path: root/src/docs/install.txt

1 Installation
**************

These are the step-by-step instructions for installing Carbs Linux.

1.1 Preparing Environment
=========================

To install Carbs Linux, you will need a Live Linux ISO. For that
purpose, you can obtain a Gentoo or Void Linux live image.  You can
follow their instructions to boot and setup your network.

   You will need the following programs in order to install Carbs Linux:

   * tar
   * wget
   * xz
   * some form of base utilities (coreutils, sbase, busybox, etc.)

   Rest of these instructions will assume that you have set all of these
up, and will continue on that point.

1.1.1 Download
--------------

First, we need to download the rootfs tarball.  You can do the following
in order to obtain the rootfs.  If you are using an i686 machine,
replace the 'x86_64' with 'i686'.  We are setting this in a URL variable
so that we don't have to write it every time.

     $ URL=https://dl.carbslinux.org/releases/x86_64
     $ wget $URL/carbs-rootfs.tar.xz

   We can then check the integrity of the tarball and do a signature
verification.  Even thought these are optional, they are highly
recommended.

1.1.2 Check the integrity of the tarball (Recommended)
------------------------------------------------------

All of the releases are saved in a single file named 'sha256sums.txt',
but the latest release is saved on 'carbs-rootfs.tar.xz.sha256'.  You
can acquire and verify the tarball.

     $ wget $URL/carbs-rootfs.tar.xz.sha256
     $ sha256sum -c carbs-rootfs.tar.xz.sha256

1.1.3 Verify the signature
--------------------------

It is highly recommended to verify the signature of the tarball.  You
will need GPG for this.

     $ wget $URL/carbs-rootfs.tar.xz.sig
     $ gpg --recv-keys FF484BDFEFCEF8FF
     $ gpg --verify carbs-rootfs.tar.xz.sig

1.1.4 Extracting the tarball
----------------------------

You will need to extract the tarball to your desired location.  For
partitioning, you can follow this guide
(https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Partitioning).  This will assume
that you will be mounting your root partition to '/mnt'.

     $ mount /dev/sdx1 /mnt
     $ tar xf carbs-rootfs.tar.xz -C /mnt

1.1.5 Obtain the chroot helper
------------------------------

You can obtain the 'cpt-chroot' script in order to do a simple chroot
into your new root filesystem.

     $ wget https://dl.carbslinux.org/distfiles/cpt-chroot
     $ chmod a+x cpt-chroot

1.2 Chroot
==========

Chroot into Carbs Linux!

     $ ./cpt-chroot /mnt

1.2.1 Setting up repositories
-----------------------------

Newest tarballs do not come with repositories, so you will need to
manually obtain them, and set your 'CPT_PATH' environment variable.
Carbs Linux repositories can either be obtained by 'git' or 'rsync'.
While rsync repositories are overall faster and smaller, git offers the
whole history of the repository and a means to manipulate your
repository as you like it.  If you want to obtain the git repository,
you will need to install 'git' itself.

   The following guide will assume that you put the repositories into
'~/repos/' directory, but you can put the repositories into any
directory you want.  So go ahead and create that directory:

     $ mkdir -p $HOME/repos

1.2.1.1 Obtaining from rsync
............................

Carbs Linux rsync repositories live in <rsync://carbslinux.org/repo>.
In order to obtain it, run the following:

     $ rsync -avc rsync://carbslinux.org/repo $HOME/repos/carbs

1.2.1.2 Obtaining from git
..........................

Carbs Linux git repositories can be found both from the main server and
GitHub (mirror).  Here are both their repository links.  You can clone
any of them.

   * <git://git.carbslinux.org/repository>
   * <https://github.com/carbslinux/repository>

     $ git clone git://git.carbslinux.org/repository $HOME/repos/carbs

1.2.1.3 Making the package manager use the repositories
.......................................................

In your shell's configuration file, or in your '~/.profile' file, add
the following lines:

     export CPT_PATH=''
     CPT_PATH=$CPT_PATH:$HOME/repos/carbs/core
     CPT_PATH=$CPT_PATH:$HOME/repos/carbs/extra
     CPT_PATH=$CPT_PATH:$HOME/repos/carbs/xorg
     CPT_PATH=$CPT_PATH:$HOME/repos/carbs/community
     export CPT_PATH

1.2.2 Updating packages
-----------------------

It is good practice to make sure your system is up to date, especially
before building new packages.  If there is an update for the package
manager you will need to update twice.

     $ cpt update

1.2.3 Installing packages
-------------------------

Since you are operating on a really small base, you might need to build
and install new programs to extend the functionality of your system.  In
order to build and install packages new packages in Carbs, you need to
execute the following.  "Package" is not actually a package and is given
as an example.

     $ cpt build package
     $ cpt install package

1.2.4 Essential Software
------------------------

Here is a list of software that you might want to have on your system.

   BOOTLOADERS
   * efibootmgr
   * grub
   FILESYSTEMS
   * e2fsprogs
   * dosfstools
   * ntfs-3g
   NETWORKING
   * dhcpcd
   * wpa_supplicant
   TEXT EDITORS
   * nano
   * vim
   * neatvi
   * nvi
   * emacs
   * emacs-nox (terminal-only version of emacs)
   USER SHELLS
   * bash
   * zsh
   * dash
   * oksh
   * rc
   POSIX BASE UTILITIES
   * busybox
   * sbase
   * coreutils
   DOCUMENTATION
   * carbs-docs
   * man-pages
   * man-pages-posix

1.2.5 Obtaining the documentation (optional)
--------------------------------------------

All the documentation for Carbs Linux can be found on a single info
manual to be viewed offline.  You can obtain texinfo or the info
(standalone) package in order to view the documentation.

