Vegar's Auto-Rice Bootstrapping Scripts (VARBS)

A fork of Luke's Auto-Rice Bootstraping Scripts (LARBS)

This is a set of scripts either can automatically install and configure all of the prerequisites for an advanced Linux desktop environment, using my configs here as a base.

All scripts are based on an early version of LARBS (15. December 2017)

Table of Contents

• About
• Installation
• How to Use
• Permission Details (sudoers file)
• Version
• Why I made this
• Bugs?

About

The goal of these scripts is for me to quickly setup my Linux "meta-distribution" quickly and reliably. LARBS made a great foundation for this, but the newer versions has added features that I don't need nor want.

All the core stuff we be installed without prompt, but you'll have the option to install some of the larger non-essential packages (LaTeX, LibreOffice, Blender, etc.).

Installation on an already existing Arch install

This is easy. Log in as the root user and run the following.

curl -LO http://vegarab.com/varbs.sh #Downloads the script.
bash varbs.sh #Runs it.

After prompting you for some settings and some package choices, the system will install my full DWM tiling window manager Desktop Environment.

Finally, it will use git to download my Dotfiles dotfiles and will plop them in their proper location for instant use!

Then, finally, once that all is done, you should be able to log out, then log in as your newly created user and type startx to begin the graphical environment. Congrats!

Permission Details (sudoers file)

These script will give your new created user (and those others you put in the wheel group) sudo access (with a password), but will also allow some commands to be run without any password confirmation. Those include:

• shutdown
• reboot
• pacman -Syyu/pacman -Syu
• packer -Syyu/packer -Syu
• mount
• umount
• systemctl restart NetworkManager

Additionally, if you've put your password in a terminal window already, you will not need to repeat putting it in in other terminal windows.

Version

This is basically not a v.1.0 yet, need some more testing and feature to justify that. This is pretty much made for personal use, so don't expect too much new stuff. You should check out LARBS if you want more of a polished "distribution" of Arch. If the script fails, check the contents of VARBS.log in whatever directory you've run the script. Still, this script is still in the Wild West, so it is only recommended running it on fresh installs.

Why I made this

I found LARBS to be a great tool for setting up a rice/configuration on a fresh Arch install. However, newer versions of LARBS conflicted with some of my personal configurations, making me uninstall or totally change some of the settings that LARBS apply.

This is a fork of LARBS from December 2017. If Luke adds some nice features I want to LARBS, I might merge those changes to VARBS as well..

Bugs?

When I type startx I get some kind of non-descript error!

Some computers might require some additional drivers to run a graphical environment, for example, some ThinkPads might require you to install xf86-video-intel. If you search your model or graphics card along with "Arch Linux" on your preferred search engine, you'll probably get the answer fast.

I have some other problem and it didn't install correctly.

In normal circumstances, there are two main causes of miss-installs: faulty internet connections and errors with particular package upgrades or with the pacman keyring. Check yourself if the former may be at fault, but feel free to inform me in the latter case; I may be able to provide a quick fix.