Arch Linux User Repository

Warning: the iproute2 package has updated from version 6.4.0 to 6.5.0, and with it the default rt_tables location has changed from /etc/iproute2/rt_tables to /usr/lib/iproute2/rt_tables. I've rolled out a fix for this change in the latest version. When updating your package, please remove the package, and then reinstall it, so that everything in the piavpn-bin.install gets re-run. You will need to re-run 'sudo systemctl enable --now piavpn.service'

The client is here:

/opt/piavpn/bin/pia-client

You need to enable and start piavpn.service. Run sudo systemctl enable --now piavpn.service

Then pia-client will complete the quick tour guide, and let you login.

Hi @genji, thanks for the comment. Indeed, I would use a systemd user (https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Systemd/User) service which runs something like:

/bin/bash -c 'while true; do if [[ $(/opt/piavpn/bin/piactl get connectionstate) != "Connected" ]]; then /opt/piavpn/bin/piactl connect; fi; sleep 10; done' (with ExecStop being /opt/piaivpn/bin/piactl disconnect of course).

I'm not sure if there's a cleaner / easier way to do this. I'm all ears if someone else has an idea :)

Hi there, thank you for this update, I have it working correctly in headless mode because I have no GUI configured on this Arch - just wondering is there a way to reliably make this auto-start or auto-reconnect without using the GUI ?

I know the GUI has the functions built in but is there some simple creative solution to even make it automatically just connect at startup? I'm guessing it's as simple as adding 'piactl connect' to a runtime script somewhere - but just wondering the correct way as I'm a new user. Thanks!!

I've taken into consideration your comment, @saturn_knight. Now, all modifications are done in /etc/iproute2/rt_tables, which is copied from /usr/lib/iproute2/rt_tables at install time. When uninstalling, if the file is the same as the template, it is then removed. This should make the behaviour the same as that which is expected.

(You will still need to either move to rt_tables.pacsave to rt_tables, or uninstall and reinstall the package in order for the /etc/iproute2 folder to contain the file.)

While it's true that the rt_tables default location has moved to /usr/lib/iproute2, I don't think modifying the file in place is the best way to fix this problem. The rt_tables file in /etc/iproute2 will take precedence over one in /usr/lib/iproute2. According to the iproute2 documentation, the preferred method would be to copy rt_tables to /etc/iproute2 if it doesn't exist and then modify that copy.

Warning: the iproute2 package has updated from version 6.4.0 to 6.5.0, and with it the default rt_tables location has changed from /etc/iproute2/rt_tables to /usr/lib/iproute2/rt_tables. I've rolled out a fix for this change in the latest version. When updating your package, please remove the package, and then reinstall it, so that everything in the piavpn-bin.install gets re-run. You will need to re-run 'sudo systemctl enable --now piavpn.service'

You are not supposed to directly write into or change /etc/resolv.conf, as it's frequently overwritten by running programs, as mentioned before. This is widely-used practise by many tools on Linux. When you've ssh'ed into a machine, you can start the client at the location stated in @Arvid's comment from 18/02/23. Good luck!

I tried doing 'chattr +i /etc/resolv.conf' as per the instructions on the ArchLinux BBS, but that actually broke piactl altogether. When it can't overwrite your /etc/resolv.conf it decides it will not even attempt to start! Just crazy

I just installed Xorg, which is the graphical client I should be trying to load? Is it a seperate package somewhere, or is it already on my machine ready to be launched?

Thanks again

All of the settings you are referring to are unfortunately only able to be changed via the graphical client, but they can be. If you are using the command line only because you are connecting to a remote server, you can use ssh -X user@host to forward the GUI and change your settings that way. Also, /etc/resolv.conf is often automatically generated / overwritten by programs (see NetworkManager for example), and so it's no surprise that PIA does this too.

Thank you @lobroc I made a mistake by enabling the service at first and not explicitly starting it, appreciate the response.

I am here with one new remaining problem though. 'piactl connect' is overwriting /etc/resolv.conf with it's own nameserver, and I cannot figure out how to change this setting! The 'piactl' client itself is one of the worst of any VPN provider I've ever used - missing all the most common features like kill switches, auto-connect, and DNS servers.

Even when I manually change /etc/resolv.conf as long as piactl is running, it overwrites it again less than 5 seconds later!

Hideous!

Have you, by chance, @genji, forgotten to enable the daemon's service, as per the pinned comment?