euri-iso/docs/installer.md

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Calamares Installer

Antergos NeXT uses Calamares as its installer, with a custom launcher (calamares-next) that launches Calamares directly in online mode.

Install mode

Online-only (since v2026.07.16). The so-called "Offline Install" was removed — it was never truly offline: the rootfs only contained live session essentials, and all DE packages were still downloaded via basestrap. All installs now use the full netinstall flow with desktop selection.

Fixed issues

Audio on installed systems

The upstream artix-pipewire-launcher doesn't support dinit. The XDG autostart entry was also missing from the upstream package.

Fix: The pipewire package in [antergos-pkgs] now includes pipewire.desktop installed to /etc/xdg/autostart/, and the artix-pipewire-launcher script is patched to recognize dinit (dinit|runit|s6) SUPPORT='YES').

SDDM theme showing Breeze

KDE's SDDM KCM writes a kde_settings.conf with Current=breeze. The Antergos theme never took effect in the live session.

Fix: The antergos-sddm-theme package now ships theme.conf at /etc/sddm.conf.d/theme.conf with Current=antergos. SDDM reads conf.d files alphabetically, so theme.conf (reads after kde_settings.conf) wins.

/usr/lib/os-release showing "Artix Linux"

The filesystem package from Artix owns /usr/lib/os-release. Our antergos-release also needs to install there, but it wasn't included in the basestrap operations list.

Fix: Added antergos-release to the operations list in basestrap.conf so it's installed during bootstrapping with --overwrite.

Key differences from upstream Calamares

• dracut/dracutlukscfg replaced with initcpiocfg/initcpio/luksopenswaphookcfg (Artix uses mkinitcpio, not dracut)
• services-artix module instead of services-systemd (uses artix-service which detects init and runs the right commands)
• removeuser step removed, postcfg added
• packagechooser module compiled in (upstream Calamares skips it by default)

Init system

Antergos NeXT ships Dinit only. Other init systems (OpenRC, Runit, S6) are available in the Artix repos but are not offered as install-time options. See Changing init on an installed system for instructions if you need a different init.

Desktop selector (online)

Users choose from: Plasma, Xfce, Cinnamon, MATE, LXQt, i3, Sway, Hyprland, COSMIC, or No Desktop.

Implemented as a separate packagechooser instance with method: legacy. "No Desktop" installs only the base system (TTY/login — no DE, no display manager).

Available desktops

Desktop	Artix Repo	Group/Packages	Notes
Plasma	world	plasma group	Default. Wayland + X11. Includes Discover
Xfce	galaxy	xfce4 group
Cinnamon	galaxy	Individual packages
MATE	galaxy	mate + mate-extra
LXQt	galaxy	lxqt group
i3	world	i3 group	Tiling WM
Sway	world	sway + related	Wayland-native tiling
Hyprland	world	hyprland	Wayland compositor
COSMIC	galaxy	cosmic group	Rust/Wayland. Uses greetd. Alpha quality

Not available

• Budgie — not in any Artix repo (system, world, galaxy, lib32). Slideshow entries removed.
• GNOME — dropped non-systemd support upstream. "You really think you can get GNOME here?"

Branding

Custom branding lives in the calamares-branding-antergos-next package, installed to /etc/calamares/branding/default/. The componentName in branding.desc must match its directory name — this is enforced by Calamares (see Branding.cpp).

GRUB configuration

The installation sequence runs grubcfg before bootloader. The grubcfg module writes /etc/default/grub on the target system; the bootloader module then runs grub-install and grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg.

The Artix grub package ships its own default /etc/default/grub. Because this file exists on the target at module runtime, the module's defaults block is only applied when overwrite is set to true. The grubcfg.conf at live-overlay/etc/calamares/modules/grubcfg.conf therefore sets overwrite: true to ensure GRUB_THEME, GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT, and GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR are written.

GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT must be "gfxterm" for the GRUB theme to render; "console" disables graphical output and prevents theme loading.

Bootloader target detection

The bootloader module auto-detects the GRUB target architecture using the system's EFI bitness and CPU type. For UEFI x86_64, it installs with --target=x86_64-efi. For Legacy BIOS boots, it falls back to --target=i386-pc. There is no configuration key to override this — a system booted in BIOS mode will always receive an i386-pc bootloader.

Launcher

The calamares-next script (/usr/bin/calamares-next) handles the installer boot flow:

1. Notice — explains why the offline mode was removed
2. Welcome — branded splash with Install button
3. Configuration — copies calamares-online/settings.conf to /etc/calamares/settings.conf
4. Launch — runs calamares with the online config

During installation, the launcher monitors pacman activity and saves the package installation log to ~/pacman-install.log. No terminal windows are opened to display progress.

Launched via the desktop entry in the live session: Exec=sudo -E calamares-next.