How To Install pacstrap on Kali Linux

One-liner install command

For those in a hurry, here's a one-line installation command:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt -y install arch-install-scripts

But if you are interested in the detailed steps with descriptions, the following information is for you.

What is pacstrap and what are the ways to install it?

Before beginning this tutorial, you will need access to a server or computer running Kali Linux. This guide was written specifically with a server running Kali Linux in mind, although it should also work on older, supported versions of the operating system.

Also, make sure you are running a regular, non-root user with sudo privileges configured on your server. When you have an account available, log in as your non-root user to begin.

There are several ways to install pacstrap on Kali Linux. You can use (links are clickable):

In the following sections, we will describe each method in detail. You can choose one of them or refer to the recommended one.

Install pacstrap using apt-get

First, update apt database with apt-get using the following command.

sudo apt-get update

After updating apt-get database, You can install pacstrap using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install arch-install-scripts

Install pacstrap using apt

Because pacstrap is available in Kali Linux’s default repositories, it is possible to install it from these repositories using the apt packaging system.

To begin, update apt database with apt using the following command.

sudo apt update

After updating apt database, You can install pacstrap using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install arch-install-scripts

Install pacstrap using aptitude

If you want to follow this method, you might need to install aptitude first since aptitude is usually not installed by default on Kali Linux. Update apt database with aptitude using the following command.

sudo aptitude update

After updating aptitude database, You can install pacstrap by running the following command:

sudo aptitude -y install arch-install-scripts

How to upgrade (update) a single package pacstrap using apt-get?

First, you will need to update packages index. Run update command as usual:

sudo apt-get update

Next, to upgrade only the pacstrap, e.g. single package, you should use the following format with the apt-get command/apt command:

sudo apt-get --only-upgrade install arch-install-scripts

Note that this command will not install any new packages! If you wish to install the package if it doesn't exist you may leave out --only-upgrade part.

sudo apt-get install arch-install-scripts

How To Uninstall pacstrap from Kali Linux

To uninstall only the pacstrap package you can execute the following command:

sudo apt-get remove arch-install-scripts

Uninstall pacstrap and all its dependencies

To uninstall pacstrap and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Kali Linux, you can use the command below:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove arch-install-scripts

Remove pacstrap with all configurations and data

To remove pacstrap configuration and data from your system you can run the following purge command:

sudo apt-get -y purge arch-install-scripts

Remove pacstrap completely (configurations, data and all of its dependencies)

And lastly, you can run the next command to remove absolutely everything related to pacstrap package, e.g.: configurations, data and all of its dependencies. Just use this command:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge arch-install-scripts

Extra info and code examples

A small suite of scripts aimed at automating some menial tasks when installing Arch Linux. These scripts can also aid when debootstrapping a Debian based system. This package contains `genfstab` which assists with generating a fstab and `arch-chroot` which assists with setting up bind mounts and disabling services via policy.d.

Conclusion

You now have a full guide on how to install pacstrap using apt, apt-get and aptitude tools. Also, we showed how to update as a single package and different ways to uninstall the pacstrap from Kali Linux.

See also: