Steps to set up new linux machine:

network

# vim /etc/systemd/networkd/20-wired.network
...
# systemctl enable --now systemd-networkd
# systemctl enable --now systemd-resolved

sudo

# pacman -S sudo neovim
# EDITOR=nvim
# visudo

dotfiles

# pacman -S git openssh zsh python
# chsh -l /bin/zsh
# useradd -m -G wheel -s /bin/zsh h

log in as user

$ ssh-keygen

add ssh key to github

$ mkdir Git
$ cd Git
$ git clone git@github.com:jakkdl/dotfiles.git
$ cd dotfiles
$ git submodule init

add dotfiles

$ python apply_symlinks.py
$ ./fix_links.sh
$ sudo systemctl enable --now suspend_low_bat.timer

sway session save/restore

~/.local/bin/sway-session snapshots all workspaces (layout, programs, terminal cwds, nvim sessions, per-terminal history) and restores them on next login. Wired through the sway config plus one system unit:

• saved before every suspend via swayidle's before-sleep (covers idle, low-battery and manual suspend), and on sway exit via $mod+Ctrl+Shift+q;
• saved on poweroff/reboot by sway-session-save.service's ExecStop; session-.scope.d/sway-session-save.conf orders every login session scope before it, so it stops (and saves) while sway is still running. Enable once: sudo systemctl enable --now sway-session-save.service;
• restored once per login via exec sway-session-restore in the sway config;
• per-terminal history is captured by a zshaddhistory hook in .zshrc.

Snapshots are kept (last 10) under $XDG_STATE_HOME/sway-session/states/. Manual use: sway-session list, sway-session restore [<timestamp>|N] --force. Logs in $XDG_STATE_HOME/sway-session/{save,restore}.log.

install stuff

$ sudo pacman -S sway swaylock swayidle polkit waybar wofi xdg-desktop-portal-wlr python-i3ipc mako swaybg
$ sudo pacman -S python-pipx
$ yay -S python-togglcli
$ sudo pacman -S foot firefox
$ sudo pacman -S starship ttf-firacode-nerd
$ sudo pacman -S sheldon
$ sudo pacman -S moreutils  # ts
$ sudo pacman -S swaync  # notifications
$ sudo pacman -S pacman-contrib  # paccache, pacman hook
$ sudo pacman -S acpi # suspend-low-bat hook
$ sudo pacman -S tree-sitter-cli # neovim plugin dep
$ sudo pacman -S sway-contrib # grimshot

earlyoom

$ sudo pacman -S earlyoom systembus-notify
$ sudo systemctl enable --now earlyoom

wireless

$ sudo pacman -S iwd
$ sudo systemctl enable --now iwd

fonts for waybar

pipewire

$ sudo pacman -s pipewire pipewire-pules wireplumber pipewire-audio pipewire-alsa pipewire-jack

fix zplug

yay

$ cd ~/Git
$ sudo pacman -S --needed base-devel
$ git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git
$ cd yay
$ makepkg -si

or

$ cd ~/Git
$ sudo pacman -S --needed base-devel devtools
$ mkdir ~/Chroot
$ mkarchroot ~/Chroot/root base-devel
$ arch-nspawn ~/Chroot/root pacman -Syu
$ makechrootpkg -c -r ~/Chroot
$ pacman -U yay-[version].pkg.tar.zst

install AUR stuff

...

moar stuff

install wl-clipboard xdg-utils: for content type inference in wl-copy (?)

expect - for unbuffer, for man alias

sudo pacman -S xdg-utils # xdg-open, content type inference in wl-copy
sudo pacman -S brightnessctl

noto-fonts-emoji (emoji picker, etc) otf-font-awesome (waybar icons)

dark-mode switching sudo pacman -S xdg-desktop-portal-gtk

create screenshot dir. Should maybe be somewhere

mkdir ~/Media/pictures/screenshot

DNS

systemd-resolved requires symlinking /etc/resolv.conf for applications that have it hard-coded (e.g. go)

sudo ln -sf ../run/systemd/resolve/stub-resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf

LLM

sudo pacman -S libnotify jq

catching a hung shutdown

If shutdown sits on the console printing task X blocked for more than N seconds, the name in that line is the culprit but the kernel log dies with the machine. Two files make it recoverable: /etc/default/grub.d/pstore.cfg turns on EFI pstore and /etc/sysctl.d/90-sysrq.conf enables the SysRq dump and reboot keys. After apply_symlinks.py:

$ sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
$ sudo systemctl enable systemd-pstore.service
$ sudo sysctl --system

At the next hang press Alt+SysRq+w (dump blocked tasks with stack traces), then Alt+SysRq+c (panic, which saves the log to EFI variables and reboots). The log is under /var/lib/systemd/pstore/ after boot. Alt+SysRq+s, u, b is the sync, remount read-only, reboot sequence when you just want out.