Change: When selecting 'linux-hardened' kernel, a warning prompt notifies that 'System Hibernation' is not supported by kernel
Change: Edit prompts for enhanced visuals/aesthetics
Change: Secure Boot support (both 'systemd-boot' and 'Grub')
The installer will check if the firmware platform (Secure Boot) is in 'SETUP' mode and warn & exit if not
Remove: Since the latest 'nvidia-utils' package now enables by default the following: "PreserveVideoMemoryAllocations, TemporaryFilePath, modeset & fbdev kernel parameters" & "resume-hibernate-suspend services", the code enabling these has been removed from the installer, as obsolete
Change: Many prompts now have defaults pre-set [Y/N], to reduce user's input
Add: When running in a VM (but not in 'Auto-Guided' mode), new prompts will inform you when skipping unnecessary stages of the installation
Change: If Dual/Multi-booting with other OS's : If 'systemd-boot' is selected & the ESP mountpoint is set to '/efi' & the ESP is less than 200Mb, the installer will expect the creation an 'Extended Boot Partition (XBOOTLDR)' and will drop to 'Manual Partitioning' mode to do so.
Change: Optimized code in the 'sanity_check' & 'revise' functions
Add: Optimize/add 'zram' configuration for enhanced performance in VMs
Change: Nice visual additions for a better aesthetic experience
Indentation
Change: Running 'pacstrap' now ommits the '-i' flag, to speed up the whole process
Change: 'Automatic Partitioning' stage has been revised to ommit an unnecessary repeat of the 'Sanity Check' stage
Change: Now, when the Installer aborts, it automatically unmounts all/any mounted partitions, for convenience
Remove: 'vorbisgain' package has been removed from the 'Minimal Plasma' setup, in compliance with Arch's repos
Change: 'LDFLAGS' & 'RUSTFLAGS' configuration has been removed from the 'makepkgd.conf' drop-in configuration file at /etc/makepkg.conf.d/
Change: A few Prompts have been edited, to provide better aesthetics
Change: Some minor indentation
Change: Bootloader configuration (btldr_conf) function revised to comply with latest installer changes
Add: Edited a few prompts for visual/aesthetic purposes
Change: There are 4 Partitioning Layout Presets now, to make the selection easier (man_preset function)
Change: 'Sanity Check' stage has been revised to allow 'systemd-boot' to be installed on an ESP mounted to '/efi' without the need for an 'XBOOTLDR' partition to be present
Change: 'Sanity Check' stage has been revised to being more informative to the user and perform more necessary actions to solve partitioning issues
Change: 'Sanity Check' stage now informs when there is need for an Extended Boot Partition (XBOOTLDR) when dual/multibooting
Change: Bootloader configuration (btldr_conf function) revised its logic to allow 'systemd-boot' to install to '/efi' without an 'XBOOTLDR' partition when there is dual/multiboot and 'ESP' size is more than 200Mb
Change: 'sgdisk' now uses the -I (--align-end) flag when creating partitions, needed when setting 'LUKS' encryption on volumes
Change: Chrooting and setting the 'base' system now resides in a seperate function (main_chroot), to avoid code repetition
Change: Setting final variables now resides in a seperate function (set_vars)
Change: Custom Plasma & custom Gnome setups have been renamed to 'Minimal Plasma & Minimal Gnome' and now support selecting one of the available bootloaders
Change: 'lsblk' now uses a simpler syntax for detecting filesystems on volume
Remove: 'xsane' package has been removed from Plasma Minimal setup
Change: Now 'grub' configuration takes place in /etc/default/grub.d/00-custom.cfg file, as a drop-in file
Change: Now the installer opens 'Automatic Partitioning' prompt by default If 'Sanity Check' succeeds and 'Multibooting' is 'n' > Continue with current disk partition layout > 'n'
Fix: A bug has been fixed that would reset 'mkinitcpio hooks' to 'empty', when inside a 'VM' environment and the user has been revising the installation
Minor indentation and visual changes
Change: All 'Warning/Error' prompts have been replaced by new, more easily descriptive and good looking ones
Remove: Unnecessary stages (e.g selecting Graphics Driver while inside a VM) are now gracefully omitted instead of being executed but auto by-passed
Change: A few prompts have been edited for aesthetic purposes
Add: Now the installer lets you select the mountpoint of choice for the ESP (/efi or /boot)
Add: Now the installer asks if you're dual/multi-booting with other OS's and will not touch the ESP or any other partition, all actions will take place manually using 'cgdisk'
