tr1x_em - linux

Install Artix on ZFS THE CHAD WAY

tr1x_em — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction</h1>
So it happened like always i woke up one day and decided that life isn’t really fun I SHOULD DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT</strong> and as I had lot of free time(the most important requirement for installing Linux is basically being unemployed jk</del>) I decided making the most chad Linux setup that ever exist and it would be Artix with ZFS^{1</a></sup> you may ask why? That’s what we would find in next section and if you dont wanna hear my yap you can directly skip to Installation</a> section .</p>}

Motivation</h2>
</p>
If you don’t know the systemd controversy (well congratulations you have a job and a real life) Its just people don’t really like systemd , most of the folks take it as an init system 2</a></sup> but instead its like a glob of pretty much everything which includes networking, containers(somehow but its true) etc. Basically we can say systemd isn’t just an init system—it’s a platform, and that’s exactly why people argue it breaks the Unix philosophy which says “Do one thing and do it well” so instead of you getting “one tool per job” you get “one ecosystem for many jobs” which some of you can think is a good thing i don’t know what to tell you to be honest</small> . You can read more about it on nosystemd</a> PS: its major contributor is redhat iykyk</small></p>
And as I have previously mentioned my friend Gaspar3</a></sup> suggested (or you can say motivated) me to make the switch and yeah OFC MY ARCH INSTALLATION WAS BADLY BLOATED </p>
All of this lead to my journey of wasting a week reading 69+ wiki’s just to know how does ZFS even works…and yeah i still failed many times after it</small></p>
Why ZFS and not BTRFS?</h2>
ZFS is a file system with volume management capabilities which means no more fixed size disk partitions yayyyyyyyyyyyy (you get this in btrfs too btw) but the thing what i wanted was encryption…alright i hear someone shouting LUKS but LISTEN HERE YOU , ZFS supports native encryption which gives you pretty badass freedom to manage your data. Like you can have a unencrypted pool named `tank</code> and have a dataset games</code> which is unencrypted but in same pool you could have personal</code> dataset which would be encrypted.. which for me was mind blowing I could just have a unencrypted pool which some encrypted dataset to have my data.</p>`
`Other features like self healing ,raids and snapshots you can pretty much find anywhere but for me the native encryption was the main feature i was looking for</p>`
`Well some of you may argue that zfs module dosen’t even come in the linux kernel by default its bad V: well then use whatever you like i dont mind as long as its linux (tho we wont call you cool here)</small> . And for people wondering ZFS will never be integrated into the Linux kernel due to it’s licence.</p>`
`Why Artix and not Arch?</h2> </p>`Because Luke Smith4</a></sup> said in this video</a> that Artix users are superior than arch users </p> ZFS Drawbacks</h2> ZFS is an out-of-tree dkms module, and while people use it due to it’s features and because of that, you should not ask support on Arch/Artix Linux forums.</p> </blockquote> The following information is taken from Nwildner’s</a> post as he had compiled everything in a great way</p> Most of the disadvantages of using ZFS</code> on Linux are higlighted on this</a> Arch Wiki article, but, let’s reiterate them:</p> ZFS does not encrypt metadata, meaning some basic structures of your pool like dataset, snapshot names, snapshot hierarchy, and deduplication tables (although deduplicated data is encrypted) might be visible with the adequate tools.</li> Pool creation requires knowledge of disk geometry. With nvmes, some of the pain point for tuning are gone, but not all of them. Swap inside a zvol is not possible and it is an old and well-known issue</a> and you should avoid using it as well as using swapfiles inside ZFS.