Install Alice ============= Here is a guide to installing Alice Linux on your computer using the chroot method. You can do this from your existing Linux distribution or from a live environment, such as Alice Live or another Linux distribution. Make sure your chosen environment has the necessary partitioning tools, filesystem tools, and extraction tools. Get Alice rootfs tarball ------------------------ Download the Alice rootfs tarball from the [release](https://codeberg.org/emmett1/alicelinux/releases) page, along with its `sha256sum` file. $ curl -O $ curl -O .sha256sum Verify the checksum of the Alice rootfs tarball: $ sha256sum -c alicelinux-rootfs-20240525.tar.xz.sha256sum Make sure it prints: alicelinux-rootfs-20240525.tar.xz: OK Prepare the partition and filesystem ------------------------------------ Prepare the partition and filesystem of your choice. In this guide, I will use ext4 as an example. # cfdisk /dev/sdX # mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdXY Mount your created partition somewhere. In this guide, I will use /mnt/alice as the mount point. # mkdir /mnt/alice # mount /dev/sdXY /mnt/alice Extract the Alice rootfs tarball -------------------------------- Extract the Alice rootfs into the mounted partition. $ tar xvf alicelinux-rootfs-*.tar.xz -C /mnt/alice Enter chroot ------------ First, chroot into Alice. (Replace /mnt/alice with your chosen mount point.) # /mnt/alice/usr/bin/apkg-chroot /mnt/alice Any further commands after this will be executed inside the Alice environment. Clone Alice repos ----------------- Fetch the Alice packages repositories somewhere. I'll fetch them inside the /var/lib directory to keep the system clean. # cd /var/lib # git clone --depth=1 https://codeberg.org/emmett1/alicelinux Once we have the repositories cloned, we need to configure `apkg`. `apkg` is Alice's package build system (or package manager). By default, Alice does not provide an `apkg` config file (yes, `apkg` can work without a config file), but we need to create one. The `apkg` config file should be located at `/etc/apkg.conf` by default. Let's create one. Configure apkg.conf ------------------- First, we set `CFLAGS` and `CXXFLAGS`. Alice base packages are built using `-O3 -march=x86-64 -pipe`. You can use these settings or change them to your preference. # echo 'export CFLAGS="-O3 -march=x86-64 -pipe"' >> /etc/apkg.conf And use whats in `CFLAGS` for `CXXFLAGS`. # echo 'export CXXFLAGS="$CFLAGS"' >> /etc/apkg.conf Next set `MAKEFLAGS`. I will use `6` for my `8 threads` machine. # echo 'export MAKEFLAGS="-j6"' >> /etc/apkg.conf I'm also going to set `NINJAJOBS` here. Without it, `ninja` will use all threads of your machine when compiling. # echo 'export NINJAJOBS="6"' >> /etc/apkg.conf Next, we need to set the package's build scripts path (I'll call it `package repos`) so `apkg` can find them. The `APKG_REPO` variable can accept multiple values for multiple `package repos`. Alice provides four (4) `package repos` (at the time of this writing): `core`, `extra`, `xorg` and `wayland`. `core` contains all base packages, and `extra` includes other packages beyond the base. `xorg` and `wayland` contain packages for gui and their dependencies. First, get the absolute path of the `package repos` where we cloned them. By the way, we are still inside the `/var/lib` directory where we cloned the repo. >NOTE: USE TAB COMPLETION! # realpath alicelinux/repos/core /var/lib/alicelinux/repos/core # realpath alicelinux/repos/extra /var/lib/alicelinux/repos/extra After we have the path of our `package repos`, add it to the `APKG_REPO` variable in `/etc/apkg.conf`. # echo 'APKG_REPO="/var/lib/alicelinux/repos/core /var/lib/alicelinux/repos/extra"' >> /etc/apkg.conf >NOTE: All repo paths must be declared in the APKG_REPO variable, seperated by a single space. After setting up our `package repos`, make sure `apkg` can find the packages. We can use `apkg -s ` to search for packages. # apkg -s sway swayidle swaybg swaylock sway If the output appears, then we are good to go. Next, we will set up directories for `packages`, `sources`, and `work`. By default, these directories are inside the package template, but we will change them to `/var/cache/pkg`, `/var/cache/src`, and `/var/cache/work` respectively. You can change these to any location where you want to store these files. First, create the directories: # mkdir -p /var/cache/pkg # mkdir -p /var/cache/src # mkdir -p /var/cache/work Then add these paths to `/etc/apkg.conf`. # echo 'APKG_PACKAGE_DIR=/var/cache/pkg' >> /etc/apkg.conf # echo 'APKG_SOURCE_DIR=/var/cache/src' >> /etc/apkg.conf # echo 'APKG_WORK_DIR=/var/cache/work' >> /etc/apkg.conf Full system upgrade/rebuild --------------------------- On the first install, we should upgrade the system first. > NOTE: Use uppercase `U` for a system upgrade, and lowercase `u` to upgrade a specific package of your choice. # apkg -U If you changed `CFLAGS` and `CXXFLAGS` to something other than the default, it's a good time to perform a full rebuild first. In this case, you can skip upgrading the system because performing a full rebuild will already use the latest version in `package repos`. > NOTE: Add the `-f` flag to force rebuild of existing prebuilt package. > NOTE: `apkg -a` prints all installed packages on the system. # apkg -u $(apkg -a) Install development packages ---------------------------- Before installing any additional packages, we need to install development packages. # apkg -I meson cmake pkgconf libtool automake perl Install kernel -------------- You can configure your own kernel from [kernel.org](https://kernel.org/) or use the one provided by Alice. > NOTE: The provided kernel will take a lot of time to compile because many options are enabled. If you want to use Alice's kernel, just run: # apkg -I linux Install firmware ---------------- If your hardware requires firmware, install it using: # apkg -I linux-firmware linux-firmware-nvidia Install bootloader ------------------ In this guide, I'm going to use `grub` as the bootloader. Install `grub`: # apkg -I grub Then generate grub config: # grub-install /dev/sdX # grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg Hostname -------- Change `alice` to the hostname of your choice. # echo alice > /etc/hostname Fstab ----- Change the partition and filesystem of your choice below: # echo '/dev/sda1 swap swap defaults 0 1' >> /etc/fstab # echo '/dev/sda2 / ext4 defaults 0 0' >> /etc/fstab Enable runit services --------------------- Alice uses busybox's `runit` as its main service manager. Enable the required services: # ln -s /etc/sv/tty1 /var/service # ln -s /etc/sv/tty2 /var/service # ln -s /etc/sv/tty3 /var/service I'm enabling 3 `tty` services. `tty` is required; without it, you won't be able to log in (or run any commands). > The runit service directory is `/etc/sv`. > Create a symlink from `/etc/sv/` to `/var/service` to enable it; remove the symlink to disable it. Setup user and password ----------------------- Add your user: # adduser Add your user to the `wheel` group: # adduser wheel You might need to add your user to the `input` and `video` groups to start the Wayland compositor later, and the `audio` group to have working audio: # adduser input # adduser video # adduser audio Root password ------------- Set the password for the `root` user: # passwd Networking ---------- You might want to set up networking before rebooting. Use `wpa_supplicant` and `dhcpcd`. # apkg -I wpa_supplicant dhcpcd Configure your SSID: # wpa_passphrase >> /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf Enable the service: # ln -s /etc/sv/wpa_supplicant /var/service # ln -s /etc/sv/dhcpcd /var/service Timezone -------- Install `tzdata`: # apkg -I tzdata Then create a symlink for your timezone to `/etc/localtime`: # ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Asia/Kuala_Lumpur /etc/localtime Alternatively, you can copy it and then uninstall `tzdata` to keep your installed packages minimal: # cp /usr/share/zoneinfo/Asia/Kuala_Lumpur /etc/localtime # apkg -r tzdata Reboot and enjoy! ----------------- Exit the chroot environment and unmount the Alice partition, then reboot: # exit # umount /mnt/alice # reboot Some important notes ==================== - `Alice` uses `spm` and `apkg` as its package manager and package build system. Run with the `-h` flag to see available options. - Additional scripts are provided with the name `apkg-