wiki.archlinux.org System Maintenance

wiki.archlinux.org System_maintenance Upgrading the system

Read before upgrading the system

Before upgrading, users are expected to visit the Arch Linux home page to check the latest news, or alternatively subscribe to the RSS feed, arch-announce mailing list, or follow @archlinux on Twitter. When updates require out-of-the-ordinary user intervention (more than what can be handled simply by following the instructions given by pacman), an appropriate news post will be made.

Before upgrading fundamental software (such as the kernel, xorg, systemd, or glibc) to a new version, look over the appropriate forum to see if there have been any reported problems.

Users must equally be aware that upgrading packages can raise unexpected problems that could need immediate intervention; therefore, it is discouraged to upgrade a stable system shortly before it is required for carrying out an important task. It is wise to wait instead to have enough time in order to be able to deal with possible post-upgrade issues.

pacman

wiki.archlinux.org pacman

wiki.archlinux.org pacman/Tips and tricks

is gThumb installed?

wiki.archlinux.org List of installed packages

pacman -Qqe > pkglist.txt

VirtualBox Guest

wiki.archlinux.org Enable shared folders

Get version of virtualbox guest additions

        $ pacman -Qe |grep virtualbox
        virtualbox-guest-modules-arch 5.2.20-1
        virtualbox-guest-utils 5.2.20-1
        

Manual mount of shared folder

        sudo mount -t vboxsf craig /mnt/craig
        sudo mount -t vboxsf r1 /mnt/r1
        

Virtualbox Automounting

Note: Automounting requires the vboxservice.service to be enabled/started.

In order for the automounting feature to work you must have checked the auto-mount checkbox in the GUI or used the optional –automount argument with the command VBoxManage sharedfolder.

The shared folder should now appear in /media/sharename. If users in media cannot access the shared folders, check that media has permissions 755 or has group ownership vboxsf if using permission 750. This is currently not the default if media is created by installing virtualbox-guest-utils.

You can use symlinks if you want to have a more convenient access and avoid to browse in that directory, e.g.:

$ ln -s /media/sharename ~/mysharename

        sudo systemctl status vboxservice.service
        sudo systemctl enable --now vboxservice.service
        
        add craig to group media
        sudo groupadd media
        sudo usermod -aG media craig
        sudo sudo usermod -a -G vboxsf craig
        

Backups

github.com/teejee2008 Timeshift

aur.archlinux.org/packages timeshift

Timeshift for Linux is an application that provides functionality similar to the System Restore feature in Windows and the Time Machine tool in Mac OS. Timeshift protects your system by taking incremental snapshots of the file system at regular intervals. These snapshots can be restored at a later date to undo all changes to the system.

In RSYNC mode, snapshots are taken using rsync and hard-links. Common files are shared between snapshots which saves disk space. Each snapshot is a full system backup that can be browsed with a file manager.

Timeshift is similar to applications like rsnapshot, BackInTime and TimeVault but with different goals. It is designed to protect only system files and settings. User files such as documents, pictures and music are excluded. This ensures that your files remains unchanged when you restore your system to an earlier date. If you need a tool to backup your documents and files please take a look at the excellent BackInTime application which is more configurable and provides options for saving user files.

github.com/bit-team BackInTime application

aur.archlinux.org/packages backintime

itsfoss.com Best Themes For Arch Linux, Antergos, Apricity OS And Manjaro

deviantart.com/me4oslav Numix-Circle Linux Desktop Icon Theme by me4oslav

https://www.deviantart.com/users/outgoing?https://github.com/numixproject/numix-icon-theme-circle/issues/2430

        conflicting files:
        numix-circle-icon-theme-git: /usr/share/icons/Numix-Circle/icon-theme.cache already exists in filesystem
        

aur.archlinux.org Package Details: numix-circle-icon-theme-git 0.r35.cf7cb7c-1

        erikdubois commented on 2019-01-08 20:52
        Delete the obstructing cache file
        sudo rm /usr/share/icons/Numix-Circle/icon-theme.cache
        

Mate

wiki.archlinux.org Mate

The MATE Desktop Environment is the continuation of GNOME 2. It provides an intuitive and attractive desktop environment using traditional metaphors for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. MATE is under active development to add support for new technologies while preserving a traditional desktop experience.

