Arch Misc Tweaks - tnballo/notebook GitHub Wiki

Random, bite-sized configuration changes for a better Arch experience.

reflector can overwrite /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist with the most current mirrors, sorted by speed.

1. Backup the existing mirror list in case something goes wrong:

   • sudo cp /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.backup

2. Install and run reflector, populating your list with the 200 most recently synced mirrors sorted by download rate:

   • sudo pacman -S reflector

   • sudo reflector --verbose -l 200 -p http --sort rate --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

Change pacman's (package manager) progress bar to a colorful ASCII Pacman (game character) eating power pills:

1. Open /etc/pacman.conf for editing.

2. Find the # Misc Options header. Uncomment the line #Color underneath.

3. Still underneath # Misc Options, add the line ILoveCandy.

4. Once finished, your # Misc Options section might look something like:

# Misc options
#UseSyslog
Color
ILoveCandy
#TotalDownload
CheckSpace
#VerbosePkgLists

ufw is a simple CLI for configuring the netfilter firewall.

1. Install ufw:

   • sudo pacman -S ufw

2. Configure ufw to deny all incoming traffic (silent drop), and allow all outgoing traffic:

   • sudo ufw default deny incoming

   • sudo ufw default allow outgoing

3. Apply settings and verify that ufw is indeed running:

   • sudo ufw enable

   • sudo ufw status verbose

4. Enable ufw as a service, so that it starts with these settings every boot:

   • sudo systemctl enable ufw