System stack

This page maps the platform layers Parch inherits from Arch and the choices its ISO profiles make on top. Each layer links to where it is customized.

Kernel and initramfs

Parch profiles install the kernel through pacman package names (linux, or a Parch kernel flavor where an edition ships one). The initramfs is generated by mkinitcpio, configured through /etc/mkinitcpio.conf.d/ and presets in /etc/mkinitcpio.d/.

In ISO profiles, airootfs/etc/mkinitcpio.conf.d/archiso.conf carries the live-environment hooks (archiso hook set) that make the squashfs root bootable. When you add storage or filesystem support to an ISO (btrfs, bcachefs, dm-crypt), you adjust this hook list. See airootfs customization.

Kernel command lines per boot medium are defined in the bootloader configuration of the profile (see Bootloader config).

systemd

Parch is a systemd distribution without deviation: units, targets, and generators behave exactly as upstream. The live environment enables services through symlinks in the airootfs (airootfs/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/…), the standard systemctl enable mechanism expressed as files. Useful inspection:

$ systemctl list-units --failed     # first thing after any boot problem
$ systemctl --user status <unit>
$ journalctl -b -p err              # this boot's errors

Bootloaders

Profiles carry all three loaders that upstream archiso supports, matching the real bootmodes in profiledef.sh:

Bootmode	Loader	Media
bios.syslinux.mbr / .eltorito	Syslinux	BIOS, USB / CD
uefi-x64.systemd-boot.esp / .eltorito	systemd-boot	UEFI, USB / CD

Some editions additionally ship GRUB with the parch-grub-theme for theming. Details and kernel-parameter tables live in Bootloader config.

Filesystems

The installer offers ext4 by default with btrfs available (the Parch Calamares preset enables compress-force=zstd on btrfs); EFI systems get a 512 MiB FAT32 ESP. Anything the installer must handle, the live environment must contain: filesystem tools (btrfs-progs, bcachefs-tools, e2fsprogs) appear in the ISO package list for exactly this reason.

Firmware and microcode

amd-ucode/intel-ucode are included in ISO package lists and installed by the installer; missing microcode is a classic cause of "works in VM, panics on hardware". Hardware probe tooling (parchprobe) reports this class of problem, and the Driver Manager handles vendor drivers like NVIDIA on installed systems.