</li> ZFS has some caveats due to it’s implementation of aes for cryptography and had some performance issues in the past that are now fixed. They had to implement their own mechanisms since they can’t touch kernel algorithms because the module is not licensed as GPL.</li> out-of-tree kernel module. Pretty obvious but, if you don’t want any surprises like your module not being added to the initramfs, pay attention during kernel install procedures or just use linux-lts</code> for better compatibility.</li> If you are a laptop user, disable hibernate(suspend to disk) entirely. Waking your laptop, importing your zfs pool and after that bringing data that is hibernate from swap back to your disk will likely break your zfs pool</a>.</li> </ul> I would only recommend you installing ZFS if you got atleast 16gb of ram as the ram usage for ZFS is higher than a normal traditional file system.</p> </blockquote> So now you know the caveats lets get into the process of installing it.</p> For me I would be installing Artix with Open-rc on ZFS you can adapt this to pretty much any init system. PS:</strong> I myself had install artix reading this guide.</p> Installation</h1> </p> Setting up the SSH service</h2> sudo</span> -</span>i</span> #</span> Become root</span></span> echo</span> "</span>PermitRootLogin yes</span>"</span> >></span> /etc/ssh/sshd_config</span></span> rc-service</span> sshd</span> start</span> #</span> Started the ssh service</span></span> ip</span> -</span>4</span> address</span> show</span> scope</span> global</span> #</span> would show the ip</span></span> ssh</span> root@192.168.1.10</span> #</span> SSH into the account</span></span></code></pre>Adding arch archzfs repo</h2> #</span> Would make installation faster by increasing parallel download</span></span> sed</span> -</span>i</span> '</span>s/#ParallelDownloads/ParallelDownloads/</span>'</span> /etc/pacman.conf</span></span> #</span> Add zfs arch repo to /etc/pacman.conf</span></span> tee</span> -</span>a</span> /etc/pacman.conf</span> <<</span> '</span>EOF</span>'</span></span> [archzfs]</span></span> # TODO: Change this to `Required` once it's announced that the signing system is finalized.</span></span> SigLevel = Never</span></span> Server = https://github.com/archzfs/archzfs/releases/download/experimental</span></span> EOF</span></span> pacman</span> -</span>Sy</span> -</span>-noconfirm</span> archzfs-dkms</span> &&</span> modprobe</span> zfs</span></span></code></pre>Setting up env variables for smooth installation</h2> #</span> timezone</span></span> INST_TZ</span>=</span>/</span>u</span>s</span>r</span>/</span>s</span>h</span>a</span>r</span>e</span>/</span>z</span>o</span>n</span>e</span>i</span>n</span>f</span>o</span>/</span>A</span>s</span>i</span>a</span>/</span>K</span>o</span>l</span>k</span>a</span>t</span>a</span></span> #</span> Hostname</span></span> INST_HOST</span>=</span>'</span>artix</span>'</span></span> INST_OS</span>=</span>'</span>artixlinux</span>'</span></span> #</span> Mount point</span></span> INST_MNT</span>=</span>/</span>m</span>n</span>t</span></span></code></pre> Choose which kernel you want to install:</p> linux</li> linux-lts</li> linux-zen</li> linux-hardened</li> </ul> INST_LINVAR</span>=</span>'</span>linux-zen</span>'</span></span></code></pre>Setting up partitions</h2> Now We need 2 partions (which you can create easily using cfdisk</code>):</p> part1</code> = EFI (512mb as its only needed for zfsbootmenu)</li> part2</code>= Root (suggested to be type of solaris root)</li> </ul> Example of good partion:</p> $</span> fdisk</span> -</span>l</span> /dev/sda</span></span> Device</span> Start</span> End</span> Sectors</span> Size</span> Type</span></span> /dev/sda1</span> 2048</span> 1050623</span> 1048576</span> 512M</span> EFI</span> System</span></span> /dev/sda2</span> 1050624</span> 