Add: 'Sanity Check' stage has been greatly upgraded: If Dual/Multi-booting: After checking the ESP size > If the ESP size is too small, the installer will take a wide range of actions and guide you to resolve the issue by selecting '/efi' as a mountpoint or if using systemd-boot, to select '/efi' as mountpoint and to create an 'XBOOTLDR' partition. All these take place automatically and the stages involved are 'Auto-Guided'
Change: Virtual Machine detection now resides in a different code block from before, simplifying the installation process
Change: New 'Partitioning Presets' are offered at the 'Preset selection' stage, to cover the extended range of choices the installer offers
Change: Now the 'Sanity Check' stage presents you with the partitions overview instead of filesystem overview
Change: Now the installer uses a 'Press any key to continue' prompt instead of the previous 'time countdown' method, to ensure the user has read all the info in some important prompts
Change: Some variables have been renamed (more descriptive)
Change: Some stages are now omitted if the user decides to 'Revise' the installation, since they are already completed
Change: 'LUKS ecryption' > Formatting partitions > the installer no longer aborts on error, but re-runs the stage
Change: The main/basic 'chroot' function now lives in its own code block
Change: 'irqbalance' package and its service activation have been removed from the custom Plasma & Gnome setups
Add: 'Custom Setup' > Add Packages : Added auto-configuration for 'lightdm' if the 'Lightdm GTK/Slick/Deepin Greeter' has been selected
Remove: Do not reload the 'Partition Manager' stage after auto-unmounting filesystems and switching to 'Manual Mode' (if formatting or mounting errors have occured)
Change: Put code blocks into functions and re-arrange code, for script simplification
Change: A few prompts have been edited for aesthetic purposes
Now, when presets [3] & [4] are selected (create ESP, /Root, /Home & ESP, /Root, /Home, /Swap)
the user can set a custom percentage for the '/Root' partition's size to be created.
Default percentage is 25% of the Disk's total detected capacity.
Aesthetic adjustments/ polishing the TUI in the 'Automatic Partitioning' stage.
Indentation.
The 'Partition Layout Preset' to be used, derives automatically from the current User Preferences.
No additional user input is needed.
When this option is used, and after successful stage completion, 'Sanity Check' will report the event as: 'Disk </dev/xxxxxx> Auto-Formatted OK'
Change: 'Sanity Check' stage : Now the installer asks for action if more than 1 partitions of type 'Linux /Home' are found
ONLY if the user has previously selected 'Ext4' as filesystem and use of a separate /Home partition
Change: 'Sanity Check' stage : Now the installer asks for action if more than 1 partitions of type 'Linux /Swap' are found
ONLY if the user has previously selected use of a /Swap partition
Change: 'Encryption Setup' stage : Now if a partition of type 'Linux /Home' is detected, the installer offers to encrypt it
ONLY if the user has previously selected 'Ext4' as filesystem and use of a separate /Home partition
Change: 'Confirm Installation Status' > 'Revise Installation' > The 'Partition Manager' stage has been removed,
as the installer can now automatically deal with the partitions layout it is presented with.
Change: The '--graceful' flag has been removed from the options, when installing 'systemd-boot'
Minor indentation
Add: Sanity Check > When several partition of the same type {root,ESP,home,swap} are detected, the installer will warn and manage ONLY the ones relevant to your currently detected preferences.
Indentation.
It is now part of the auto-guided 'Start Installation' stage.
Change: 'Disk Management' > 'Partition Manager' > 'Automatic Partitioning': Now detects user's current preferences and offers/selects the appropriate 'Partition Layout Preset' automatically.
Add: Packages: 'gnome-shell-extension-appindicator' and 'glib2-devel' have been added to the 'Custom Gnome Setup'
Change: Silence verbosity of stdout/stderr when a 'Swapfile' is created.
Minor visual changes and indentation.
Add: In 'Auto Partitioning' stage, extended info and colors have been added to the prompt, to better clarify which filesystems the 'Partition Layout Presets' support.
Add: In the Manual 'Format Boot Partition' & 'Format Root Partition' stages, if formatting the selected partition is skipped, a 2 sec delay has been added after the 'Warning' prompt to stress the importance.