AUR helpers

github.com/Jguer Yet another Yogurt - An AUR Helper written in Go

Installation

If you are migrating from another AUR helper, you can simply install Yay with that helper.

Alternatively, the initial installation of Yay can be done by cloning the PKGBUILD and building with makepkg:

        git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git
        cd yay
        makepkg -si
        

computingforgeeks.com yay – Best AUR Helper for Arch Linux / Manjaro

ostechnix.com/ Yay – Yet Another Reliable AUR Helper Written In GO

        yay -Syu
        yay -Pu
        

youtube videos on install

Average Linux User youtube Arch Linux UEFI step-by-step installation guide

        16m 40s - grub
        18m 50s - grub config file
        

Average Linux User Installing Arch Linux in less than 10 minutes

ufoludek youtube [NEW - 2019] Installation Guide - Arch Linux (UEFI & systemd-boot)

eznix youtube Arch Linux Install - EFI UEFI System - Base MetaPackage - LXQt

Web links

Shasten Marshall youtube I Changed My Mind, I'm using Mate On My Arch Respin Instead Of XFCE4. Find Out Why!!

Removable Storage

archlinux.org/packages udisks2

wiki.archlinux.org udisks

udisks provides a daemon udisksd, that implements D-Bus interfaces used to query and manipulate storage devices, and a command-line tool udisksctl, used to query and use the daemon.

There are two versions of udisks called udisksAUR and udisks2. Development of udisks has ceased in favor of udisks2. [1]

udisksd(8) (for udisks2) and udisks-daemon (for udisks) are started on-demand by D-Bus, and should not be enabled explicitly.

udevil — Includes devmon, which is compatible to udisks and udisks2.

Note: devmon only uses udisks or udisks2 for mounting (in this order) if udevil or pmount miss the SUID permission. To remove this permission, run chmod -s /usr/bin/udevil as root.

archlinux.org/packages udevil

        udevil 0.4.4-3
        Architecture:	x86_64
        Repository:	Community
        Description:	Mount and unmount without password
        Upstream URL:	http://ignorantguru.github.com/udevil/
        License(s):	GPL3
        Provides:	devmon
        

Printing

        pacman -Syy cups cups-pdf gutenprint foomatic-db-gutenprint-ppds
        
        systemctl start/enable org.cups.cupsd.service
        
        gimp-print driver escp2-et2550
        usr/share/cups/model/gutenprint/5.3/Global/stp-escp2-et2550.5.3.sim.ppd.gz
        

wiki.archlinux.org Cups

CUPS is the standards-based, open source printing system developed by Apple Inc. for macOS® and other UNIX®-like operating systems.

The Linux Foundation’s OpenPrinting workgroup provides cups-filters. Those are backends, filters, and other binaries that were once part of CUPS but are no longer maintained by Apple. They are available in the cups-filters package that is a dependency of cups.

wiki.archlinux.org Cups Installation

Install the cups package.

If you intend to “print” into a PDF document, also install the cups-pdf package. By default, pdf files are stored in /var/spool/cups-pdf/username/. The location can be changed in /etc/cups/cups-pdf.conf.

Enable and start org.cups.cupsd.service.

wiki.archlinux.org CUPS#Gutenprint

Gutenprint The Gutenprint project provides drivers for Canon, Epson, Lexmark, Sony, Olympus, and PCL printers for use with CUPS and GIMP.

Install gutenprint and foomatic-db-gutenprint-ppds.

Note: When the Gutenprint packages get updated, the printers using Gutenprint drivers will stop working until you run cups-genppdupdate as root and restart CUPS. cups-genppdupdate will update the PPD files of the configured printers, see cups-genppdupdate(8) for more details.

gimp-print.sourceforge.net p_Supported_Printers.php

        Epson Expression ET-2550 EcoTank	escp2-et2550