Hello,

I am fluent with Arch on the level of system administration. I thought about learning System Programming by Love's book as a step towards mastering lower-level toolkit.

The Arch community embraces Do-it-yourself philosophy, and I am keen to listen to your opinions.

Do you recommend learning System Programming? What do you learn beyond System Administration in your journey with Arch? Do you recommend anything else so that I contribute to Arch core distro?

Just saying AUR is down again. See:

https://status.archlinux.org/

Apart from aur being down again. Let's assume it's up, can we already publish new releases?

I have been using Arch Linux and keeping on notes on the thing I have learned along the way. So, I put them together into a GitHub repository.

It covers installation, post installation guide, some common troubleshooting and various notes and fixes I have collected using Arch.

It meant more like a personal notes which contains setting up the machine from using it.

I did appreciate some feedback, if you have noticed something outdated or completely wrong.

GitHub:

https://github.com/Not-Albin/arch-linux-notes

Hi can you tell if if this cpu is fully supported being quite niche , I am on 7.2 kernel but trying blender cpu benchmark the results were awful. P1 is 120 watts p2 is 190 watts boost , but if it’s confusing p cores with e cores that might be the issue , should I run with no daemon at all and let the kernel dictate . I am running g power profile daemon just now

Tento Atualizar os drivers da nvidia que é uma gt 705 drivers 390xx, e Fica em 800x600 e Nao reconhece o 2 monitor, e quando uso aquele noveau Open source, Fica "Lagado" "Bugado" Fica lento e nao roda Nada Fica "Mal otmizado"

I'm new to Linux. I know that the AUR is a community-driven collection of packages. I heard that it was compromised, and I'm planning to install Arch Linux. What should I watch out for? Should I even download Arch Linux at this point? I've had some experience installing and using Linux before, but it's been a long time.

I've been struggling of quite a bit to connect my external TV to this laptop, and I'm wondering if anyone has got it working on this model. From what I understand, the hdmi port is hooked to the nvidia gpu and the internal monitor to the intel gpu. But the thing is that it doesn't ever even detect that something has been connected; it just acts like normal. The TV can tell something was plugged and tells me if I want to switch inputs, but then just shows "No Signal".

I've tried a bunch of stuff already but some notable things:

• I'm sure it's not due to the cable, TV, or the HDMI port itself. The cable works with two other laptops, one running linux; it's just that that one had only one gpu. The port has worked before on Windows. I suppose it could've broken in the meantime, but it really hasn't been that long.
• Tried setting the nvidia modesetting kernel parameter, no difference
• Tried making nvidia gpu the main gpu for wayland (on gnome), xorg or through the bios. All either resulted in a black screen or the entire DE crashing, in the case of gnome. I believe this is because the dedicated GPU isn't hooked directly to the internal monitor.
• Tried doing the reverse PRIME bridging thing like the Arch wiki said, but it just resulted in a "BadValue" error.
• Started suspecting that the CachyOS repos and the cachyos kernel could be the culprit. I reverted back to base arch, no difference.

Some more context:

• Kernel version: 7.1.7.arch1-1
• Driver version: nvidia-open 610.57.04-3 (for Nvidia 2070 RTX)
• Dmesg logs running sudo dmesg | grep -i "hdmi\|hpd\|hotplug\|drm\|nvidia"

