diff --git a/akshara b/akshara
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index 6bfa05b..623c2c3
--- a/akshara
+++ b/akshara
@@ -19,17 +19,13 @@
 
 import os
 import sys
-import time
 import yaml
-import shutil
 import filecmp
 import argparse
 import requests
-import platform
 import fasteners
-from threading import Event
 import subprocess
-
+from datetime import datetime
 __version = '1.0.0'
 
 
@@ -103,11 +99,10 @@ def error(err):
 
 
 def interpret_track(blend_release):
-    result = yaml.safe_load(requests.get(blend_release.get(
-        'impl') + '/' + blend_release.get('track') + '.yaml', allow_redirects=True).content.decode())
+    result = yaml.safe_load(requests.get(blend_release.get('impl') + '/' + blend_release.get('track') + '.yaml', allow_redirects=True).content.decode())
 
     if (type(result.get('impl')) == str and
-            type(result.get('track')) != 'custom'):
+        type(result.get('track')) != 'custom'):
         res = interpret_track(result)
 
         for i in res.keys():
@@ -119,6 +114,8 @@ def interpret_track(blend_release):
 
 
 def update_system():
+    benchmark = True
+
     if os.path.isdir('/.update_rootfs'):
         error('update already downloaded, you must reboot first')
         sys.exit(75)
@@ -137,61 +134,44 @@ def update_system():
     with open('/system.yaml') as blend_release_file:
         blend_release = yaml.load(
             blend_release_file, Loader=yaml.FullLoader)
+        
 
-        # TODO: Add check that all packages actually exist
+
+        # TODO: Add check that all packages actually exist        
 
         info('downloading Arch tarball...')
 
+        # TODO: currently it errors if it doesn't have arch-repo anyways, so this doesn't need any extra checking, maybe add a check for that later though
         # The mirror to use for downloading the bootstrap image
         # For example, for the Arch mirror at mirrors.acm.wpi.edu, you'd use https://mirrors.acm.wpi.edu/archlinux
-        arch_repo = blend_release.get("arch-repo")
-        if type(arch_repo) != str:
-            # default arch and bootstrap repo
-            arch_repo = "geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com"
-
-        bootstrap_repo = blend_release.get("bootstrap-repo")
-        if type(bootstrap_repo) != str:
-            bootstrap_repo = arch_repo
-
-        # TODO: default to https if http/https isn't listed
-        # keeping disabled for consistency because i can't find `repo` to add it (and to add a fallback)
-        if not (arch_repo.startswith("https://") or arch_repo.startswith("http://")):
-            arch_repo = "https://" + arch_repo
-        if not (bootstrap_repo.startswith("https://") or bootstrap_repo.startswith("http://")):
-            bootstrap_repo = "https://" + bootstrap_repo
-
-        # same (fallback and https) for repo
-        repo = blend_release.get("repo")
-        if type(repo) != str:
-            repo = "https://pkg-repo.blendos.co"
-        elif not (repo.startswith("https://") or repo.startswith("http://")):
-            repo = "https://" + repo
+        # Not sure why this wouldn't just use `arch-repo` but whatever
+        bootstrap_mirror = blend_release.get("arch-repo")
 
         if not os.path.isfile('/.update.tar.zst'):
-            if exec('wget', '-q', '--show-progress', f'{bootstrap_repo}/iso/latest/archlinux-bootstrap-x86_64.tar.zst', '-O', '/.update.tar.zst') != 0:
+            if exec('wget', '-q', '--show-progress', f'{bootstrap_mirror}/iso/latest/archlinux-bootstrap-x86_64.tar.zst', '-O', '/.update.tar.zst') != 0:
                 warn('failed download')
                 print()
                 info('trying download again...')
                 print()
                 exec('rm', '-f', '/.update.tar.zst')
-                if exec('wget', '-q', '--show-progress', f'{bootstrap_repo}/iso/latest/archlinux-bootstrap-x86_64.tar.zst', '-O', '/.update.tar.zst') != 0:
+                if exec('wget', '-q', '--show-progress', f'{bootstrap_mirror}/iso/latest/archlinux-bootstrap-x86_64.tar.zst', '-O', '/.update.tar.zst') != 0:
                     error('failed download')
                     print()
                     error('update failed')
                     sys.exit(50)
 
