ALMA Nueva (alma-nv) is a maintained and updated fork of ALMA originally created by @r-darwish.
Almost every live Linux distribution out there is meant for a specific purpose, whether it's data rescue, privacy, penetration testing or anything else. There are some more generic distributions but all of them are based on squashfs, meaning that changes don't persist reboots.
ALMA is meant for those who wish to have a mutable live environment. It installs Arch Linux into a USB, SD card, or image file, almost as if it was a hard drive. Configuration is applied to minimize writes and ensure the system is bootable on both BIOS and UEFI systems.
Upgrading your packages is as easy as running pacman -Syu. This tool also provides an easy chroot command, so you can keep your live environment up to date without having to boot it. Encrypting the root partition is as easy as providing the -e flag.
You can either build the project using cargo build --release or install the alma-git package from the AUR.
ALMA must be run on Arch Linux (derivatives are not supported). Install these packages on the host before running alma:
arch-install-scripts(provides pacstrap, arch-chroot, genfstab)gptfdisk(provides sgdisk)dosfstools(provides mkfs.fat)e2fsprogs(provides mkfs.ext4)btrfs-progs(required for BTRFS support)util-linux(provides losetup, blkid, sfdisk; typically part of base)git(required for presets and AUR helper installation)cryptsetup(only required when using--encrypted-root)
Quick install:
sudo pacman -S --needed arch-install-scripts gptfdisk dosfstools e2fsprogs btrfs-progs util-linux git cryptsetupOptional, for QEMU testing, see the QEMU section below.
ALMA can run on any system using Docker. This is useful for running ALMA on Fedora, macOS, or any other system with Docker installed.
- Docker installed and running
- User in the
dockergroup, or usesudo
The run-alma.sh script automatically:
- Builds the Docker image with all required Arch Linux tools
- Runs ALMA with proper privileges for device access
- Mounts the current directory as the working directory
- Handles all Docker complexity transparently
Linux/macOS (Bash):
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/assapir/alma-nv.git
cd alma-nv
# Make the run script executable
chmod +x run-alma.sh
# Create an encrypted 4GB image file
./run-alma.sh create -e --image 4GB my-arch-usb.img
# Create a bootable USB drive (requires sudo)
sudo ./run-alma.sh create /dev/sdb
# Chroot into an existing installation
sudo ./run-alma.sh chroot /dev/sdbThe Docker container runs with --privileged access to perform disk operations. This is required for device access, partitioning, and filesystem operations, but has security implications. Only run ALMA containers from trusted sources.
Using Arch Linux derivatives, such as Manjaro, isn't supported by ALMA. It may work and may not. Please do not open bugs or feature requests if you are not using an official Arch Linux installation as your host system.
sudo alma create /dev/disk/by-id/usb-Generic_USB_Flash_Disk-0:0This command will wipe the entire disk and create a fresh, bootable installation of Arch Linux. You can use either removable devices or loop devices. As a precaution, ALMA will not wipe non-removable devices unless you explicitly allow it with --allow-non-removable.
If you do not specify a device path, ALMA will interactively prompt you to select one from a list of available removable devices.
When you run alma create without presets or the --noconfirm flag, you will be guided through an interactive setup wizard. This allows you to configure a username, password, hostname, timezone, graphics drivers, and fonts for your new system.
Once you have a booted ALMA system, you can use the install command to "clone" it to another disk. This re-runs the original creation process (using a manifest saved on the system) to create a fresh installation on the target device.
# From a running ALMA system, install to /dev/sdb
sudo alma install /dev/sdb
# Optionally, copy /home and NetworkManager configs from the running system
# (You will be prompted for this automatically)ALMA can also install to a partition you've already created, which is useful for dual-booting or custom disk layouts.
# Install to /dev/sdX5, but DO NOT install a bootloader
sudo alma create --root-partition /dev/sdX5
# Install to /dev/sdX5 and install a bootloader to the EFI partition at /dev/sdX1
sudo alma create --root-partition /dev/sdX5 --boot-partition /dev/sdX1Warning: The partition specified with --root-partition will be reformatted, deleting all its contents.
ALMA supports different system variants and root filesystems.
# Create an Omarchy system (defaults to BTRFS)
sudo alma create --system omarchy my-omarchy.img --image 8GiB
# Create a standard Arch system with a BTRFS filesystem
sudo alma create --filesystem btrfs my-btrfs.img --image 8GiB--system:arch(default) oromarchy.--filesystem:ext4(default) orbtrfs.
You can enable full disk encryption (LUKS) for the root partition with the -e flag:
sudo alma create -e /dev/disk/by-id/usb-Generic_USB_Flash_Disk-0:0You will be prompted to enter and confirm the encryption passphrase during creation.
For development and testing, it can be useful to generate a raw image file instead of writing to a physical device.
# Create a 10GiB raw image file named almatest.img
sudo alma create --image 10GiB almatest.imgAfter the installation is done, you can chroot into the environment to perform further customizations before the first boot. ALMA will automatically detect partitions and filesystem types (ext4/btrfs/LUKS).
sudo alma chroot /dev/disk/by-id/usb-Generic_USB_Flash_Disk-0:0You can easily boot a device or image file in QEMU for testing.
