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 manually installing the distribution. Archinstall runs in console mode and is offered as an option to automate the installation. By default, as before, manual mode is offered, which implies the use of a step-by-step installation guide.
The integration of the installer was announced on April 1, but this is not a joke (archinstall is added to the /usr/share/archiso/configs/releng/ profile), the new mode has been tested in action and really works. In addition, a mention of it has been added to the download page, and the archinstall package has been added to the official repository two months ago. Archinstall is written in Python and has been developed since 2019. Separately, an add-on with the implementation of a graphical interface for installation has been prepared, but it is not yet included in the Arch Linux installation images.
The installer provides two modes: interactive (guided) and automated. In the interactive mode, the user is asked sequentially questions covering the basic settings and actions from the installation guide. In automated mode, it is possible to use scripts to create typical automated installation templates. This mode is suitable for creating your own builds designed for automated installation with a typical set of settings and installable packages, for example, for quickly installing Arch Linux in virtual environments.
With Archinstall, you can create specific installation profiles, for example, the "desktop" profile to select a desktop (KDE, GNOME, Awesome) and install the packages necessary for its operation, or the "webserver" and "database" profiles to select and install the web- servers and DBMS. You can also use profiles for installation over the network and automatic deployment of the system on a group of servers.
Source: opennet.ru