#+TITLE: Post-Install Checklist #+AUTHOR: Craig Jennings #+DATE: 2026-08-08 * About Manual steps a fresh archsetup install cannot automate — things that are inherently interactive (pairing, account logins) or that need judgment on the specific machine. Work through this after first boot. When a new manual step is discovered during a machine setup, add it here rather than leaving it in a session note; the installer's outro already points at the Proton Bridge steps, and this file is the home for the rest. Steps that CAN be automated don't belong here — file them as installer tasks instead. The 2026-04-10 velox setup notes were triaged exactly that way: microcode, radio state, and the ZFS /tmp mask went into the installer; bluetooth pairing landed below. * Checklist ** Run the post-rebuild check first Before working through the manual steps below, run: #+begin_src sh ~/code/archsetup/scripts/post-rebuild-check #+end_src It runs the five checks a rebuilt machine actually needs — failed units, user units that are present but never enabled, =*.example= configs whose real sibling is missing, gitignore-mode projects missing the working state their own =.gitignore= names, and the signal-cli registration. Each prints a line whether or not it finds anything; exit 1 means something needs attention. These are the gaps velox hit within two days of its 2026-08-13 reinstall, and three of the five looked fine on casual inspection: a stowed unit file, an enabled-looking timer, a present git clone. Run it again a day or two after the install, once timers have had a chance to fail. It normally finishes in a second or two. On a machine whose user systemd is wedged it takes a couple of minutes instead, because every =systemctl= call is bounded at five seconds and check 2 makes one per unit. That is the slow case working as intended: it reports what it could not read rather than hanging. Set =PRC_SYSTEMCTL_TIMEOUT= lower to cut the wait. ** Pair bluetooth peripherals Pairing is inherently interactive (scan, pick the device, confirm), so it can't ride the installer. For a mouse (e.g. the Logi M650): #+begin_src sh bluetoothctl # inside the prompt: # scan on — wait for the device to appear # pair # trust — trust makes it auto-reconnect at boot # connect # scan off #+end_src Trusted devices reconnect on their own after reboot; if one doesn't, check =rfkill list= first (radios should be unblocked — TLP owns radio state and enables bluetooth/wifi at startup per =/etc/tlp.d/01-custom.conf=). ** Brightness control on a machine installed before 2026-08-13 Only for a machine whose install predates =configure_backlight_access=. New installs get the rule automatically, and a re-run of =archsetup= skips the step because =essential_services= is already marked complete, so an older machine needs one of these by hand: #+begin_src bash # either drop the rule in directly... sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/90-backlight.rules > /dev/null << 'EOF' ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="backlight", RUN+="/usr/bin/chgrp video /sys/class/backlight/%k/brightness" ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="backlight", RUN+="/usr/bin/chmod g+w /sys/class/backlight/%k/brightness" ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="leds", KERNEL=="*kbd_backlight", RUN+="/usr/bin/chgrp video /sys/class/leds/%k/brightness" ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="leds", KERNEL=="*kbd_backlight", RUN+="/usr/bin/chmod g+w /sys/class/leds/%k/brightness" EOF sudo udevadm control --reload sudo udevadm trigger --subsystem-match=backlight --action=add sudo udevadm trigger --subsystem-match=leds --action=add # ...or clear the marker and re-run just that step sudo rm /var/lib/archsetup/state/essential_services #+end_src Verify: =ls -l /sys/class/backlight/*/brightness= shows group =video= with =g+w=, and =brightnessctl -c backlight set 70%= succeeds without sudo. Only laptops have these devices; on a desktop the rule is inert and nothing needs doing. ** Proton Mail Bridge (cmail) The installer's completion message carries the steps; recorded here too so the checklist is complete: 1. Clone claude-templates to =~/projects/claude-templates= if missing. 2. Run =protonmail-bridge --cli=, log in, then quit. 3. Run =~/code/archsetup/scripts/cmail-setup-finish.sh=. 4. First mail sync: =mbsync cmail && mu index=.