Add post on ArchLinux vm w/ Lima

Signed-off-by: Justin Zhang <[email protected]>

Author: schnell18

content/post/archlinux-meets-lima/featured.jpg

@@ -1,16 +1,332 @@
 ---
-title: 📈 ArchLinux Meets Lima
-summary: Run ArchLinux virtual Machine on MacOS using Lima
-date: 2023-10-23
-draft: true
+title: 📈 Run an ArchLinux sandbox with Lima on MacOS
+summary: This post explores how to run virtual machine work loads on MacOS efficiently with latest open-source virtualization software Lima.
+date: 2025-07-02
 authors:
   - admin
 tags:
-  - ArchLinux
   - Lima
+  - ArchLinux
   - Virtual Machine
-image:
-  caption: 'Image credit: [**ArchLinux**](https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=259604)'
 ---
 
-TODO: coming soon ...
+## Background
+
+MacBook is solid. Recently, I sold a ten years old 2013 MBP which works
+smoothly without any glitch. I believe this is why MacBook laptops are a go-to
+choice among developers: according to the [2024 Stack Overflow Developer
+Survey](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-software-developers-choose-macbooks-dimitar-stojkoski-d1nyf?utm_source=chatgpt.com),
+**30.65% of professional developers report using macOS**.
+
+Although being a firm MacBook supporter, I still need tinker with various Linux
+distros from time to time. However, dual-boot with Linux is not particularly
+feasible as 1) switching to Linux requires reboot, 2) Linux support of apple
+hardware is problematic for quite a few Linux distros. This leads to the
+virtualization solutions like Parallels, VMware. However, paying a hefty price
+for occasional use is far from wise. Enters Lima.
+
+## Overview
+
+[Lima](https://github.com/lima-vm/lima) (short for *Linux Machines*) is a
+lightweight virtual machine manager that enables you to run Linux virtual
+machines on macOS with ease. It's designed to provide a developer-friendly
+environment for container tooling, testing, and Linux workflows directly from
+your macOS terminal. There are plenty of benefits of Lima, for example:
+
+- Runs Linux VMs efficiently and seamlessly on macOS
+- Easy provisioning with declarative YAML files
+- Shares host file system and port forwarding
+- Integrated with Docker and nerdctl
+
+With Lima, we can
+
+- Experiment with different Linux distributions in isolated environments
+- Run container workloads with rootless Docker/nerdctl
+- Develop cross-platform software
+- Sandbox for package and software testing
+
+Lima's declarative way to describe the virtual machine to build obviates the
+need of dedicated tools like vagrant, or custom shell script. In this post,
+I'll take advantage of this feature to build a recent ArchLinux with capability
+to run GUI application, fast mirror for software download, enable AUR and yay
+to install latest software conveniently.
+
+## Define the ArchLinux VM
+
+A LimaVM instance can be defined declaratively with a YAML configuration file.
+To build the proposed ArchLinux VM, we need customize the YAML as follows:
+
+- Specify CPU cores, memory capacity
+- Specify the pre-built cloud image of ArchLinux
+- Set fast mirror using system provision script
+- Setup SSH and XWindow display using user provision script
+- Setup AUR and yay using user provision script
+
+Here’s the complete YAML for the ArchLinux VM to build:
+
+```yaml
+
+minimumLimaVersion: 1.1.0
+
+cpus: 6
+memory: 8GiB
+mountType: virtiofs
+networks:
+  - vzNAT: true
+rosetta:
+  enabled: true
+  binfmt: true
+vmType: vz
+base:
+  - template://_default/mounts
+images:
+  - location: "https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/images/v20250615.366044/Arch-Linux-x86_64-cloudimg-20250615.366044.qcow2"
+    arch: "x86_64"
+    digest: "sha256:a8fb36fd4a60ac606c99efd01f5ef959612d11748e8b686001b37e29411b00a4"
