Archinstall 3.0.5 has been released, focusing on making the Arch Linux installation process more secure and flexible.
This latest update introduces several notable features, including optional file encryption for user credentials, hashed password storage, additional post-installation options, and support for new window managers.
What is Archinstall?
Normally, installing Arch Linux involves many steps done manually. The Archinstall tool was created to help make that process simpler and more guided.
Archinstall is an official guided installer for Arch Linux. It's a script that walks you through setting up Arch using a text-based menu, so you don’t have to manually partition disks or configure every detail from the command line. It still gives you flexibility, but it saves you time.
Archinstall is more than just a simple installer for Arch Linux. It serves a dual purpose:
- It is a guided and automated installer for Arch Linux. This means it helps users set up Arch Linux on their computer with guidance and can automate steps. It offers a user-friendly experience with options during the process, but these choices are never mandatory, giving users flexibility.
- It functions as a Python library. This library is designed to manage services, packages, and other aspects within an installed Arch Linux system. The guided installer part of Archinstall is actually built upon this core library.
Essentially, the library is the foundation that allows for installing and managing Arch Linux, and the guided installer is one way to use that library in a user-friendly manner.
Because of its nature as a library, Archinstall supports different ways of installing Arch Linux, including interactive sessions, non-interactive scripting, and even unattended installations that can start automatically based on the computer's network address.
What's New in Archinstall 3.0.5
1. Better Security for Your Passwords
Before this update, if you saved your installation settings, the passwords for your user accounts could be stored openly in a special file called user_credentials.json. This was a security concern.
In Archinstall 3.0.5, this has been fixed. Now, user passwords are not stored openly but are turned into a secure code, like a special fingerprint, using a modern method that Arch Linux uses.
This makes them much safer if someone were to find the saved file.
2. Optional Encryption for Sensitive Files
Even with the password change, some sensitive information, like the password needed for disk encryption, still had to be stored openly in the user_credentials.json file.
To fix this, the 3.0.5 release adds a new option to encrypt the entire user_credentials.json file. This means you can protect all the sensitive details in that file with a master password.
When you use a saved, encrypted file for your installation, Archinstall will ask you for the decryption key (password).
You can give it this key in a few ways:
- when you start Archinstall with a special command,
- by setting up a variable before you start,
- or by simply typing it when prompted.
This adds another layer of security for your saved settings.
3. More Choices After Installation Finishes
Sometimes, after installing, you want to do something specific right away, especially if you're setting up a virtual machine (VM).
Archinstall 3.0.5 now gives you extra options once the installation is done.
Instead of just stopping, you can choose to immediately reboot your computer, jump into the newly installed system using a special command (called chroot), or simply exit the installer back into the environment you were using to install Arch.
4. Support for More Window Managers
Archinstall lets you choose from different pre-set setups or "profiles".
In this new release, the options for how your computer screen looks and how you organise your application windows have expanded.
The update adds support for several new window managers:
- Labwc,
- Niri,
- River,
- and Xmonad.
For those wondering, a window manager is the software that controls how your application windows appear and are arranged on your screen.
These new additions offer different styles, including ways to arrange windows side-by-side automatically (tiling) or overlapping (stacking).
These are just some of the highlights in Archinstall 3.0.5. The team is continuously working to improve the installer, making it more secure and more flexible for the Arch Linux community.
It also comes with a number of bug fixes and various other changes. For more details, please look at the Archinstall 3.0.5 complete changelog.
If you're looking to install Arch Linux, the latest Archinstall 3.0.5 version provides some useful improvements that make the installation process more secure and convenient.