83884031</span> 82833408</span> 39.5G</span> Solaris</span> root</span></span></code></pre> In your case if you use as SSD the sda1 would be nvme0n1 which parts like nvme0n1p1…p3 here p1 is part 1 and like that</p> </blockquote> Set up the disk variabled as follows</p> DISK</span>=</span>/</span>d</span>e</span>v</span>/</span>d</span>i</span>s</span>k</span>/</span>b</span>y</span>-</span>i</span>d</span>/</span>n</span>v</span>m</span>e</span>-</span>f</span>o</span>o</span>_</span>N</span>V</span>M</span>e</span>_</span>b</span>a</span>r</span>_</span>5</span>1</span>2</span>G</span>B</span></span> DISK_BOOT</span>=</span>$</span>{</span>DISK</span>}</span>-</span>p</span>a</span>r</span>t</span>1</span></span> DISK_ROOT</span>=</span>$</span>{</span>DISK</span>}</span>-</span>p</span>a</span>r</span>t</span>2</span></span></code></pre> Assuming the part1 (which u saw as p1) is EFI partion and part2 is root.</p> Setting up the Live ISO</h2> #</span> Generate a host id</span></span> zgenhostid</span></span> #</span> Passpharase is the password it would ask to decrypt your filesystem</span></span> #</span> assuming rpool is the name of root pool</span></span> echo</span> '</span><passphrase></span>'</span> ></span> /etc/zfs/rpool.key</span></span> chmod</span> 000</span> /etc/zfs/rpool.key</span></span></code></pre>Setting up partitions</h2> Setting up the root partion (with encrpytion)</h3> zpool</span> create</span> \</span></span> -</span>o</span> ashift=</span>12</span> \</span></span> -</span>O</span> acltype=posixacl</span> \</span></span> -</span>O</span> canmount=off</span> \</span></span> -</span>O</span> compression=zstd</span> \</span></span> -</span>O</span> dnodesize=auto</span> \</span></span> -</span>O</span> normalization=formD</span> \</span></span> -</span>O</span> relatime=on</span> \</span></span> -</span>O</span> xattr=sa</span> \</span></span> -</span>O</span> mountpoint=/</span> \</span></span> -</span>R</span> $</span>INST_MNT</span> \</span></span> -</span>O</span> encryption=aes-256-gcm</span> \</span></span> -</span>O</span> keylocation=file:///etc/zfs/rpool.key</span> \</span></span> -</span>O</span> keyformat=passphrase</span> \</span></span> rpool</span> \</span></span> $</span>DISK_ROOT</span></span></code></pre> Can’t explain every option but here we are creating aes-256-gcm</code> encryption^{5</a></sup> which would be unlocked using the key present at the keylocation , using zstd compression , using 4K sector alignment for performance and ssd correctness which rpool</code> as name of the pool mounting at the $INST_MNT</code> variable we set.</p>} I suggest you using keylocation flag as its not unsafe your key is stored already in an encrypted disk this would just allow use to boot more smoothly into our system else you have to type your password 2 times while booting if you dont want that you can do keylocation=prompt</code></p> </blockquote> Boot partitions</h3> Format the boot partition to be a fat32</p> mkfs.fat -n BOOT $DISK_BOOT</span></span></code></pre>Setting up datasets</h2> I would be keeping my root and data in different dataset so as if i wnat to snapshot only data if could do it</p> Create container datasets:</p> zfs</span> create</span> -</span>o</span> canmount=off</span> -</span>o</span> mountpoint=none</span> rpool/ROOT</span></span> zfs</span> create</span> -</span>o</span> canmount=off</span> -</span>o</span> mountpoint=none</span> rpool/DATA</span></span></code></pre> Now we create a dataset with the OS name you are installing Why? If in future you want to dual boot a different OS on same pool you could do that by just creating a dataset named after the OS you are installing</p> zfs</span> create</span> -</span>o</span> mountpoint=/</span> -</span>o</span> canmount=noauto</span> rpool/ROOT/</span>$</span>INST_OS</span></span></code></pre> Mount root filesystem dataset and boot