euri-iso/docs/overlay-live.md

title, layout, parent, nav_order

title	layout	parent	nav_order
Live Overlay	default	Overlays	2

Live Overlay

Files in iso-profiles/antergos/live-overlay/ exist only in the live environment — they are not present after installation.

Contents

live-overlay/
├── etc/
│   ├── calamares/
│   │   └── settings.conf           # Replaced at runtime by online config
│   ├── calamares-online/
│   │   ├── settings.conf           # Online install config (two packagechooser instances)
│   │   └── modules/
│   │       ├── packagechooser_de.conf         # Desktop environment selector
│   │       ├── packagechooser_dm.conf         # Display manager selector
│   │       ├── initcpiocfg.conf
│   │       ├── initcpio.conf
│   │       ├── locale.conf
│   │       ├── mount.conf
│   │       ├── partition.conf
│   │       ├── umount.conf
│   │       ├── users.conf
│   │       └── welcome.conf
│   └── sddm.conf.d/
│       └── kde_settings.conf       # SDDM autologin + Wayland session
└── usr/
    └── share/
        └── applications/
            ├── calamares.desktop               # Branded launcher
            └── calamares-config-switcher.desktop  # Hidden (NoDisplay=true)

Key files

etc/calamares/settings.conf

Placeholder — replaced at runtime by calamares-next.sh which copies the online settings file.

etc/calamares-online/settings.conf

Defines two packagechooser instances:

• packagechooser@de — desktop environment selector using method: netinstall-add. Writes the selected DE's package group to the netinstallAdd global storage key. The DE group is dynamically appended to the netinstall tree when the netinstall module loads.
• packagechooser@dm — display manager selector using method: netinstall-select. Marks the chosen DM group as checked in the netinstall tree.

The modules-search: [ local ] directive resolves module configs from the same directory as the settings file (/etc/calamares/modules/).

etc/calamares/modules/ vs etc/calamares-online/modules/

• calamares/modules/ — active module configs at runtime. The settings file resolves modules from this directory after being copied to /etc/calamares/.
• calamares-online/modules/ — reference copies and additional modules (e.g. partition.conf, mount.conf) that are used during the online install flow. These are not loaded directly but serve as the source of truth for the install sequence.

etc/calamares/modules/basestrap.conf

Controls package installation during bootstrapping. The operations list includes packages that must be installed with --overwrite. This is where antergos-release is listed to ensure it overwrites /usr/lib/os-release from the filesystem package.

etc/calamares-online/modules/*.conf

Additional modules required for the online install flow:

File	Purpose
initcpio.conf	mkinitcpio generation
initcpiocfg.conf	mkinitcpio configuration
locale.conf	Locale and timezone
mount.conf	Filesystem mounting
partition.conf	Disk partitioning
umount.conf	Unmounting
users.conf	User creation
welcome.conf	Welcome page

usr/share/applications/calamares-config-switcher.desktop

Has NoDisplay=true to hide it from the app menu. The upstream Artix "Install Artix Linux" entry is suppressed this way while keeping the binary available.

Module configs removed

The following files were removed during the transition away from the init system selector:

• packagechooser.conf — the old init system selector (dinit/openrc/runit/s6). Replaced by packagechooser_de.conf (DE selector).
• images/ — SVG icons for init systems (dinit.svg, openrc.svg, runit.svg, s6.svg). No longer needed.

These changes were made in the v2026.07.24 release cycle.

DE selector package lists

The two copies of packagechooser_de.conf differ in their package granularity:

• calamares/modules/packagechooser_de.conf — explicit package lists (e.g. all 44 Plasma packages listed individually). Users see the full list in the netinstall refinement step.
• calamares-online/modules/packagechooser_de.conf — meta/group packages (e.g. plasma, xfce4, mate). Simpler but less granular for refinement.

Both use the same DE IDs and method: netinstall-add. The active copy at runtime is the one in calamares/modules/.