+
+  # Fallback to the latest release image.
+  # Hint: run `limactl prune` to invalidate the cache
+  - location: https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/images/latest/Arch-Linux-x86_64-cloudimg.qcow2
+    arch: x86_64
+provision:
+  - mode: system
+    script: |
+      #!/bin/bash
+      set -eux -o pipefail
+      # Use New Zealand mirrors
+      cat<<'EOF' > /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
+
+      # New Zealand
+      Server = https://mirror.fsmg.org.nz/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
+      Server = https://archlinux.ourhome.kiwi/$repo/os/$arch
+      Server = https://nz.arch.niranjan.co/$repo/os/$arch
+      Server = https://mirror.2degrees.nz/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
+      EOF
+      pacman -Syyu --noconfirm --needed base-devel git
+  # Install yay as normal user
+  - mode: user
+    script: |
+      #!/bin/bash
+      set -eux -o pipefail
+      cd /tmp && \
+      git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git && \
+      cd yay && \
+      makepkg --noconfirm -si && \
+      cd && \
+      rm -fr /tmp/yay
+  # Setup XWindow and SSH
+  - mode: user
+    script: |
+      #!/bin/bash
+      set -eux -o pipefail
+      if ! grep "User git" ~/.ssh/config; then
+          HOST_USER=$(ls /Users)
+          cat<<EOF >> ~/.ssh/config
+      Host github.com
+        User git
+        Port 22
+        StrictHostKeyChecking no
+        PasswordAuthentication no
+        IdentityFile /Users/$HOST_USER/.ssh/id_ed25519
+      EOF
+      fi
+
+      if ! grep -e "^export DISPLAY=host.lima.internal:0" ~/.bashrc; then
+          echo "export DISPLAY=host.lima.internal:0" >> ~/.bashrc
+      fi
+```
+
+
+### Define the VM
+
+The key parameters to define a VM include:
+
+- **`cpus`**: Allocate CPU cores for the VM.
+- **`memory`**: Allocate memory for the VM.
+- **`images`**: Cloud image used to boot ArchLinux. The example YAML uses a recent ArchLinux cloud image
+
+<!-- - **`provision`**: Scripts run automatically after the VM is created, used to set up fast mirrors, install AUR helper, and configure GUI support. -->
+<!---->
+
+### Enable Fast Mirrors
+
+ArchLinux has plenty of mirrors to accelerate software download globally. The
+first system provision script in the example YAML: specifies the mirrors like
+explicitly as follows:
+
+```sh
+# Use New Zealand mirrors
+cat<<'EOF' > /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
+
+# New Zealand
+Server = https://mirror.fsmg.org.nz/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
+Server = https://archlinux.ourhome.kiwi/$repo/os/$arch
+Server = https://nz.arch.niranjan.co/$repo/os/$arch
+Server = https://mirror.2degrees.nz/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
+EOF
+pacman -Syyu --noconfirm --needed base-devel git
+```
+This script sets up the fast mirrors for user in New Zealand.
+Alternatively, you can discover the nearest mirror list by running:
+
+```sh
+pacman -Sy --noconfirm reflector
+reflector --country New_Zealand --latest 5 --sort rate --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
+```
+
+### Share Host SSH Keys
+
+By default, Lima mounts the your home directory under the `/Users` directory
+inside the VM. The second user provision script in the previous YAML
+setup the SSH keys sharing as follows:
+
+```sh
+      if ! grep "User git" ~/.ssh/config; then
+          HOST_USER=$(ls /Users)
+          cat<<EOF >> ~/.ssh/config
+      Host github.com
+        User git
+        Port 22
+        StrictHostKeyChecking no
+        PasswordAuthentication no
+        IdentityFile /Users/$HOST_USER/.ssh/id_ed25519
+      EOF
+      fi
+```
+