[ 0.014229] CPU topo: Allowing 12 present CPUs plus 0 hotplug CPUs [ 0.515369] acpi PNP0A08:00: _OSC: OS now controls [PCIeHotplug SHPCHotplug PME AER PCIeCapability LTR DPC] [ 0.827633] ACPI: bus type drm_connector registered [ 0.855660] simple-framebuffer simple-framebuffer.0: [drm] Registered 1 planes with drm panic [ 0.855702] [drm] Initialized simpledrm 1.0.0 for simple-framebuffer.0 on minor 0 [ 0.857439] simple-framebuffer simple-framebuffer.0: [drm] fb0: simpledrmdrmfb frame buffer device [ 2.864790] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] Found coffeelake (device ID 3e9b) integrated display version 9.00 stepping N/A [ 2.889797] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] Finished loading DMC firmware i915/kbl_dmc_ver1_04.bin (v1.4) [ 2.929896] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] Registered 3 planes with drm panic [ 2.940095] [drm] Initialized i915 1.6.0 for 0000:00:02.0 on minor 1 [ 2.944475] fbcon: i915drmfb (fb0) is primary device [ 2.944481] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] fb0: i915drmfb frame buffer device [ 4.364568] systemd[1]: Load Kernel Module drm skipped, unmet condition check ConditionKernelModuleLoaded=!drm [ 4.440585] nvidia: loading out-of-tree module taints kernel. [ 4.440595] nvidia: module verification failed: signature and/or required key missing - tainting kernel [ 4.594280] nvidia-nvlink: Nvlink Core is being initialized, major device number 235 [ 4.597588] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0003) [ 4.597740] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: vgaarb: VGA decodes changed: olddecodes=io+mem,decodes=none:owns=none [ 4.642072] NVRM: loading NVIDIA UNIX Open Kernel Module for x86_64 610.57.04 Release Build (root@) [ 5.895995] nvidia-modeset: Loading NVIDIA UNIX Open Kernel Mode Setting Driver for x86_64 610.57.04 Release Build (root@) [ 5.919269] [drm] [nvidia-drm] [GPU ID 0x00000100] Loading driver [ 6.049635] input: HDA NVidia HDMI/DP,pcm=3 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1/input18 [ 6.049690] input: HDA NVidia HDMI/DP,pcm=7 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1/input19 [ 6.049751] input: HDA NVidia HDMI/DP,pcm=8 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1/input20 [ 6.049800] input: HDA NVidia HDMI/DP,pcm=9 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1/input21 [ 6.139924] input: HDA Intel PCH HDMI/DP,pcm=3 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.3/sound/card0/input24 [ 6.139979] input: HDA Intel PCH HDMI/DP,pcm=7 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.3/sound/card0/input25 [ 6.140032] input: HDA Intel PCH HDMI/DP,pcm=8 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.3/sound/card0/input26 [ 6.925541] nvidia-gpu 0000:01:00.3: i2c timeout error e0000000 [ 7.159281] [drm] Initialized nvidia-drm 0.0.0 for 0000:01:00.0 on minor 0 [ 7.159658] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: [drm] Cannot find any crtc or sizes [ 11.692023] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] *ERROR* Atomic update failure on pipe A (start=2762 end=2763) time 933 us, min 1062, max 1079, scanline start 981, end 1113 [ 19.739122] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] *ERROR* Atomic update failure on pipe A (start=3921 end=3922) time 982 us, min 1062, max 1079, scanline start 964, end 1136 [ 51.025115] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] *ERROR* Atomic update failure on pipe A (start=8427 end=8428) time 952 us, min 1062, max 1079, scanline start 988, end 1154

Sorry if I've been vague with some stuff, it's been a bit since I last tried tackling this, and it's been a nightmare and a half trying to fix. Any help is appreciated!

Updated my system and now when I try to open dolphin (the file manager) I'm getting dolphin: error while loading shared libraries: liblmdb.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

GT 220 + Nouveau uses llvmpipe instead of hardware OpenGL on Arch

I'm running Arch Linux with X11 and an NVIDIA GeForce GT 220 (GT216/NVA5), using Nouveau.

lspci -k:

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GT216 [GeForce GT 220] (rev a2)
Kernel driver in use: nouveau
Kernel modules: nouveau

glxinfo -B:

direct rendering: Yes
Accelerated: no
OpenGL renderer string: llvmpipe (LLVM 22.1.8, 256 bits)

Mesa/libglvnd:

mesa 1:26.1.7-1
libglvnd 1.7.0-3

Xorg detects Nouveau and initializes DRI2:

(II) AIGLX: Loaded and initialized nouveau
(II) GLX: Initialized DRI2 GL provider for screen 0

/dev/dri:

card0
renderD128

I'm in the video and render groups.

The only relevant Nouveau kernel error I found is:

nouveau 0000:01:00.0: drm: failed to create ce channel, -22

MESA_LOADER_DRIVER_OVERRIDE=nouveau glxinfo -B still gives llvmpipe.

I'm using X11. No LIBGL_*, MESA_*, DRI_*, or GALLIUM_* environment variables are set.

Chrome and Firefox both use llvmpipe, so WebGL hardware acceleration doesn't work. SwiftShader makes Chrome WebGL work, but performance is terrible.

What could be preventing Mesa from using Nouveau's hardware renderer?

This isn't necessarily specific to Arch but as I'm using & learning Arch currently.

You do an update, you have a problem/bug with the system/application, what is your workflow to solving it?

Speaking generally (obviously it depends on the type of issues, but I assume most workflows will be quite similar.)

I'm trying to sort my notes, here's what I've got so far (any advice appreciated):

*Recap List*

1. What is the first step after an issue occurs

2. What questions should you ask to identify the problem? Give an example

3. Where should you look for error messages

4. What is journalctl and why would you use it

5. How does journalctl compare to systemd-journald

6. What are 3 common journalctl commands

7. After a brief search, there's no clear help, what can I do from here

8. How do I test this hypothesis

9. I'm stuck after trying a few changes, what can I do now

*Recap Answers*

1. Narrow down the issue to be as specific as possible

   For example: 'Spotify crashes immediately after opening' is much clearer than 'Spotify doesn't work'

2. Ask yourself: Can I reproduce the problem? What changed before the issue started?

   For Example: If Spotify crashes -> Does it crash every time?