-        if exec('bash', '-c', f'sha256sum -c --ignore-missing <(wget -qO- {bootstrap_repo}/iso/latest/sha256sums.txt | sed "s/archlinux-bootstrap-x86_64\\.tar\\.zst/.update.tar.zst/g") 2>/dev/null') != 0:
+        if exec('bash', '-c', f'sha256sum -c --ignore-missing <(wget -qO- {bootstrap_mirror}/iso/latest/sha256sums.txt | sed "s/archlinux-bootstrap-x86_64\\.tar\\.zst/.update.tar.zst/g") 2>/dev/null') != 0:
             error('failed checksum verification')
             print()
             info('trying download again...')
             exec('rm', '-f', '/.update.tar.zst')
-            if exec('wget', '-q', '--show-progress', f'{bootstrap_repo}/iso/latest/archlinux-bootstrap-x86_64.tar.zst', '-O', '/.update.tar.zst') != 0:
+            if exec('wget', '-q', '--show-progress', f'{bootstrap_mirror}/iso/latest/archlinux-bootstrap-x86_64.tar.zst', '-O', '/.update.tar.zst') != 0:
                 error('failed download')
                 print()
                 error('update failed')
                 sys.exit(50)
                 return
-            if exec('bash', '-c', f'sha256sum -c --ignore-missing <(wget -qO- {bootstrap_repo}/iso/latest/sha256sums.txt | sed "s/archlinux-bootstrap-x86_64\\.tar\\.zst/.update.tar.zst/g") 2>/dev/null') != 0:
+            if exec('bash', '-c', f'sha256sum -c --ignore-missing <(wget -qO- {bootstrap_mirror}/iso/latest/sha256sums.txt | sed "s/archlinux-bootstrap-x86_64\\.tar\\.zst/.update.tar.zst/g") 2>/dev/null') != 0:
                 error('failed checksum verification')
                 print()
                 error('update failed')
@@ -204,7 +184,11 @@ def update_system():
 
         info('generating new system...')
 
+        before = datetime.now()
         exec('tar', '--acls', '--xattrs', '-xf', '.update.tar.zst')
+        after = datetime.now()
+        if benchmark:
+            print(f'[BENCH]: {(before - after).seconds} seconds to extract tarball')
         exec('mv', 'root.x86_64', '.new_rootfs')
         exec('rm', '-f', '/.new_rootfs/pkglist.x86_64.txt')
         exec('rm', '-f', '/.new_rootfs/version')
@@ -224,12 +208,10 @@ def update_system():
             'blend-files'
         ]
 
-        keep = [
-            '/usr/share'
-        ]
+        persistent_files = []
 
         if (type(blend_release.get('impl')) == str and
-                type(blend_release.get('track')) != 'custom'):
+            type(blend_release.get('track')) != 'custom'):
             res = interpret_track(blend_release)
 
             for i in res.keys():
@@ -252,66 +234,59 @@ def update_system():
         if type(blend_release.get('user-services')) == list:
             user_services += blend_release.get('user-services')
 
+        if type(blend_release.get('persistent-files')) == list:
+            persistent_files += blend_release.get('persistent-files')
+
         exec_chroot('rm', '-f', '/.new_rootfs/etc/resolv.conf')
 
         with open('/.new_rootfs/etc/resolv.conf', 'w') as pacman_mirrorlist_conf:
             pacman_mirrorlist_conf.write('nameserver 1.1.1.1\n')
 
         with open('/.new_rootfs/etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist', 'w') as pacman_mirrorlist_conf:
-            pacman_mirrorlist_conf.write(
-                    f'Server = {arch_repo}/$repo/os/$arch\n')
+            if type(blend_release.get('arch-repo')) == str:
+                pacman_mirrorlist_conf.write(f'Server = {blend_release.get("arch-repo")}/$repo/os/$arch\n')
+            else:
+                pacman_mirrorlist_conf.write('Server = https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/$repo/os/$arch\n')
 
         exec_chroot('mkdir', '-p', '/var/cache/pacman/pkg')
         exec_chroot('rm', '-rf', '/var/cache/pacman/pkg')
-        exec('cp', '-r', '/var/cache/pacman/pkg',
-             '/.new_rootfs/var/cache/pacman')
+        exec('cp', '-r', '/var/cache/pacman/pkg', '/.new_rootfs/var/cache/pacman')
 
