archlinux
Bluetooth service not enabled by default after gnome installation
Which ISO version are you using?
2024-08-01 (but it happened on others I tested in the past)
The installation log
describe the problem
Description of the issue
When using the archinstall script to install gnome, I need to manually run sudo systemctl enable bluetooth to be able to use bluetooth. If I don't do this, trying to toggle bluetooth with gnome quick settings or in the settings app does not work (the toggle does not switch on and it does not try to scan/list/connect bluetooth devices).
I don't know if this is intended or if this is even a problem with archinstall, but given that this problem appears right when using gnome after the install, I felt it was accurate to create the issue here.
More info
I get this when running systemctl status bluetooth:
○ bluetooth.service - Bluetooth service
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/bluetooth.service; disabled; preset: disabled)
Active: inactive (dead)
Docs: man:bluetoothd(8)
systemctl restart bluetooth also works as a temporary fix, but has to be runned each time after a reboot.
It does the same in KDE because of the service not being enabled, however past issues have said this is more of a post-install thing, although it would be nice if it was enabled by default for specific environments. Better yet a list of what archinstall does not do and how to do it would be nice if others would be in favor of this.
I think it would be beneficial to enable Bluetooth in certain environments. GNOME, for instance, offers a seamless "out of the box" experience, and having Bluetooth enabled by default would fit well since it doesn’t require additional installations. I can't speak for other desktop environments, but KDE also comes to mind in this context.
Better yet a list of what archinstall does not do and how to do it would be nice if others would be in favor of this.
I agree with this approach. While debugging my issue wasn’t particularly difficult, it did take some time because I initially thought it was a GNOME-specific problem. I still think it would be an improvement to have it enabled by default in environments where there's a built-in setting for Bluetooth such as GNOME or KDE.
It's totally fine to create a issue for these kinds of things and discussions are encouraged. However this is intentional. The main reason why this isn't done is as @JTEpic mentions because it's an easy post-installation step, but also by default we don't want to "force" things on any user. This is especially true when it enables connectivity/means of accessing the machine.
Because we currently have no "post-installation" submenu/system/concept there's also no place to add this currently. Personally I also don't think we want to add more menu options as it's already a bit cluttered.
And this "default" in particular is one that is going to be a divider among users. So we need an option somewhere. Some "just want stuff working" and some don't want anything happening without them enabling it. But I get how this could be useful from a desktop perspective, especially when the desktop doesn't give any indications of what's going "wrong" (I'm looking at you Gnome).
I definitely think a post-install menu could be added, maybe to add/change to the current behavior of asking if the user wants to drop into a shell in the new system where there are some optimizations/easy changes to be added.
Even if you install Arch the manual way this is the case. Flagship distros like Fedora do this to be ready to use out of the box. Arch is a minimal DIY distro. A simple "sudo systemctl enable bluetooth" will resolve this issue.
Fair enough. From my perspective, even on Arch Linux, users of GNOME probably aren’t looking for a super minimal setup, given that they’ve chosen GNOME. But I’m only speaking from my own experience here, so probably not a good representation of the users.
It's a small thing that I feel should be on by default for GNOME specifically since it's not really a minimal DE. Personally, it doesn’t bother me too much, and if including those features goes against the principles of Archinstall, I’m fine with that.