a shell script to be run on a linux box that burns a raspberry Pi flavour Arch Linux install to an SD card (or other media)

burn_arch.sh

#!/bin/sh

###################
# Author: Lui Crowie (crowz-fx // crowzfx.co.uk)
#
# Requirements;
#      1. sudo apt-get install bsdtar // tar should work fine, just modify line 98
#      2. You know how to use lsblk to get your device identifier i.e. /dev/sdb
# #################

###################
# Pre-reqs and checks
###################
printUsage() {
    echo "Usage: burn_arch.sh {drive identifier i.e. b} {raspberry pi version i.e. 4}"
    echo ""
    echo "Example:"
    echo "         burn_arch.sh b 3"
    echo ""
}

if [ -z "$1" ]; then
    printUsage
    exit 1
fi

if [ -z "$2" ]; then
    printUsage
    exit 1
fi

echo "PRE-REQ; Ignore if the following two lines fails..."
sudo umount /dev/sd${1}1
sudo umount /dev/sd${1}2
echo "PRE-REQ; Wiping disk..."
sudo sfdisk --delete /dev/sd${1}
partprobe
sleep 3
partprobe
sync
echo "PRE-REQ; Disk passed in has been erased!"

# setup folders
folder_to_use="/tmp/arch_install"
sudo rm -rf ${folder_to_use}
mkdir -p ${folder_to_use}
cd ${folder_to_use}
echo "PRE-REQ; In folder --> ${folder_to_use}"
echo "### Pre-reqs done!"


###################
# Information print out of system and script
###################
echo ""
echo "     Date Executed: ["$(date)"]"
echo ""
echo ""
echo "     Burning Arch Linux to SD CARD: [/dev/sd${1}]..."
echo ""
echo "     PI board architecture version: [${2}]..."
echo ""
echo ""


###################
# Burn partions to the device
###################
echo "start=        2048, size=      204800, type=c"  | sudo sfdisk /dev/sd${1}
partprobe
sleep 3
partprobe
sync
# no size denoted here as want to use the maximum the disk allows
# also -a is to append and not wipe out the above partion we just created
echo "start=      206848, type=83"                    | sudo sfdisk -a /dev/sd${1}
partprobe
sleep 3
partprobe
sync
echo "### Created partions!"


###################
# Mount volumes and explode tar into it
###################
sudo mkfs.vfat /dev/sd${1}1
mkdir boot
sudo mount /dev/sd${1}1 boot
echo "### boot volume mounted!"

yes | sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sd${1}2
mkdir root
sudo mount /dev/sd${1}2 root
echo "### root volume mounted!"

wget http://os.archlinuxarm.org/os/ArchLinuxARM-rpi-${2}-latest.tar.gz
sudo bsdtar -xpf ArchLinuxARM-rpi-${2}-latest.tar.gz -C root
echo "### Exploded the tar archive "

sync
sudo mv root/boot/* boot
sudo umount boot root
echo "### Final boot files moved, synced and unmounted!"