partition:</p> zfs</span> mount</span> rpool/ROOT/</span>$</span>INST_OS</span></span> mkdir</span> -</span>p</span> $</span>INST_MNT</span>/boot/efi</span></span> mount</span> $</span>DISK_BOOT</span> $</span>INST_MNT</span>/boot/efi</span></span></code></pre> Important to not mount to boot partion to /boot as it would let u have a unbootable installation, the boot partion wont container kernel or anything you would just need it to contain zfsbootmenu</code></p> </blockquote> Create datasets to separate user data from root filesystem:</p> zfs</span> create</span> -</span>o</span> mountpoint=/</span> -</span>o</span> canmount=off</span> rpool/DATA/</span>$</span>INST_OS</span></span> </span> for</span> i</span> in</span> {</span>usr,var,var/lib}</span>;</span></span> do</span></span> zfs</span> create</span> -</span>o</span> canmount=off</span> rpool/DATA/</span>$</span>INST_OS</span>/</span>$</span>i</span></span> done</span></span> </span> for</span> i</span> in</span> {</span>home,root,srv,usr/local,var/log,var/spool,var/tmp}</span>;</span></span> do</span></span> zfs</span> create</span> -</span>o</span> canmount=on</span> rpool/DATA/</span>$</span>INST_OS</span>/</span>$</span>i</span></span> done</span></span> </span> chmod</span> 750</span> $</span>INST_MNT</span>/root</span></span> chmod</span> 1777</span> $</span>INST_MNT</span>/var/tmp</span></span></code></pre> Now you should be ending up with a structure something like this:</p> artix-live:[root]:/mnt#</span> zfs</span> list</span></span> NAME</span> USED</span> AVAIL</span> REFER</span> MOUNTPOINT</span></span> rpool</span> 4.02M</span> 37.8G</span> 192K</span> /mnt</span></span> rpool/DATA</span> 2.25M</span> 37.8G</span> 192K</span> none</span></span> rpool/DATA/artixlinux</span> 2.06M</span> 37.8G</span> 192K</span> /mnt</span></span> rpool/DATA/artixlinux/home</span> 192K</span> 37.8G</span> 192K</span> /mnt/home</span></span> rpool/DATA/artixlinux/root</span> 192K</span> 37.8G</span> 192K</span> /mnt/root</span></span> rpool/DATA/artixlinux/srv</span> 192K</span> 37.8G</span> 192K</span> /mnt/srv</span></span> rpool/DATA/artixlinux/usr</span> 384K</span> 37.8G</span> 192K</span> /mnt/usr</span></span> rpool/DATA/artixlinux/usr/local</span> 192K</span> 37.8G</span> 192K</span> /mnt/usr/local</span></span> rpool/DATA/artixlinux/var</span> 960K</span> 37.8G</span> 192K</span> /mnt/var</span></span> rpool/DATA/artixlinux/var/lib</span> 192K</span> 37.8G</span> 192K</span> /mnt/var/lib</span></span> rpool/DATA/artixlinux/var/log</span> 192K</span> 37.8G</span> 192K</span> /mnt/var/log</span></span> rpool/DATA/artixlinux/var/spool</span> 192K</span> 37.8G</span> 192K</span> /mnt/var/spool</span></span> rpool/DATA/artixlinux/var/tmp</span> 192K</span> 37.8G</span> 192K</span> /mnt/var/tmp</span></span> rpool/ROOT</span> 568K</span> 37.8G</span> 192K</span> none</span></span> rpool/ROOT/artixlinux</span> 376K</span> 37.8G</span> 376K</span> /mnt</span></span></code></pre>Package installation</h2> basestrap</span> $</span>INST_MNT</span> base</span> vim</span> grub</span> connman</span> connman-openrc</span> openrc</span> elogind-openrc</span></span></code></pre> Install kernel and zfs kernel module:</p> #</span> intel microcode is optional only install if your device support it</span></span> basestrap</span> $</span>INST_MNT</span> $</span>INST_LINVAR</span> $</span>INST_LINVAR</span>-headers</span> archzfs-dkms</span> sudo</span> efibootmgr</span> wget</span> intel-ucode</span></span> #</span> If your computer has hardware that requires firmware to run</span></span> basestrap</span> $</span>INST_MNT</span> linux-firmware</span> sof-firmware</span></span></code></pre> Copying our config over to the new OS:</p> cp</span> /etc/hostid</span> $</span>INST_MNT</span>/etc</span></span> </span> mkdir</span> $</span>INST_MNT</span>/etc/zfs</span> #</span> please ignore if you get prompted it already exists</span></span> #</span> Replace rpool with whatever your name