live Arch Linux builder
GUI Tab: Project Settings
Projects
larch-7 uses 'projects' to gather together a few configuration options concerning the build environment. Examples are the location of the Arch installation to be 'larchified' (converted to a live system), pacman options such as package repository locations, which 'profile' (see below) to build with, which boot loader to use, and so on. These are all options which don't directly affect the essential design of the live system to be built. Most of the remaining configuration options do concern the design and are specified in the profile.
All project information is kept in the simply structured configuration file '~/.config/larch/larch-config'.
A new named project can be created in the advanced options on the Project-Settings tab of the GUI. For many purposes this will be unnecessary and one can use the default project, 'larch0' (this is why it is among the advanced options). It is also possible to delete projects which are no longer needed, and to set the path of the installation to be larchified.
Installation Path
The installation that larch turns into a live system need not be on a separate partition, it can be placed anywhere convenient. The default installation directory ('/home/larchbuild') should normally be acceptable, so long as there is enough free space on that partition. Note that lots of space is necessary, nearly 4GB for a 700MB CD, for example. The live system is built in the '.larch' sub-directory; it must be within the installation to be converted because some of the construction work is done using chroot.
The installation of the Arch Linux system to be larchified is handled on the 'Installation' tab of the GUI, but an already existing Arch Linux installation can also be larchified: see Making a live CD from an existing Arch installation
Profiles
A profile contains the information needed to build a particular flavour of (live) Arch Linux - which packages to install, which locales, system configuration in '/etc/rc.conf', boot entries, and so on. Apart from a few basic configuration details (mainly those concerned specifically with the special needs of a live system) for which larch provides a special mechanism, all desired changes from the freshly installed state should be placed in the directory 'rootoverlay' within the profile directory. This allows easy rebuilding of a particularly configured system, and it also allows various (differently configured) live systems to be built from the same underlying installation, without touching the installation itself.
Profiles may be added, renamed and deleted at will, but be careful when renaming or deleting if other projects are using them. The profiles are shared by all projects, so if you delete or rename one that was being used by another project, that project will no longer be able to use its profile (*** it might be best to make profiles unique to projects?) A new profile can be created by copying (probably renaming) and editing an existing one. A special directory browser dialog makes it easy to do this - you can select the profile directory you want to copy and enter the new name in the same dialog.
All profile information is kept in the correspondingly named directory within the directory '~/.config/larch/working_dir/MyProfiles'.
Processor architecture
I think it should be possible to build an i686 system while running an x86_64 one, but I haven't tried this, so it probably won't work!