         # update packages
         exec_chroot('pacman-key', '--init')
         exec_chroot('pacman-key', '--populate')
 
-        counter = 0
-        while True:
-            return_val = exec_chroot('pacman', '-Sy', '--ask=4', 'reflector')
-            counter += 1
-            if counter > 30:
-                error('failed to download packages')
-                exit(50)
-            if return_val == 0:
-                break
+        # If the GitHub API is down or something, this completely breaks
+        # also it's broken currently and reflector is working now anyways soooooo
+        # commented out
+        #exec_chroot('sh', '-c', 'mkdir /tmp/rate-mirrors/; cd /tmp/rate-mirrors/; curl -LO $(curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/westandskif/rate-mirrors/releases/latest | grep "browser_download_url.*rate-mirrors-v.*-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz" | cut -d : -f 2,3 | tr -d \\" | tr -d " ")')
+        #exec_chroot('bash', '-c', 'cd /tmp/rate-mirrors/; tar -xzf rate-mirrors*; cd $(find /tmp/rate-mirrors/ -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -type d); ./rate_mirrors --disable-comments-in-file --entry-country=US --protocol=https arch --max-delay 7200 > /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist')
 
-        exec_chroot('reflector', '--latest', '5', '--protocol', 'https',
-                    '--sort', 'rate', '--save', '/etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist')
+        #exec_chroot('sed', 's/#//g', '-i', '/etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist')
+        #exec_chroot('bash', '-c', 'grep "^Server =" /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist > /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.tmp; mv /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.tmp /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist')
 
-        # exec_chroot('sed', 's/#//g', '-i', '/etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist')
-        # exec_chroot('bash', '-c', 'grep "^Server =" /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist > /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.tmp; mv /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.tmp /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist')
-
-        with open('/.new_rootfs/etc/pacman.conf', 'r') as original:
-            data = original.read()
-        with open('/.new_rootfs/etc/pacman.conf', 'w') as modified:
-            modified.write(data.replace(
-                "[options]", "[options]\nParallelDownloads = 32\n"))
-        with open('/.new_rootfs/etc/pacman.conf', 'w') as modified:
-            modified.write(data.replace(
-                "#[multilib]\n#Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist", "[multilib]\nInclude = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist"))
+        with open('/.new_rootfs/etc/pacman.conf', 'r') as original: data = original.read()
+        with open('/.new_rootfs/etc/pacman.conf', 'w') as modified: modified.write(data.replace("[options]", "[options]\nParallelDownloads = 32\n"))
+        with open('/.new_rootfs/etc/pacman.conf', 'w') as modified: modified.write(data.replace("#[multilib]\n#Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist", "[multilib]\nInclude = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist"))
 
         with open('/.new_rootfs/etc/pacman.conf', 'a') as pacman_conf:
             pacman_conf.write(f'''
 [breakfast]
 SigLevel = Never
-Server = {repo}
+Server = {blend_release['repo']}
 ''')
 
             if type(blend_release.get('package-repos')) == list:
                 for package_repo in blend_release.get('package-repos'):
                     if (type(package_repo.get('name')) == str and
-                            type(package_repo.get('repo-url')) == str):
+                        type(package_repo.get('repo-url')) == str):
                         pacman_conf.write(f'''
 [{package_repo["name"]}]
 SigLevel = Never
 Server = {package_repo["repo-url"]}
 ''')
 
+        before = datetime.now()
         counter = 0
         while True:
             return_val = exec_chroot('pacman', '-Syu', '--noconfirm')
@@ -321,11 +296,16 @@ Server = {package_repo["repo-url"]}
                 exit(50)
             if return_val == 0:
                 break
+        after = datetime.now()
+        if benchmark:
+            print(f'[BENCH]: {(before - after).seconds} seconds to update packages')
 
         exec('cp', '/etc/mkinitcpio.conf', '/.new_rootfs/etc/mkinitcpio.conf')
 
+        before = datetime.now()
         counter = 0
         while True:
+            print('running packages again')
             return_val = exec_chroot('pacman', '-S', '--ask=4', *packages)
             counter += 1
             if counter > 30:
@@ -333,18 +313,24 @@ Server = {package_repo["repo-url"]}
                 exit(50)
             if return_val == 0:
                 break
-
+        after = datetime.now()
+        if benchmark:
+            print(f'[BENCH]: {(before - after).seconds} seconds to install packages')
+        
         counter = 0
         if aur_packages != []:
             while True:
-                exec_chroot('useradd', '-m', '-G', 'wheel',
-                            '-s', '/bin/bash', 'aur')
-                exec_chroot(
-                    'bash', '-c', 'echo "aur ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL" > /etc/sudoers.d/aur')
+                print('running aur_packages again')
+                exec_chroot('useradd', '-m', '-G', 'wheel', '-s', '/bin/bash', 'aur')
+                exec_chroot('bash', '-c', 'echo "aur ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL" > /etc/sudoers.d/aur')
+                before = datetime.now()
                 return_val = exec_chroot(
                     'runuser', '-u', 'aur', '--', 'paru', '-Sy', '--noconfirm', '--needed',
                     '--noprogressbar', '--skipreview', '--removemake', '--cleanafter', '--ask=4',
                     *aur_packages)
+                after = datetime.now()
+                if benchmark:
+                    print(f'[BENCH]: {(before - after).seconds} seconds to install AUR packages')
                 exec_chroot('userdel', '-r', 'aur')
                 exec_chroot('rm', '-f', '/etc/sudoers.d/aur')
                 counter += 1
@@ -353,6 +339,7 @@ Server = {package_repo["repo-url"]}
                     exit(50)
                 if return_val == 0:
                     break
+        
 