+This avoids duplicating the SSH keys in the ArchLinux VM. However, don't share
+your sensitive private SSH key like this when the applications running inside
+the VM can't be trusted.
+
+{{% callout warning %}}
+> **Security Alert**: Sharing your private SSH key poses a risk if the VM
+> runs untrusted applications. Consider generating a dedicated SSH key for VM
+> usage with limited access.
+{{% /callout %}}
+
+### Setup GUI Applications using X Window
+
+Even though LimaVM runs headlessly, you can still run GUI apps by pointing the
+DISPLAY to MacOS. The second user provision script sets up the DISPLAY
+environment variable as follows:
+
+   ```sh
+   if ! grep -e "^export DISPLAY=host.lima.internal:0" ~/.bashrc; then
+       echo "export DISPLAY=host.lima.internal:0" >> ~/.bashrc
+   fi
+   ```
+
+By this way, the DISPLAY environment variable is automatically exported when
+user logs in. The special hostname `host.lima.internal` is a Lima specific way
+to refer to the host.
+
+#### MacOS Setup
+
+MacOS doesn't come with compatible X Window server out-of-box. The XQuartz
+package is a good X Window server to use.
+
+1. **Install XQuartz on macOS**
+
+   Download and install from [https://www.xquartz.org/](https://www.xquartz.org/).
+   Or simply using Homebrew as:
+
+   ```sh
+   brew install xquartz
+   ```
+
+2. **Enable Connections**
+
+   Open XQuartz preferences:
+
+   - Go to *Security*
+   - Check **Allow connections from network clients**
+   - Quit XQuartz
+
+3. **Allow VM Access**
+
+   Restart XQuartz and launch xterm and type:
+
+   ```sh
+   xhost + 127.0.0.1
+   ```
+
+
+### Enable AUR and Install `yay`
+
+The [Arch User Repository (AUR)](https://aur.archlinux.org/) is a
+community-driven repository for Arch users, containing thousands of
+user-contributed packages. [`yay`](https://github.com/Jguer/yay) is a popular
+AUR helper that simplifies searching and installing AUR packages.
+The two components must be set up properly in order to install latest software
+conveniently.
+
+The previous example YAML's first user provision script sets up AUR and yay as
+follows:
+
+```sh
+cd /tmp && \
+      git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git && \
+      cd yay && \
+      makepkg --noconfirm -si && \
+      cd && \
+      rm -fr /tmp/yay
+```
+
+## Launch and Validate
+
+### Launch the ArchLinux VM
+
+First, make sure Lima is installed, otherwise install it with Homebrew:
+
+```sh
+brew install lima
+
+```
+Then you launch the ArchLinux defined in previous YAML as follows:
+
+```sh
+limactl start archlinux.yaml
+
+```
+
+It takes a while to download the cloud image, create the vm and startup for the
+first time.
+
+### Validate the ArchLinux VM
+
+Once the ArchLinux is fully started, you can connect to it as follows:
+
+```sh
+limactl shell archlinux
+```
+
+#### Test X Window Setup
+
+In the shell to the ArchLinux VM, install the `xeyes` package as follows:
+
+```sh
+sudo pacmac -Sy xorg-xeyes
+
+```
+
+Now you can test if X Window works properly by running `xeyes` inside the VM
+like:
+
+```sh
+xeyes &
+```
+You should be able to see the eyes on MacOS screen.
+
+
+## Conclusion
+
+Running ArchLinux inside LimaVM provides a powerful and flexible development
+sandbox directly on macOS. With the ability to share SSH keys, run GUI
+applications via XQuartz, leverage fast mirrors, and access AUR packages using
+yay, it becomes a practical tool for developers looking to experiment with
+Linux environments efficiently and safely.
+
+For complete example source and launching script, visit the [Lima ArchLinux VM
+example](https://github.com/schnell18/vCluster/tree/master/lima/archlinux). For
+more information about Lima, visit the [LimaVM GitHub
+repo](https://github.com/lima-vm/lima).