ArchLinux ISO with Rust-Based Utilities

This project provides a build system for creating a custom ArchLinux ISO that replaces GNU core utilities with Rust-based alternatives, including uutils-coreutils and many other modern Rust rewrites.

• ArchLinux system (or compatible Linux distribution)
• Root/sudo access
• archiso package installed
• At least 10GB free disk space

1. Install required dependencies:

sudo pacman -S archiso

2. Clone this repository:

git clone <repository-url> arch-rs
cd arch-rs

This repository follows the Git Flow branching model. See .github/BRANCHING.md for detailed information about the branching strategy.

# Clone and set up
git clone <repository-url> arch-rs
cd arch-rs

# Create a feature branch
git checkout develop
git pull origin develop
git checkout -b feature/my-feature

# Make changes, commit, and push
git add .
git commit -m "Add feature: description"
git push origin feature/my-feature

# Create a pull request to develop

Simply run the build script as root:

sudo ./build.sh

To clean previous build artifacts and start fresh:

sudo ./build.sh --clean

The ISO is automatically built using GitHub Actions:

• On version tags (e.g., v1.0.0): Creates a GitHub release with the ISO
• On main/master branch: Builds ISO and uploads as artifact (for testing)
• Manual trigger: Available from the Actions tab

See .github/workflows/README.md for more details.

To create a release:

git tag -a v1.0.0 -m "Release version 1.0.0"
git push origin v1.0.0

The build process will:

1. Use the custom archiso profile in profile/
2. Install uutils-coreutils instead of GNU coreutils
3. Install additional Rust-based utility replacements (ripgrep, fd, bat, eza, procs, bottom, dust, zoxide, starship, tealdeer, sd, tokei, hyperfine)
4. Configure the system to use rust-based utilities by default
5. Generate a bootable ISO in the out/ directory

arch-rs/
├── profile/                 # ArchISO profile configuration
│   ├── packages.x86_64     # Package list (uutils-coreutils included)
│   ├── pacman.conf         # Pacman configuration
│   ├── airootfs/           # Root filesystem customizations
│   │   ├── etc/            # System configuration files
│   │   └── root/           # Root user scripts
│   └── build.sh            # Profile build script
├── scripts/                # Utility scripts
│   └── build-coreutils.sh  # Optional: Build coreutils from source
├── work/                   # Build working directory (created during build)
├── out/                    # Output directory for ISO files (created during build)
├── build.sh                # Main build script
└── README.md               # This file

Edit profile/packages.x86_64 to add or remove packages from the ISO.

• System-wide configs: profile/airootfs/etc/
• Root user scripts: profile/airootfs/root/
• Customization script: profile/airootfs/root/customize_airootfs.sh

If you want to build uutils-coreutils from source instead of using the package:

./scripts/build-coreutils.sh

This requires Rust/Cargo to be installed.

1. Write the ISO to a USB drive:

sudo dd if=out/archlinux-*.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress oflag=sync

2. Boot from the USB drive in a VM or physical machine

3. Verify rust coreutils is active:

ls --version  # Should show uutils-coreutils version
which ls      # Should point to uutils binary

Important: When installing ArchLinux to a hard drive from this ISO, you need to follow special steps to ensure rust coreutils is installed instead of GNU coreutils. See INSTALL.md for detailed installation instructions.

The ISO includes helper scripts:

• /root/install-helper.sh - Run before/during installation
• /root/post-install.sh - Run after installation to configure rust coreutils

The ISO includes the following Rust-based replacements:

• uutils-coreutils - Complete coreutils replacement (ls, cat, cp, mv, rm, etc.)
• ripgrep (rg) - Fast grep replacement
• fd - Fast find replacement
• bat - cat with syntax highlighting
• eza - Modern ls replacement
• procs - Modern ps replacement
• bottom (btm) - System monitor (top/htop replacement)
• dust - du replacement with tree view
• zoxide - Smart cd replacement
• starship - Cross-shell prompt
• tealdeer (tldr) - Simplified man pages
• sd - Intuitive sed replacement
• tokei - Code statistics
• hyperfine - Benchmarking tool

See RUST_UTILITIES.md for detailed information about each utility.

• The ISO uses Rust-based packages from the Arch repositories
• GNU counterparts are excluded - coreutils, grep, findutils, sed, and procps-ng are excluded from installation
• Rust utilities are automatically aliased - standard commands like grep, find, cat, ls, ps, top, du, etc. now use Rust versions by default
• Wrapper scripts in /usr/local/bin ensure scripts (not just interactive shells) use Rust utilities
• Aliases are active by default in /etc/profile.d/rust-utils.sh
• Pacman hooks prevent accidental installation of GNU utilities
• Some scripts may need adjustments if they rely on GNU-specific features or syntax differences
• All standard coreutils commands (ls, cat, cp, mv, etc.) work with uutils-coreutils
• For installed systems: Follow the installation guide to ensure rust-based utilities are used on the installed system

Install archiso: sudo pacman -S archiso

• Check that the ISO was written correctly to the USB drive
• Verify your system supports UEFI/BIOS boot mode as configured
• Check the build logs in the work/ directory

• Verify uutils-coreutils is installed: pacman -Q uutils-coreutils
• Check binary locations: which ls and ls --version
• Review the customization scripts in profile/airootfs/root/

This build system and configuration files are licensed under the MIT License.

See LICENSE file for the full license text.

The generated ISO includes software packages with their own respective licenses:

• ArchLinux packages: Various licenses (GPL, MIT, BSD, etc.) as per ArchLinux distribution
• uutils-coreutils: MIT License - https://github.com/uutils/coreutils
• Rust utilities:
  • ripgrep: MIT or Unlicense
  • fd: MIT or Apache-2.0
  • bat: MIT or Apache-2.0
  • eza: MIT
  • procs: MIT
  • bottom: MIT
  • dust: Apache-2.0
  • zoxide: MIT
  • starship: ISC
  • tealdeer: MIT or Apache-2.0
  • sd: MIT
  • tokei: MIT or Apache-2.0
  • hyperfine: MIT or Apache-2.0

Users are responsible for complying with all applicable licenses when using the generated ISO or any included software packages. Please refer to the individual package license files for complete license information.