         for service in services:
             if type(service) is str:
@@ -362,6 +349,12 @@ Server = {package_repo["repo-url"]}
             if type(user_service) is str:
                 exec_chroot('systemctl', 'enable', '--global', user_service)
 
+        for persistent_file in persistent_files:
+            if type(persistent_file) is str:
+                if os.path.exists(persistent_file):
+                    exec('mkdir', '-p',  '/.new_rootfs/'+ os.path.dirname(persistent_file))
+                    exec('cp', persistent_file, '/.new_rootfs/'+ persistent_file)
+
         if type(blend_release.get('commands')) == list:
             for command in blend_release.get('commands'):
                 if type(command) == str:
@@ -412,8 +405,7 @@ Server = {package_repo["repo-url"]}
 
         exec('cp', '-ax', '/var/lib', '/.new.var.lib')
 
-        var_lib_diff = filecmp.dircmp(
-            '/.new_rootfs/var/lib/', '/.new.var.lib/')
+        var_lib_diff = filecmp.dircmp('/.new_rootfs/var/lib/', '/.new.var.lib/')
 
         dir_name = '/.new.var.lib/'
         for name in var_lib_diff.left_only:
@@ -439,7 +431,6 @@ Server = {package_repo["repo-url"]}
         exec('cp', '-ax', '/.new_rootfs/var/lib/pacman', '/.new.var.lib/pacman')
 
         exec('mv', '.new_rootfs', '.update_rootfs')
-        exec('cp', '-ax', '/.update_rootfs/etc', '/.update_rootfs/usr/etc')
 
         new_boot_files = []
 
@@ -494,8 +485,10 @@ command_map = {'help': 'help',
                'daemon': daemon}
 parser.add_argument('command', choices=command_map.keys(),
                     help=argparse.SUPPRESS)
-parser.add_argument('--keep-files-on-error',
-                    action='store_true', help="keep working files on error")
+parser.add_argument('pkg', action='store', type=str,
+                    nargs='*', help=argparse.SUPPRESS)
+parser.add_argument('--headless',
+                    action='store_true', help=argparse.SUPPRESS)
 parser.add_argument('-v', '--version', action='version',
                     version=f'%(prog)s {__version}', help=argparse.SUPPRESS)
 
@@ -518,8 +511,7 @@ try:
         parser.parse_args(['--version'])
     elif command == update_system:
         exec('touch', '/var/lib/.akshara-system-lock')
-        system_lock = fasteners.InterProcessLock(
-            '/var/lib/.akshara-system-lock')
+        system_lock = fasteners.InterProcessLock('/var/lib/.akshara-system-lock')
         info('attempting to acquire system lock')
         with system_lock:
             command()
@@ -527,11 +519,12 @@ try:
         command()
 except:
     error('aborting')
-    # remove update and akshara stuff if the program errors (either exited by the user or an error) and is updating
-    if command == update_system and not args.keep_files_on_error:
-        exec('umount', '-rf', '/.new_rootfs/')
-        exec('rmdir', '/.new_rootfs/')
-        exec('rm', '-rf', '/.update_rootfs')
-        exec('rm', '-f', '/.update')
-    else:
-        print("--keep-files-on-error specified, not deleting files (/.new_rootfs/, /.update_rootfs/, /.update)")
+    # remove update and akshara stuff if the program is exited
+    exec('umount', '-rf', '/.new_rootfs/')
+    exec('rmdir', '/.new_rootfs/')
+    exec('rm', '-rf', '/.new_rootfs')
+    exec('rm', '-rf', '/.update_rootfs')
+    # it's basically impossible to ^C before akshara has exited but after it's created this file
+    # and i don't *think* that "update" would be destructive at all (unless it failed to run and would't boot), but i don't quite understand it soooo just to be on the safe side
+    exec('rm', '-f', '/.update')
+    # TODO: add similar handling for errors, and an option to not delete stuff on error/early exit