is</span></span> cp</span> /etc/zfs/rpool.key</span> $</span>INST_MNT</span>/etc/zfs</span></span> </span> cp</span> /etc/pacman.conf</span> $</span>INST_MNT</span>/etc/pacman.conf</span></span> cp</span> /etc/resolv.conf</span> $</span>INST_MNT</span>/etc/resolv.conf</span></span> echo</span> $</span>INST_HOST</span> ></span> $</span>INST_MNT</span>/etc/hostname</span></span> </span> ln</span> -</span>sf</span> $</span>INST_TZ</span> $</span>INST_MNT</span>/etc/localtime</span></span> echo</span> "</span>en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8</span>"</span> >></span> $</span>INST_MNT</span>/etc/locale.gen</span></span> echo</span> "</span>LANG=en_US.UTF-8</span>"</span> >></span> $</span>INST_MNT</span>/etc/locale.conf</span></span></code></pre> Setup mount points</p> We dont need mounts of ZFS datatree’s and ZFS automatically handels them using zfs-magic</code></p> fstabgen</span> -</span>U</span> $</span>INST_MNT</span> |</span> grep</span> "</span>/boot/efi</span>"</span> >></span> $</span>INST_MNT</span>/etc/fstab</span></span></code></pre>Chrooting into our installation</h2> Chroot:</p> artix-chroot</span> $</span>INST_MNT</span></span></code></pre> Generate locales:</p> locale-gen</span></span></code></pre> Generate zpool.cache:</p> zpool</span> set</span> cachefile=/etc/zfs/zpool.cache</span> rpool</span></span></code></pre> Set the root password:</p> passwd</span></span></code></pre>Setting up Initramfs</h3> Edit your /etc/mkinitcpio.conf</code></p> and add these part</p> #</span> The rpool key is important to add</span></span> FILES</span>=</span>(</span>/</span>e</span>t</span>c</span>/</span>z</span>f</span>s</span>/</span>r</span>p</span>o</span>o</span>l</span>.</span>k</span>e</span>y</span> /</span>b</span>o</span>o</span>t</span>/</span>i</span>n</span>t</span>e</span>l</span>-</span>u</span>c</span>o</span>d</span>e</span>.</span>i</span>m</span>g</span>)</span></span> #</span> Remove fsck as zfs dont really need it and also it wont let kernel compile for some reasons</span></span> HOOKS</span>=</span>(</span>b</span>a</span>s</span>e</span> u</span>d</span>e</span>v</span> a</span>u</span>t</span>o</span>d</span>e</span>t</span>e</span>c</span>t</span> m</span>i</span>c</span>r</span>o</span>c</span>o</span>d</span>e</span> m</span>o</span>d</span>c</span>o</span>n</span>f</span> k</span>m</span>s</span> k</span>e</span>y</span>b</span>o</span>a</span>r</span>d</span> k</span>e</span>y</span>m</span>a</span>p</span> c</span>o</span>n</span>s</span>o</span>l</span>e</span>f</span>o</span>n</span>t</span> b</span>l</span>o</span>c</span>k</span> z</span>f</span>s</span> f</span>i</span>l</span>e</span>s</span>y</span>s</span>t</span>e</span>m</span>s</span>)</span></span></code></pre> zfs</code> should be before filesystems</code> in hooks else you would get rootfs error while booting up</p> </blockquote> Then regenrate the Initramfs</p> mkinitcpio</span> -</span>P</span></span></code></pre> Create a new user for yourself:</p> useradd</span> -</span>m</span> -</span>G</span> wheel</span> -</span>s</span> /bin/bash</span> trix</span></span> passwd</span> trix</span></span></code></pre> Then edit visudo file:</p> EDITOR</span>=</span>v</span>i</span>m</span> visudo</span></span></code></pre> and uncomment so your user can execute sudo commands:</p> %wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL</span></span></code></pre>Setting up ZFS services</h2> Clone the zfs-openrc repo and move the script where they need to be</p> git</span> clone</span> https://gitlab.com/aur3675443/zfs-openrc</span></span> cd</span> zfs-openrc</span></span> cp</span> zfs-</span></span> /etc/init.d/</span></span> chmod</span> +x</span> /etc/init.d/zfs-</span></span></span></code></pre> Then activate the service</p> rc-update</span> add</span> zfs-import</span> boot</span> #</span># (This is needed!)</span></span> rc-update</span> add</span> zfs-load-key</span> boot</span> #</span># (Only if you need it!)