robertkirkman/README.md

## README.md

      
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    How to install an Arch Linux ARM emulator

Prerequisites:

A PC with a Linux distribution - Arch Linux amd64 used here

Dependencies (for Arch Linux amd64):

edk2-armvirt
qemu-arch-extra
wget
gvim
openssh


Download the Arch Linux ARM generic tarball and create an image, replacing 60G with your desired maximum size.

$ wget http://os.archlinuxarm.org/os/ArchLinuxARM-aarch64-latest.tar.gz
$ qemu-img create -f qcow2 archlinuxarm.qcow2 60G


Become root, connect the image to nbd and partition it with fdisk.

$ sudo su
# modprobe nbd
# qemu-nbd --connect=/dev/nbd0 archlinuxarm.qcow2
# fdisk /dev/nbd0


then g (to create a new GPT partition table)
then n (to create a new partition), then Enter twice, then +400M and Enter
then t (to change the type), then 1 for EFI System Partition
then n and Enter three times, then w to write changes and exit


Format the partitions of the image, mount them, and extract the Arch Linux ARM tarball to them.

# mkfs.vfat /dev/nbd0p1
# mkfs.ext4 /dev/nbd0p2
# mkdir rootfs
# mount /dev/nbd0p2 rootfs
# mkdir rootfs/boot
# mount /dev/nbd0p1 rootfs/boot 
# bsdtar -xpf ArchLinuxARM-aarch64-latest.tar.gz -C rootfs


Edit fstab.


You will need both partitions' UUIDs - the UUID of the vfat partition in /dev/nbd0p1 looks like UUID="XXXX-XXXX" and the UUID of the ext4 partition in /dev/nbd0p2 looks like UUID="XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX":

# blkid


Then, edit rootfs/etc/fstab:

# vim rootfs/etc/fstab


Paste the following, replacing each instance of X with the corresponding digit of the UUID of the corresponding partition, /dev/nbd0p1 and /dev/nbd0p2 respectively, then save the file:

/dev/disk/by-uuid/XXXX-XXXX                            /boot vfat defaults 0 0
/dev/disk/by-uuid/XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX /     ext4 defaults 0 0


Create startup.nsh, which is read by the UEFI firmware to initially boot.


Edit rootfs/boot/startup.nsh:

# vim rootfs/boot/startup.nsh


Paste the following, replacing each instance of X with the corresponding digit of the UUID of the /dev/nbd0p2 partition, then save the file:

Image root=UUID=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX rw initrd=\initramfs-linux.img


Unmount the partitions, sync, disconnect the image from nbd, and exit the root shell.

# umount -R rootfs
# sync
# qemu-nbd --disconnect /dev/nbd0
# rmmod nbd
# exit


Create flash images for the UEFI firmware and variables:

$ truncate -s 64M flash0.img
$ truncate -s 64M flash1.img
$ dd if=/usr/share/edk2-armvirt/aarch64/QEMU_CODE.fd of=flash0.img conv=notrunc


Launch QEMU, removing or adding anything you see fit.

$ qemu-system-aarch64 -M virt -m 8192 -cpu cortex-a72 -smp 8 \
      -drive if=pflash,media=disk,format=raw,cache=writethrough,file=flash0.img \
      -drive if=pflash,media=disk,format=raw,cache=writethrough,file=flash1.img \
      -drive if=none,file=archlinuxarm.qcow2,format=qcow2,id=hd0 \
      -device virtio-scsi-pci,id=scsi0 \
      -device scsi-hd,bus=scsi0.0,drive=hd0,bootindex=1 \
      -nic user,model=virtio-net-pci,hostfwd=tcp::2222-:22 \
      -monitor none -display none -vga none


Upon successful first boot, initialize Arch Linux ARM and install a new bootloader.


Log in as alarm, password alarm:

$ ssh -p 2222 alarm@localhost


Become root, password root:

$ su


Initialize the pacman keyring, update the system and install efibootmgr, replacing each instance of X with the corresponding digit of the UUID of the /dev/nbd0p2 partition from earlier (which is now /dev/sda2), then shut down:

# pacman-key --init
# pacman-key --populate archlinuxarm
# pacman -Syu
# pacman -S efibootmgr
# efibootmgr --disk /dev/sda --part 1 --create --label "Arch Linux ARM" --loader /Image --verbose \
      --unicode 'root=UUID=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX rw initrd=\initramfs-linux.img'
# poweroff


Launch QEMU again, exactly as in step 8.

$ qemu-system-aarch64 -M virt -m 8192 -cpu cortex-a72 -smp 8 \
      -drive if=pflash,media=disk,format=raw,cache=writethrough,file=flash0.img \
      -drive if=pflash,media=disk,format=raw,cache=writethrough,file=flash1.img \
      -drive if=none,file=archlinuxarm.qcow2,format=qcow2,id=hd0 \
      -device virtio-scsi-pci,id=scsi0 \
      -device scsi-hd,bus=scsi0.0,drive=hd0,bootindex=1 \
      -nic user,model=virtio-net-pci,hostfwd=tcp::2222-:22 \
      -monitor none -display none -vga none


Proceed with configuring Arch Linux ARM as normal (time, locales, users, software, configuration), using the Arch Linux Wiki as a guide.