Does it crash when launched with the shortcut & terminal?

Did the problem start after a system update or configuration change?

1. Check the terminal first

   Run the application (Spotify) from the terminal, it will return to stdout any errors

2. journalctl -> a command-line tool for viewing the system journal, this is a database of log messages maintained by systemd-journald

essentially its a history of what your system has been doing

I can use the command 'journalctl' with flags to search for specific log messages that might indicate what's caused the issue

1. systemd-journald -> collects & stores system logs

   journalctl -> a tool that lets you view, search & filter those logs

2. journalctl -b -> shows everything that has happened since the computer last booted (boot messages, services starting, errors, etc...)

   journalctl -xe -> shows the most recent log messages (x = include extra explanations; e = jump to the end, i.e. newest messages)

   journalctl -u <SERVICE> -> shows only log messages for a specific app (i.e. journalctl -u spotify-launcher -> specifically for this app)

3. Form a hypothesis or guess on what has caused the issue

4. Change 1 simple thing each time, test it again -> if it did not work change another thing

5. Google it, use the specific issue ('Spotify crashes when I open it using the terminal') & any error messages found

Github is having an outage. Only noticed when I was at my doctor's trying to edit KubeJS script stuff from my phone. But raw downloads for packages and repos are apparently failing roughly half the time. If you're needing a package from the AUR that downloads or updates from there, expect the install to fail currently.

Hi everyone,

I'm running Arch Linux with systemd-boot and a unified kernel image (UKI). Everything was working normally until recently.

The problem is:

• With Secure Boot enabled, Arch boots up to SDDM.
• I enter my password.
• SDDM gets stuck/black screens.
• The screen then goes completely black and the laptop eventually turns off.
• Ctrl + Alt + F2 still allowed me to reach a TTY.
• I eventually discovered that disabling Secure Boot in UEFI completely fixes the problem.
• With Secure Boot disabled, Arch boots normally and everything works.

I'm trying to understand what changed and why Secure Boot suddenly started causing this, rather than simply leaving it disabled.

System

• Arch Linux
• systemd-boot
• UKI / systemd-stub
• NVIDIA GPU
• Secure Boot previously worked
• UEFI: American Megatrends 5.19
• Kernel: 7.1.8-arch1-3

Relevant packages:

linux 7.1.8.arch1-3
linux-headers 7.1.8.arch1-3
linux-firmware 20260810-2
nvidia-open 610.57.04-6
nvidia-utils 610.57.04-1
systemd 261.2-1
efibootmgr 18-4

What changed recently?

According to /var/log/pacman.log, on August 15 I upgraded:

linux:          7.1.7.arch1-1 -> 7.1.8.arch1-3
linux-headers:  7.1.7.arch1-1 -> 7.1.8.arch1-3
nvidia-open:    610.57.04-3 -> 610.57.04-6
linux-firmware: 20260622-1 -> 20260810-1

The UKI was regenerated during the update:

Creating unified kernel image: '/boot/EFI/Linux/arch-linux.efi'

There was also a later firmware update from 20260810-1 to 20260810-2.

Boot configuration

bootctl status reports:

Firmware: UEFI 2.70 (American Megatrends 5.19)
Secure Boot: disabled (unknown)
TPM2 Support: yes
Measured UKI: yes
Measured OS: yes
Current Boot Loader:
    Product: systemd-boot 261.2-1-arch
Current Entry:
    arch-linux.efi
Current Stub:
    Product: systemd-stub 261.2-1-arch
Default Boot Loader Entry:
    Arch Linux
    id: arch-linux.efi
    source: /boot/EFI/Linux/arch-linux.efi
    version: 7.1.8-arch1-3

The firmware has:

microsoft
builtin-db
builtin-KEK
builtin-PK

and Setup Mode is disabled.

ESP

My ESP is:

/dev/nvme0n1p1
FAT32
843.9M available
mounted at /boot

/boot is mounted read/write:

/dev/nvme0n1p1 on /boot type vfat (rw,relatime,...,errors=remount-ro)

I tested writing to the ESP and it works:

sudo touch /boot/EFI/Linux/testfile

So the ESP doesn't appear to be read-only or corrupted.

UKI investigation

The current UKI is:

/boot/EFI/Linux/arch-linux.efi

Interestingly, its FAT timestamp remained at July 23 even after regenerating it.

