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AArch64 Arch Linux Bootable Disk Image Utility

Utility to create a bootable and easily customizable AArch64 Arch Linux disk image. Supports running on x86 hosts via binfmt_misc and qemu-user-static.

Usage

The aarch64-arch-mkimage utility allows for multiple profiles, which, in essence, shape the generated disk image. See notes below for running on an x86 host system.

Running the script directly requires an Arch Linux host system. To build a disk image or file system trees, run

sudo ./aarch64-arch-mkimg <profile>

where <profile> is the desired profile. Outputs and intermediate build files are stored in ./build. Disk images are written to ./build/disk.img and final file system trees to ./build/disk/root for the root partition and ./build/disk/efi for the EFI/EFS partition.

You can also run the script via the provided Docker container (e.g. in case you do not have access to an Arch Linux host system). A pre-built container for an x86 host can be obtained via

docker pull ghcr.io/linux-surface/aarch64-arch-mkimg

Disk images can then be generated via

docker run --rm --privileged                  \
    --mount type=tmpfs,destination=/run/shm   \
    -v /dev:/dev                              \
    -v "${PWD}/build":/build                  \
    aarch64-arch-mkimg <profile>

Default login credentials are the ones provided by the Arch Linux ARM root file system, i.e. user/password alarm/alarm and root/root. Note that, by default, an OpenSSH server is running. Therefore, please do not connect this machine directly to the internet (without firewall) before changing those.

Running on an x86 Host

To run this script on an x86 host, emulation for AArch64 is needed. This can be set up via binfmt_misc and qemu-user-static. See e.g. https://github.com/multiarch/qemu-user-static for details on how to set this up. In short, running

docker run --rm --privileged multiarch/qemu-user-static --reset -p yes

should set everything up for you.

Details

The aarch64-arch-mkimage utility works in three major steps:

  1. The basic root file system (rootfs) is prepared using the official Arch Linux ARM root archive and base files specified in the profile (profiles/<name>/base, these are simply copied to the rootfs tree).
  2. The utility switches into the prepared root tree via arch-chroot. Here, requested packages (profiles/name/packages) are installed or uninstalled and customizations to the rootfs specified via the respective profile modules (profiles/<name>/modules) are applied.
  3. Depending on the profile, a disk image and/or root and EFI file system trees are generated from the final rootfs. These are provided in build/disk.img and build/disk/efi as well as build/disk/root.

Profiles

  • default: This profile builds an initramfs from the rootfs and packs this up inside an otherwise small boot partition. The resulting image boots fully in ram, however, boot times will be slow and the system might seem stuck during boot at times. This also means that any changes you make will not persist across reboots. This is mostly intended as a basic installation media.

    To use this profile, simply flash the created build/disk.img to a USB stick, e.g. via

    dd if=build/disk.img of=/dev/sdX bs=1m && sync

  • persistent: This profile generates EFI and root partition file systems intended for use in a persistent scenario. Unfortunately, this means that a full disk image cannot be created automatically (the file system sizes are unknown). Therefore, this profile outputs only file system trees at build/disk/efi and build/disk/root.

    To use this profile, format the USB stick, e.g. via gdisk and create an EFI (gdisk type ef00) partition with 128Mib and a root partition (gdisk type 8300 or 8304). You can adapt the partition sizes as needed. Assuming the USB stick is present as /dev/sdX, this translates to the following sgdisk commands:

    sgdisk /dev/sdX -n 0:0:+128MiB -t 0:ef00 -c 0:efi
sgdisk /dev/sdX -n 0:0:+ -t 0:8300 -c 0:boot
partprobe

    Thereafter, format partitions, e.g. via

    mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/sdX1
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdX2

    Finally, mount EFI and root partitions and copy over the respective file system trees, e.g. via

    # mount partitions
mkdir -p /mnt/{efi,root}
mount /dev/sdX1 /mnt/efi
mount /dev/sdX2 /mnt/root

# copy files
cp -a build/disk/efi/. /mnt/efi     # EFI partition
cp -a build/disk/root/. /mnt/root   # root partition
sync

# unmount partitions
umount /dev/sdX1
umount /dev/sdX2
rm -rf /mnt/{efi,root}

Customization

You can create or adapt custom profiles. Each profile provides:

  • A profile.sh script detailing the build steps.

  • A base directory, containing additional or replacement files copied directly to the rootfs. Files provided here are copied over the Arch Linux ARM rootfs.

  • A packages directory specifying the packages to install or uninstall The packages/install file contains a list of packages to be installed. The packages/uninstall file contains a list of packages to be uninstalled. The packages/custom directory can contain optional pre-built packages. Packages will first be uninstalled, then the chroot system will be updated, new packages will be installed, and finally any custom pre-built packages will be installed.

  • A modules directory containing module files for rootfs customization. Each module can provide a setup() and an install() function. Both will be called in the chroot environment. The setup() function will be called before any packages are installed and can e.g. be used to add custom repositories. The install() function will be called after the requested packages have been installed.

See the provided profiles for examples.