Instructions to replace a live Debian installation with Arch

replace-debian-with-arch.txt

# I am using this to install arch on an ionos vps
# manjaro doesn't work beause it uses the manjaro config
# The debian iso doesn't have apt nor ssh.  I need ssh because I can't paste in their web kvm. 
# Using the ubuntu iso, use the help menu, enter shell

# In the kvm console, manually type the following: 
useradd -m john
passwd
passwd john

# Then run stage1.sh on your localmachine
# Of course vps needs to be set in your .ssh/config 
# and either set $password, replace it, or remove sshpass and manually type it

# Running this stage2.sh will wipe out all data on /dev/sda

stage1.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash

# Now ssh into the vps
sshpass -p $password ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub vps  # for some reason it wants to send my dsa key
scp stage2.sh vps:
ssh vps chmod +x stage2.sh
ssh vps su - -s /bin/bash -c "/home/john/stage2.sh"

stage2.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash

# Allows you to download the same file from multiple sites.  Faster download.
apt -y install aria2

# Grab and prepare chroot to install from
aria2c http://mirror.arizona.edu/archlinux/iso/latest/archlinux-bootstrap-x86_64.tar.gz http://dfw.mirror.rackspace.com/archlinux/iso/latest/archlinux-bootstrap-x86_64.tar.gz http://mirrors.xmission.com/archlinux/iso/latest/archlinux-bootstrap-x86_64.tar.gz http://iad.mirror.rackspace.com/archlinux/iso/latest/archlinux-bootstrap-x86_64.tar.gz http://repo.miserver.it.umich.edu/archlinux/iso/latest/archlinux-bootstrap-x86_64.tar.gz http://mirror.math.princeton.edu/pub/archlinux/iso/latest/archlinux-bootstrap-x86_64.tar.gz
mount -t tmpfs none /mnt
cd /mnt
tar xf ~/archlinux-bootstrap-x86_64.tar.gz --strip-components=1
cp /etc/resolv.conf etc

# Configure pacman
sed -i "s/#ParallelDownloads = 5/ParallelDownloads = 10/" /mnt/etc/pacman.conf
sed -i "s/#Color/Color/" /mnt/etc/pacman.conf

cat <<EOF > etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
Server = http://mirrors.xmission.com/archlinux/\$repo/os/\$arch
Server = http://mirrors.rutgers.edu/archlinux/\$repo/os/\$arch
Server = http://dfw.mirror.rackspace.com/archlinux/\$repo/os/\$arch
Server = http://iad.mirror.rackspace.com/archlinux/\$repo/os/\$arch
Server = http://ord.mirror.rackspace.com/archlinux/\$repo/os/\$arch
Server = http://mirrors.ocf.berkeley.edu/archlinux/\$repo/os/\$arch
Server = http://mirrors.mit.edu/archlinux/\$repo/os/\$arch
Server = http://mirrors.kernel.org/archlinux/\$repo/os/\$arch
Server = http://mirrors.gigenet.com/archlinux/\$repo/os/\$arch
Server = https://america.mirror.pkgbuild.com/\$repo/os/\$arch
Server = http://mirror.arizona.edu/archlinux/\$repo/os/\$arch
Server = http://distro.ibiblio.org/archlinux/\$repo/os/\$arch
Server = https://arch.mirror.constant.com/\$repo/os/\$arch
EOF

# Prepare drive
# TODO: might need sfdisk here incase the table is lost... like today
mkswap /dev/sda1
swapon /dev/sda1
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/mnt

# Install arch
usr/bin/arch-chroot . -c /bin/bash -c "
  pacman-key --init
  pacman-key --populate archlinux
  usr/bin/pacstrap /mnt base openssh grub neovim linux linux-headers networkmanager git base-devel
  genfstab /mnt > /mnt/etc/fstab
"

# Configure pacman
sed -i "s/#ParallelDownloads = 5/ParallelDownloads = 10/" ./mnt/etc/pacman.conf
sed -i "s/#Color/Color/" ./mnt/etc/pacman.conf

# Basic setup
echo vps > ./mnt/etc/hostname
echo "LANG=en_US.UTF-8" > ./mnt/etc/locale.conf
echo "john ALL=(ALL:ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL" > ./mnt/etc/sudoers.d/john
sed -i "s/#en_US.UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8/" ./mnt/etc/locale.gen
mkdir -p ./mnt/boot/grub

usr/bin/arch-chroot ./mnt -c /bin/bash -c "
  ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Boise /etc/localtime
  locale-gen
  useradd -m john
  # Not using passwords so they wont be set
  
  grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
  grub-install /dev/sda
  systemctl enable sshd NetworkManager

  # Install paru
  su - john -s /bin/bash -c '
    git clone --depth=1 https://aur.archlinux.org/paru-bin.git
    cd paru-bin
    makepkg --needed --noconfirm -si
    cd ..
    rm -rf paru-bin
  '
"

# Copy .ssh/authorized_keys so I can log back in
cp -R /home/john/.ssh ./mnt/home/john
chown -R 1000:1000 ./mnt/home/john

# Configure sshd
sed -i "s/^UsePAM yes/UsePAM no" ./mnt/etc/ssh/sshd_config

cat <<EOF >>./mnt/etc/ssh/sshd_config
PubkeyAuthentication yes
PermitRootLogin no
IgnoreRhosts yes
PasswordAuthentication no
MaxAuthTries 1
LoginGraceTime 15s
EOF


systemctl reboot