The developers of the Arch Linux distribution announced the integration of the Archinstall installer into the installation ISO images, which can be used instead of a manual installation of the distribution. Archinstall operates in console mode and is offered as an option to automate the installation. By default, as before, the manual mode is provided, which implies using a step-by-step installation guide.
The announcement about the integration of the installer was made on April 1, but this is not a joke (archinstall has been added to the profile /usr/share/archiso/configs/releng/), the new mode has been tested in action and works effectively. Additionally, its mention has been added to the download page, and the archinstall package was added to the official repository two months ago. Archinstall is written in Python and has been under development since 2019. A separate extension has been prepared with a graphical interface for installation, but it has not yet been included in the Arch Linux installation images.
The installer provides two modes: dialog (guided) and automated. In dialog mode, the user is sequentially asked questions covering basic settings and actions from the installation guide. In automated mode, there is the option to use scripts to create standard templates for automated installation. This mode is suitable for creating custom builds designed for automated installation with a standard set of settings and installed packages, for example, for quickly installing Arch Linux in virtual environments.
Using Archinstall, you can create specific installation profiles, such as a 'desktop' profile for choosing a desktop environment (KDE, GNOME, Awesome) and installing the necessary packages for its operation, or 'webserver' and 'database' profiles for selecting and installing components for web servers and DBMS. Profiles can also be used for network installations and automatic deployment of the system on a group. servers.
Source: opennet.ru
