What else is different from Arch?

[dalto]

@BluishHumility

This is not quite right. Mkinitcpio is not provided by the base package (see here: https://archlinux.org/packages/core/any/base/).

You are right, so it is actually easier. You probably just need to pacstrap base linux linux-headers dracut

@BluishHumility

unless you include it in your package list when you run pacstrap you will not get it by default.

I think you will get it actually. It will get pulled in by any kernel package since it is the first choice for the initcpio dependency.

That means if you specific dracut in the pacstrap package list, that should be enough to replace mkinitcpio with dracut.

[BluishHumility]

@dalto

if you specific dracut in the pacstrap package list, that should be enough to replace mkinitcpio with dracut.

Yes, on a recent Arch install I used a list of packages that included dracut for my pacstrap and my resulting installation did not include mkinitcpio at all.

It is interesting that mkinitcpio and dracut do not conflict with each other from a package management perspective. Do you know if there is some reason they have decided to allow them both to be installed? It seems like it would cause nothing but problems.

[dalto]

@BluishHumility

It is interesting that mkinitcpio and dracut do not conflict with each other from a package management perspective. Do you know if there is some reason they have decided to allow them both to be installed? It seems like it would cause nothing but problems.

I don’t have any inside information but it is probably because they don’t technically conflict. Since the dracut package ships without any hooks, it doesn’t hurt to have it installed. However, if you actually start using it, you will likely have a problem…

[ivanhoe]

So, to sum this up, if you install Arch Linux The ArchWiki way without any intervention (as described in the ArchWiki), and without explicitly installing dracut, you will always end up with an mkinitcpio-installation.

Thank you all!