     Install the documentation.
     $ cpt b carbs-docs && cpt i carbs-docs

     Install either texinfo or the info package. We will be installing standalone info
     as it doesn't need perl.
     $ cpt b info && cpt i info

     You can then run info and navigate through the documentation.
     $ info carbslinux

1.3 System Configuration
========================

After you have finished installing some extra packages, you can
configure your system to your liking.

1.3.1 Configuring hostname (recommended)
----------------------------------------

You might want to add a hostname, especially in a networked environment.
Your hostname will default to 'carbslinux' unless you set this.

     $ echo your-hostname > /etc/hostname

1.3.2 Setting up hosts file (optional)
--------------------------------------

You can edit your /etc/hosts file, which is the static lookup table for
host names.  By default, there are two entries for localhost which are
OKAY. You can replace the 'localhost' part of these entries to your
hostname.

     127.0.0.1  localhost.localdomain localhost
     ::1        localhost.localdomain localhost ip6-localhost

1.4 Kernel
==========

Kernel isn't managed under the main repositories, even though you could
package one for your personal use.  Here is an example kernel package
(https://github.com/cemkeylan/kiss-repository/tree/master/personal/linux),
which you will need to reconfigure for your specific setup if you want
to make use of it.

1.4.1 Obtaining the kernel sources
----------------------------------

You can visit the https://kernel.org website to choose a kernel that you
want to install.  Though only the latest stable and longterm (LTS)
versions are supported.

     Download the kernel and extract it
     $ wget https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/linux-5.7.6.tar.xz
     $ tar xf linux-5.7.6.tar.xz

     Change directory into the kernel sources
     $ cd linux-5.7.6

1.4.2 Installing dependencies
-----------------------------

In order to compile the kernel you will need to install some
dependencies.  You will need 'libelf' to compile the kernel.  If you
want to configure using the menu interface you will also need 'ncurses'.

     The package manager asks to install if you are building more than one package,
     so no need to run 'cpt i ...'
     $ cpt b libelf ncurses

   In the vanilla kernel sources, you need perl to compile the kernel,
but it can be easily patched out.  You will need to apply the following
patch.  Patch was written by E5ten (https://github.com/E5ten).  You will
need to obtain and apply the patch in the kernel source directory.

     $ wget https://dl.carbslinux.org/distfiles/kernel-no-perl.patch
     $ patch -p1 < kernel-no-perl.patch

1.4.3 Compiling the kernel
--------------------------

Next step is configuring and building the kernel.  You can check
Gentoo's kernel configuration guide
(https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Kernel/Configuration) to learn more about
the matter.  Overall, Gentoo Wiki is a good place to learn about
configuration according to your hardware.  The following will assume a
monolithic kernel.

     $ make menuconfig
     $ make
     $ install -Dm755 $(make -s image_name) /boot/vmlinuz-linux

1.5 Making your system bootable
===============================

In order to be able to boot your fresh system, wou will need an
init-daemon, init-scripts and a bootloader.  The init daemon is already
provided by busybox, but you can optionally change it.

1.5.1 Installing a bootloader
-----------------------------

In the main repository, there is efibootmgr and grub to serve as
bootloaders.  efibootmgr can be used as a standalone bootloader, or can
be used to install grub in a UEFI environment.  efibootmgr is needed
unless you are using a device without UEFI support (or you really want
to use BIOS for a reason).

   GRUB BIOS installation

     $ cpt b grub && cpt i grub
     $ grub-install --target=i386-pc /dev/sdX
     $ grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

   GRUB UEFI installation

     $ cpt b efibootmgr && cpt i efibootmgr
     $ cpt b grub && cpt i grub

     $ grub-install --target=x86_64-efi \
                    --efi-directory=esp \
                    --bootloader-id=CarbsLinux

     $ grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

1.5.2 Installing init scripts
-----------------------------

Only thing left to do is installing the init-scripts, and now you are
almost ready to boot your system!

     $ cpt b carbs-init && cpt i carbs-init

1.5.3 Generating fstab
----------------------

You can now manually edit your fstab entry, or you can use the genfstab
tool.  If you want to use the tool, exit the chroot and run the
following:

     $ wget https://github.com/cemkeylan/genfstab/raw/master/genfstab
     $ chmod +x genfstab
     $ ./genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

1.6 Post-installation
=====================

The base installation is now complete, you can now fine tune your system
according to your needs.  Rest of these instructions are completely
optional.

1.6.1 Acquiring kiss repositories
---------------------------------

While not 100% compatible with cpt, you can use kiss repositories in
your system the same way you are using the distribution repositories.
Here is an example for the KISS Linux Community repository.

     $ git clone https://github.com/kisslinux/community $HOME/repos/kiss-community
     $ export CPT_PATH=$CPT_PATH:$HOME/repos/kiss-community/community

   NOTE: There are lots of packages on the KISS community repository
that are also on Carbs Linux main repository.  I would advise giving
lower priority to the KISS community repository as it may affect other
packages that you might install.