Note you will need to install qemu-desktop, qemu-system-x86 and qemu-system-x86-firmware.
sudo pacman -S qemu-desktop qemu-system-x86 qemu-system-x86-firmware# First, mount a loop device for your image
sudo losetup -fP --show almatest.img
# It will print something like /dev/loop0
# Then boot it
sudo alma qemu /dev/loop0With a USB device (edk2-ovmf is required):
sudo pacman -S qemu-desktop edk2-ovmf
# Boot a physical device
sudo alma qemu /dev/sdaReproducing a build can be easily done using preset files. Presets are powerful TOML files that let you define packages to install, scripts to run, and more.
You can specify presets from a local file, a directory, a remote URL, or a Git repository.
# Use a local preset file and a directory of presets
sudo ALMA_USER=archie alma create --presets ./user.toml ./presets/
# Clone a git repository over HTTPS and use its presets
sudo alma create --presets https://github.com/user/my-alma-presets.git
# Download and extract a zip file of presets
sudo alma create --presets https://example.com/presets.zipPreset files are simple TOML files which contain:
- A list of packages to install:
packages = ["mypackage"] - A list of AUR packages to install:
aur_packages = ["cool-app-git"] - A post-installation script:
script = """ ... """ - Environment variables required by the preset:
environment_variables = ["USERNAME"] - A list of shared directories from the host to be made available inside the chroot:
shared_directories = ["configs"]
If a directory is provided, all .toml files within it are recursively crawled and executed in alphanumeric order. This allows you to structure complex installations.
ALMA installs packages and runs preset scripts in the following order:
- All non-AUR packages from all presets are collected and installed in a single
pacstrapcommand. - If any preset requests AUR packages, an AUR helper (like
paruoryay) is installed. - All AUR packages from all presets are collected and installed using the AUR helper.
- Preset scripts are executed one by one, in the alphanumeric order of their filenames.
Click to expand for all commands and options
alma 0.3.0
Arch Linux Mobile Appliance
USAGE:
alma [OPTIONS] <SUBCOMMAND>
OPTIONS:
-h, --help Print help information
-v, --verbose Verbose output
-V, --version Print version information
SUBCOMMANDS:
create Create a new Arch Linux bootable system
install Install this system to another disk
chroot Chroot into an existing ALMA system
qemu Boot the ALMA system with Qemu
help Print this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)
alma create
USAGE:
alma create [OPTIONS] [path]
ARGS:
<path> Path to a block device or a non-existing file if --image is specified
OPTIONS:
--allow-non-removable
Allow installation on non-removable devices. Use with extreme caution!
--aur-helper <aur-helper>
The AUR helper to install for handling AUR packages
[default: paru]
[possible values: paru, yay]
--aur-packages <AUR_PACKAGE>
Additional packages to install from the AUR
--boot-partition <BOOT_PARTITION_PATH>
Path to a partition to use as the target boot partition - this will reformat the
partition to vfat and install GRUB. Should be used with --root-partition if you want to
install a bootloader to a pre-partitioned disk. If --root-partition is set, but this is
not, then no bootloader will be installed
--boot-size <SIZE_WITH_UNIT>
Boot partition size. Raw numbers are treated as MiB. [default: 300MiB]
--dryrun
Print commands instead of executing them
-e, --encrypted-root
Encrypt the root partition (highly recommended for Omarchy)
-p, --extra-packages <PACKAGE>
Additional packages to install from Pacman repos
--filesystem <filesystem>
The filesystem to use for the root partition
[default: ext4]
[possible values: ext4, btrfs]
-h, --help
Print help information
--image <SIZE_WITH_UNIT>
Create a raw image file instead of using a block device
-i, --interactive
Enter interactive chroot before unmounting the drive
--noconfirm
Do not ask for confirmation (not supported for Omarchy or encryption)
--overwrite
Overwrite existing image files. Use with caution!
-c, --pacman-conf <PACMAN_CONF>
Path to a pacman.conf file which will be used to pacstrap packages into the image. This
pacman.conf will also be copied into the resulting Arch Linux image
--presets <PRESETS_PATH>
Paths to preset files/dirs (local, http(s) zip/tar.gz, or git repo)
--root-partition <ROOT_PARTITION_PATH>
Path to a partition to use as the target root partition - this will reformat the
partition. Should be used when you do not want to repartition and wipe the entire disk
(e.g. dual-booting). If it is not set, then the entire disk will be repartitioned and
wiped. If it is set, but --boot-partition is not, then the partition will be mounted as /
and /boot will not be modified
--system <system>
The Linux system variant to install
[default: arch]
[possible values: arch, omarchy]
alma install
USAGE:
alma install [OPTIONS] [target_device]
ARGS:
<target_device>
The target block device to install to. If not provided, you will be prompted.
Incompatible with --root-partition
OPTIONS:
--allow-non-removable Allow installation on non-removable devices. Use with extreme
caution!
--boot-partition <BOOT_PARTITION_PATH>
Path to a pre-existing EFI partition to use for the bootloader
-h, --help Print help information
--noconfirm Do not ask for confirmation for any steps
--root-partition <ROOT_PARTITION_PATH>
Path to a pre-existing partition to use as the root filesystem. This is for installing
alongside other OSes (e.g., Windows)
Ensure you have both the linux and base packages installed on your host system.
Check that you are running ALMA with sudo privileges, and reboot if you have installed a kernel update since your last reboot.
This can sometimes happen on disks with unusual partition tables. Delete all partitions on the disk first (e.g., with gparted or fdisk) and try again.