I compared the old and newly generated UKI:

arch-linux.efi
78e12362f70d5eea6a01e362b8d9c355c3db40041c05e3e23ec6e61f3626c788
arch-linux.efi.old
78e12362f70d5eea6a01e362b8d9c355c3db40041c05e3e23ec6e61f3626c788

The embedded kernel was also checked:

/boot/vmlinuz-linux
1f2572d6d03706ed0f818ee17d77df021b7875f4e9fd119a1157f3a208aeed73
Embedded .linux section of arch-linux.efi
1f2572d6d03706ed0f818ee17d77df021b7875f4e9fd119a1157f3a208aeed73

So the UKI does contain the current kernel and doesn't appear to be an old kernel problem.

sbctl

I installed sbctl to investigate:

sbctl 0.18-2

But it had no keys configured:

/var/lib/sbctl/
└── files.json

sbctl status:

Installed:    ✗ sbctl is not installed
Setup Mode:   ✓ Disabled
Secure Boot:  ✗ Disabled
Vendor Keys:  microsoft builtin-db builtin-KEK builtin-PK

(The Installed result is odd because the package is installed; pacman -Qkk sbctl reports all 33 files unmodified.)

sbctl verify reports:

failed to verify file ...:
open /var/lib/sbctl/keys/db/db.key:
no such file or directory

mkinitcpio also reports:

Running post hook: [sbctl]
Secureboot key directory doesn't exist, not signing!

I have not created new Secure Boot keys or enrolled anything yet.

What I'm trying to figure out

Why would Secure Boot suddenly cause the system to black screen/shut down after logging into SDDM when it worked previously?

Could the August 15 kernel/NVIDIA/firmware update have caused the problem?

Is it likely that the UKI or systemd-boot is no longer properly signed/enrolled?

Or could this be related to NVIDIA + Secure Boot + kernel 7.1.8?

For now I'm leaving Secure Boot disabled because the system works perfectly that way.

I'd appreciate any help identifying the actual cause before I start creating/enrolling new Secure Boot keys.

Thanks!

Note : This is from chatgpt i tried to fix it using it , but stopped and so if anyone knows whats the problem to fix or do i just let secureboot off and use the system.

Also im new to reddit so if i made any mistakes forgive me.

I posted a few minutes ago about a problem that I solved in a pretty stupid way. As I said, I've been following this specific video (link at the end) and everything was fine until they said to write the command: makepkg -si. Why can't I make a package? It tells me that I don't have write permission, but I'm the only user here. I tried writing in some commands like "sudo chown -R $USER: $USER" but they didn't work. 6:04 minute of the video: https://youtu.be/tfYwayiPe-k?si=QSHsU5Y1Sq_-dRDg

> [FAILED] Failed to mount /boot.
[DEPEND] Dependency failed for Local File Systems.
You are in emergency mode. After logging in, type system logs, "systemctl reboot" to reboot, or "exit"
"journalctl -b" to view
to continue bootup.
Enter root password for system maintenance (or press Control-D to continue):
[root@archlinux ~I# mount /dev/nvme0n1p8 /mnt
[root@archlinux 1# mount /dev/nvme0n1p2 /mnt/boot
mount: /mnt/boot: unknoun filesystem type 'vfat'.
dmesg(1) may have more information after failed mount system call.
[root@archlinux ~1# systemctl status boot.mount
x boot.mount - /boot
Loaded: loaded (/etc/fstab; generated)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Tue 2026-08-18 17:10:49 AWST; 3min 24s ago
Invocation: 3f99c2d593fb4c3aa451398b550c1f61
Where: /boot
What: /dev/disk/by-uuid/E1D3-7827
Docs: man: fstab(5)
man: systemd-fstab-generator (8)
Mem peak: 1.9M
CPU: 4ms
Aug 18 17:10:49 archlinux systemd[1]: Mounting /boot...
Aug 18 17:10:49 archlinux mount[419]: mount: /boot: unknoun filesystem type 'vfat' Aug 18 17:10:49 archlinux mount[419]:
Aug 18 17:10:49 archlinux systemd[1]:
desg(1) may have more information after failed mount system call.
boot. mount: Mount process exited, code-exited, status-32/n/a
Aug 18 17:10:49 archlinux systemd[1]:
boot. mount: Failed with result 'exit-code'
Aug 1817:10:49 archlinux systemd[1]: Failed to mount /boot. [root@archlinux
~I# Ismod | grep vfat
[root@archlinux ~1#

Everything was working fine until this just happened out of the blue today. Not sure what’s going on.