</span></span> rc-update</span> add</span> zfs-zed</span> boot</span> #</span># (This is needed!)</span></span> rc-update</span> add</span> zfs-mount</span> boot</span> #</span># (THIS IS IMPORTANT!! Otherwise the zpool(s) will be imported but not mounted!)</span></span></code></pre>Setting up Bootloader</h2> For our kind of setup ZFSBootMenu</a>(aka “ZBM”) is the perfect option. It is a pretty neat software which manages multiple aspects of ZFS boot environments and supports ZFS native encryption. It also supports directly booting into snapshots if things went wrong.</p> Setting up the ZFS boot command line</h3> zpool</span> set</span> bootfs=rpool/ROOT/artixlinux</span> rpool</span></span></code></pre> Assuming you have the setup identical as this guide.</p> Now setup boot commands</p> zfs</span> set</span> org.zfsbootmenu:commandline=</span>"</span>noresume init_on_alloc=0 rw spl.spl_hostid=</span>$(</span>hostid</span>)</span> video=1920x1080</span>"</span> rpool/ROOT</span></span></code></pre> video=1920x1080</code> flag should be according to whatever your screen size is.</p> Installing zfsbootmenu</h3> ZBM is also provided by AUR</a> but it is a dead simple EFI executable and I prefer to manage it outside the package manager.</p> mkdir</span> -</span>p</span> /boot/efi/EFI/zbm</span></span> wget</span> https://get.zfsbootmenu.org/latest.EFI</span> -</span>O</span> /boot/efi/EFI/zbm/zfsbootmenu.EFI</span></span></code></pre> Now setting up EFI menu to have entry of ZBM assuming disk</code> is sda (it should be disk not part and part</code> is 1 means the first partition edit it accordingly</p> efibootmgr</span> -</span>-disk</span> /dev/sda</span> -</span>-part</span> 1</span> -</span>-create</span> -</span>-label</span> "</span>ZFSBootMenu</span>"</span> -</span>-loader</span> '</span>\EFI\zbm\zfsbootmenu.EFI</span>'</span> -</span>-unicode</span> "</span>spl_hostid=</span>$(</span>hostid</span>)</span> zbm.timeout=3 zbm.prefer=rpool zbm.import_policy=hostid video=1920x1080</span>"</span> -</span>-verbose</span></span></code></pre>Exit and clean up</h2> exit</span></span> umount</span> /mnt/boot/efi</span></span> zpool</span> export</span> rpool</span></span> reboot</span></span></code></pre> And hopefully you would now boot into your brand new artix installation.</p> What’s Next?</h1> There are somethings i would like you to read about and setup on your own:</p> zrepl</code></a>: zrepl is a one-stop, integrated solution for ZFS replication. It would allow you to create snapshots automatically so you can backup anytime things went the wrong way. Here is my configuration</a></li> ConnMan</code></a>: a command-line network manager which would be your main networking utitlity in artix (its pretty easy)</li> Artix Wiki</code></a>: Great resource if you want to learn about anything related to Artix</li> zram</code></a>: Linux kernel module for creating a compressed block device in RAM, very useful while using ZFS</li> </ul> Conclusion</h1> The setup we just installed is pretty much GOATED in all aspect, you are getting a systemd free OS with Native encrypted root pool I mean what else do you want?</p> Here is what my setup looks like:</p> </p> Xmonad Setup</figcaption> </fig> If you have read about my Dev Setup</a> you know i was a wayland user and yep I switched to X11, the switch was unavoidable.</p> </p> ZFS list</figcaption> </fig> While all of them are on same pool only one of them is encrypted which is pretty amazing.</p> So thats it for today hope you learnt something new would love to hear about your setup See you in next Blog till then take care</p> Footnotes</h3> ZFS</a> ↩</a></p> </li> More about init systems</a> ↩</a></p> </li> If you see me becoming a hardcore FreeBSD user please blame him</a> ↩</a></p> </li> More about Luke Smith</a> ↩</a></p> </li> AES-256-GCM: The Gold Standard of Modern Encryption</a> ↩</a></p> </li> </ol> </section>