Arch Linux Container Image

This repository builds an Arch Linux container image for linux/amd64 and linux/arm64.

The image remains fully pacman-capable, but omits documentation, manual pages, non-English locales, and other non-runtime package payloads by applying pacman's NoExtract rules while assembling the root filesystem. The shipped /etc/pacman.conf remains Arch's package-provided configuration, including its normal download user and sandbox settings. The built-in C.UTF-8 locale remains available.

The systemd package is present because it is a direct dependency of pacman on both Arch Linux and Arch Linux ARM. It is not used as the container init system; the default command is Bash.

The image is intentionally left unconfigured for use as a generic root filesystem. It ships an empty /etc/machine-id and does not ship /etc/locale.conf or /etc/localtime. VM launchers that require unattended first boot should supply that policy at launch time.

Development Shell

Enter the Nix development shell to get the Docker CLI and Docker credential helpers on your PATH:

nix develop

If Nix refuses to evaluate untracked files in a repository with no initial commit, use:

nix develop path:$PWD

Local Builds

Build for the current Docker/Buildx builder platform:

make build

Build for a specific platform:

make build PLATFORM=linux/amd64
make build PLATFORM=linux/arm64