An archiso profile consists of several configuration files and a directory for files to be added to the resulting image.
profile |- airootfs/ |- efiboot/ |- syslinux/ |- packages.arch |- pacman.conf \- profiledef.sh
The required files and directories are explained in the following sections.
This file describes several attributes of the resulting image and is a place for customization to the general behavior of the image.
The image file is constructed from some of the variables in profiledef.sh: <iso_name>-<iso_version>-<arch>.iso (e.g. archlinux-202010-x86_64.iso).
iso_name: The first part of the name of the resulting image (defaults to mkarchiso)
iso_label: The ISO's volume label (defaults to MKARCHISO)
iso_publisher: A free-form string that states the publisher of the resulting image (defaults to mkarchiso)
iso_application: A free-form string that states the application (i.e. its use-case) of the resulting image (defaults to mkarchiso iso)
iso_version: A string that states the version of the resulting image (defaults to "")
install_dir: A string (maximum eight characters long, which must consist of [a-z0-9]) that states the directory on the resulting image into which all files will be installed (defaults to mkarchiso)
bootmodes: A list of strings, that state the supported boot modes of the resulting image. Only the following are understood:
- bios.syslinux.mbr: Syslinux for x86 BIOS booting from a disk
- bios.syslinux.eltorito: Syslinux for x86 BIOS booting from an optical disc
- uefi-x64.systemd-boot.esp: Systemd-boot for x86_64 UEFI booting from a disk
- uefi-x64.systemd-boot.eltorito: Systemd-boot for x86_64 UEFI booting from an optical disc
Note that BIOS El Torito boot mode must always be listed before UEFI El Torito boot mode.
arch: The architecture (e.g. x86_64) to build the image for. This is also used to resolve the name of the packages file (e.g. packages.x86_64)
pacman_conf: The pacman.conf to use to install packages to the work directory when creating the image (defaults to the host's /etc/pacman.conf)
airootfs_image_type: The image type to create. The following options are understood (defaults to squashfs):
- squashfs: Create a squashfs image directly from the airootfs work directory
- ext4+squashfs: Create an ext4 partition, copy the airootfs work directory to it and create a squashfs image from it
airootfs_image_tool_options: An array of options to pass to the tool to create the airootfs image. Currently only mksquashfs is supported - see mksquashfs --help for all possible options (defaults to ('-comp' 'xz')). - file_permissions: An associative array that lists files and/or directories who need specific ownership or permissions. The array's keys contain the path and the value is a colon separated list of owner UID, owner GID and access mode. E.g. file_permissions=(["/etc/shadow"]="0:0:400").
All packages to be installed into the environment of the image have to be listed in an architecture specific file (e.g. packages.x86_64), which resides top-level in the profile.
Packages have to be listed one per line. Lines starting with a # and blank lines are ignored.
Note
The mkinitcpio and mkinitcpio-archiso packages are mandatory (see #30).
A configuration for pacman is required per profile.
Some configuration options will not be used or will be modified:
- CacheDir: the profile's option is only used if it is not the default (i.e. /var/cache/pacman/pkg) and if it is not the same as the system's option. In all other cases the system's pacman cache is used.
- HookDir: it is always set to the /etc/pacman.d/hooks directory in the work directory's airootfs to allow modification via the profile and ensure interoparability with hosts using dracut (see #73)
- RootDir: it is always removed, as setting it explicitely otherwise refers to the host's root filesystem (see man 8 pacman for further information on the -r option used by pacstrap)
- LogFile: it is always removed, as setting it explicitely otherwise refers to the host's pacman log file (see man 8 pacman for further information on the -r option used by pacstrap)
- DBPath: it is always removed, as setting it explicitely otherwise refers to the host's pacman database (see man 8 pacman for further information on the -r option used by pacstrap)
This - optional - directory may contain files and directories that will be copied to the work directory of the resulting image's root filesystem. The files are copied before packages are being installed to work directory location. Ownership and permissions of files and directories from the profile's airootfs directory are not preserved. The mode will be 644 for files and 755 for directories, all of them will be owned by root. To set custom ownership and/or permissions, use file_permissions in profiledef.sh.
With this overlay structure it is possible to e.g. create users and set passwords for them, by providing airootfs/etc/passwd, airootfs/etc/shadow, airootfs/etc/gshadow (see man 5 passwd, man 5 shadow and man 5 gshadow respectively). If user home directories exist in the profile's airootfs, their ownership and (and top-level) permissions will be altered according to the provided information in the password file.
A profile may contain configuration for several boot loaders. These reside in specific top-level directories, which are explained in the following subsections.
The following custom template identifiers are understood and will be replaced according to the assignments of the respective variables in profiledef.sh:
- %ARCHISO_LABEL%: Set this using the iso_label variable in profiledef.sh
- %INSTALL_DIR%: Set this using the iso_label variable in profiledef.sh
- %ARCH%: Set this using the arch variable in profiledef.sh
This directory is mandatory when the uefi-x64.systemd-boot.esp or uefi-x64.systemd-boot.eltorito bootmodes are selected in profiledef.sh. It contains configuration for systemd-boot.
Note
The directory is a top-level representation of the systemd-boot configuration directories and files found in the root of an EFI system partition.
The custom template identifiers are only understood in the boot loader entry .conf files (i.e. not in loader.conf).
This directory is mandatory when the bios.syslinux.mbr or the bios.syslinux.eltorito bootmodes are selected in profiledef.sh. It contains configuration files for syslinux or isolinux , or pxelinux used in the resuling image.
The custom template identifiers are understood in all .cfg files in this directory.