select Packages Select Packages will let you select the packages you wish to install from the -CD, USB or your FTP mirror. You have the opportunity to specify whole package +CD, USB or your NET mirror. You have the opportunity to specify whole package groups from which you'd generally like to install packages, then fine-tune your coarse selection by (de)selecting individual packages from the groups you have chosen using the space bar. It is recommended that you install all the |