Arch Linux Tips & Tricks

arch-tricks.md

Required Packages

sudo pacman -S xdelta3 ccache axel

pacman.conf

sudo cp /etc/pacman.conf /etc/pacman.conf.backup
sudo nano /etc/pacman.conf

Search & replace:

XferCommand = /usr/bin/axel -n 2 -v -a -o %o %u

• Uses axel instead of curl for faster downloads.

UseDelta = 0.75

• Use Binary Deltas for packages for faster downloads.

# Misc options
#UseSyslog
Color
TotalDownload
CheckSpace
VerbosePkgLists

• Use color on the terminal, display download totals, check free space before download.

makepkg.conf

sudo cp /etc/makepkg.conf /etc/makepkg.conf.backup
sudo nano /etc/makepkg.conf

Search & replace:

DLAGENTS=('ftp::/usr/bin/curl -fC - --ftp-pasv --retry 3 --retry-delay 3 -o %o %u'
          'http::/usr/bin/axel -n 2 -v -a -o %o %u'
          'https::/usr/bin/axel -n 2 -v -a -o %o %u'
          'rsync::/usr/bin/rsync --no-motd -z %u %o'
          'scp::/usr/bin/scp -C %u %o')

• Uses axel instead of curl for faster downloads.

MAKEFLAGS="-j$(nproc)"
COMPRESSGZ=(gzip -c -f -n -p)
COMPRESSBZ2=(bzip2 -c -f -p$(nproc))
COMPRESSXZ=(xz -c -z - --threads=$(nproc))
COMPRESSLRZ=(lrzip -q --threads=$(nproc))

• Uses Multi-Threading for Compression tools for faster installs.

BUILDENV=(!distcc color ccache check !sign)

• Use ccache for faster installs/compilations.

CFLAGS="-march=native -mtune=native -O2 -pipe -fstack-protector-strong"
CXXFLAGS="-march=native -mtune=native -O2 -pipe -fstack-protector-strong"

• Make compilers optimize compiled binaries for your CPU for faster executables.

journald.conf

Clean out, Delete old unused rotated Logs, leaving the most recent last one:

sudo journalctl --vacuum-files=1

Disable Logging logs to disk:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/journald.conf

Edit it like:

[Journal]
Storage=none

Delete old packages:

sudo pacman -Scc

• Delete old Pacman package Caches, you can reply y to all questions.

sudo pacman -R libgo

• If you installed/compiled a Go lang app, it leaves you a 50~90Mb lib on GCC folders, only used to develop on Go, if you are not a go lang developer you can just delete it.

/etc/hosts

sudo cp /etc/hosts /etc/hosts.backup
sudo nano /etc/hosts

Add on the bottom:

# ADS
127.0.0.1 adclick.g.doublecklick.net
127.0.0.1 googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 open.spotify.com
127.0.0.1 pagead2.googlesyndication.com
127.0.0.1 desktop.spotify.com
127.0.0.1 googleads.g.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 pubads.g.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 audio2.spotify.com
127.0.0.1 spclient.wg.spotify.com
127.0.0.1 securepubads.g.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 static.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.net

• Block Ads, make Spotify dont play/display Ads.

Optional Packages

sudo pacman -S kalu

• Tiny trayicon with Arch updates, news, alerts, etc https://jjacky.com/kalu

Skip nvidia upgrades to avoid video breakage

Add to bottom of /etc/pacman.conf:

[options]
IgnorePkg = lib32-nvidia-utils libvdpau libxnvctrl nvidia nvidia-dkms nvidia-settings nvidia-utils opencl-nvidia xf86-video-amdgpu

sudo service rsyslog stop
sudo service atd stop
sudo service lxcfs stop
sudo service snapd stop
sudo service chronyd stop
sudo service unattended-upgrades stop
sudo service lvm2-lvmetad stop