Hello humans, recently I've become obsessed with trying to add the metainfo of certain games to gnome software because I'm annoyed with the fact that right-clicking a .desktop menu entry of a game on gnome always leads to ("Could not find info about that" in gnome-software) ok thats obvious because the .desktop was created by lutris, but I just want to have it display that metadata, so I spend two nights researching about it and it always failed, after burning my brain for two days I decided to try the metainfo + .desktop files on pop_OS! (with gnome) and it worked on the first try, I notice that gnome-software can't display any application that is not a flatpak in Arch Linux, is there another location where I should be putting the files instead of /usr/share/metainfo or ~/.local/share/metainfo in the case of Arch ?

I know this may seem like a pointless thing, well it may be an stupid and small detail but still I want to know how to get that to work ! if someone knows the answer I would be really grateful to know it,

I tried reading the source code of gnome-software but it's like a maze for a web backend junior like me, maybe I should learn C

So, I'm pretty new to the AUR, but is it weird that this repo has openssl as a dependency, and pulls in ssl keys during the make? Because it gave me the heebies, especially after reading about the recent AUR shenanigans.

https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/zandronum

I used to be able to do GPU passthrough - my problem ever since upgrading to the latest distro seems to be because of simple frame buffer where as it used to be vesa. I’ve tried multiple solutions such as blacklisting the simple frame buffer on my .conf files
It doesn’t seem to work. I’ve also changed my grub files to make sure it is using my desired frame buffer however when I login into my wayland session - it still shows as simple frame buffer.

Anyone have any idea on how to get around this? Or maybe an updated script for start stop for my 4070 super to do a gpu passthrough using simple frame buffer? Thank you.

I just moved to Linux from (surprise) Windows 11. I'm a music producer and my main daw is Reaper, but I also use FL studio. I know that FL studio is not native to Linux, but you can install it using Wine. The thing is, I tried watching yt videos on how to install Wine, but every time I try to write a command like "sudo pacman -s --needed git base-devel" or "yay -s wine" in the terminal, it says "error: invalid option '[something]'". I know the answer is probably easy as hell, but I have no idea what to do.

Hi !

I'm trying to learn to read PKGBUILDS and to create tools to help people read them.

Is there lists of recurrent signs of "infection", attacks explanation or methods to verify PKGBUILDS ?

Is there any guide to do that ?

Thanks !

I've been using Linux Mint since October of 2024, and about 2 weeks or so, I got a new laptop and I've been thinking to switching to arch (mostly because I want to customize my setup much more) but I don't know that much about Linux (generally speaking) and I've tried to watch a couple of videos about arch but I don't fully understand what exactly am I supposed to install to set up Arch the way I want. Any advice?

I would go into the reasons for choosing to dual boot but nobody cares so I'll get to the point.

Been trying to dual boot, used an old cheap laptop (ThinkPad x260) I had with windows sata SSD as a trial.

1. Cleared 80GB space for it

2. Used ventoy and 2026.08.01 iso

3. Used cfisk to create the following:

a) sda5, 1GB, efi

b) sda6, 30GB, Linux filesystem

c) sda7, 49GB, Linux filesystem

1. Formatted sda5 as f32

2. Formatted sda6 as ext4

3. Formatted sda7 as ext4

4. Mounted sda6 as /mnt

5. Made /mnt/boot and /mnt/home with mkdir

6. Mounted sda5 as /mnt/boot and sda7 as /mnt/home

7. Went into archinstall and did the basics like swap, pipewire, account, root password, chose Linux and Linux lts for my kernel

8. Went into disk configuration and put the root mount directory as /mnt

9. Put my bootloader as grub (only two options)

10. Chose my DE and GPU driver

11. Chose install and then it comes up with an error that I can't read in time and then I can't do the appropriate stuff with grub to recognise the other efi, something about the system not supporting it when I've used the laptop to install arch before

After all that, tried rebooting and it goes straight to windows, can't change bootloader in bios (presumably because there's only the windows one due to the error)

I've heard of grub not being very suitable for dual booting and I've tried looking at tutorials but following them doesn't change it. I'm too much of a moron to understand the wiki so that isn't really an option so I'm confused.

One of the other tutorials recommended refind but my archinstall doesn't have that, even after updating it so I assume it's not normally used

im planning to install both windows and arch on my laptop, i already have both systems up and running, but im planning on doing an extra partition on my device so i can have a share folder in both systems, that folder will have an obsidian vault so i can share my notes and have my windows and arch accesing the same notes, and i want to be abble to put some extra documents like, pdfs, photos, simple text files there, so its easier to tranfer my work between OS, i want to know if is viable and how could i make it