How to Install Xandikos on Debian Latest

This tutorial will guide you through the process of installing Xandikos on Debian Latest. Xandikos is a CalDAV/CardDAV server that stores calendar and address book data.

Prerequisites

Before starting, you will need the following:

  • A Debian Latest system that is updated
  • Root or sudo access to the server

Step 1: Install Python and Required Dependencies

Xandikos requires Python 3.5 or later to run. You can check the Python version on your system by running the command:

$ python3 --version

If you don't have Python 3 installed, you can install it using the command:

$ sudo apt-get install python3

Xandikos also requires several Python libraries to be installed. Use the following command to install them:

$ sudo apt-get install python3-pip python3-dev python3-venv \
libpython3-dev libffi-dev libssl-dev libpq-dev libxml2-dev libxslt1-dev

Step 2: Clone the Xandikos Repository

To download and install Xandikos, you need to clone the repository from GitHub. Change to a directory where you want to download Xandikos and run the command:

$ git clone https://github.com/jelmer/xandikos.git

This command will download the latest version of Xandikos to your local directory.

Step 3: Create a Python Virtual Environment

To install and run Xandikos, you should create a Python virtual environment. This will help to isolate Xandikos's dependencies from the rest of the system. Change to the directory where you downloaded Xandikos, and run the following commands:

$ python3 -m venv xandikos-env
$ source xandikos-env/bin/activate

The first command creates a new virtual environment, while the second command activates the environment.

Step 4: Install Xandikos and Its Dependencies

With the virtual environment activated, you can now install Xandikos and its dependencies. Run the following command:

$ pip install -U pip setuptools
$ pip install -e .

The first command upgrades pip and setuptools to the latest version. The second command installs Xandikos and its dependencies in editable mode.

Step 5: Configure and Run Xandikos

Finally, you need to configure and run Xandikos. Copy the example configuration file to create your own configuration:

$ cp config.ini.example config.ini

Edit the configuration file to specify your settings. You should change the username and password fields to a secure value. 

[http]
listen = 0.0.0.0:5232
certfile = 
keyfile = 

[backend]
module = xandikos.backends.storage.sql_store
store = sqlite:///data/carddav.sqlite3;dbname=xandikos
username = xandikos
password = DefaultPassword

You can use any SQL database supported by SQLAlchemy for the store field. For example, to use PostgreSQL, you would set the following:

store = postgresql://xandikos:password@localhost/xandikos

Once you have configured Xandikos, run the following command to start the server:

$ pserve config.ini

This command will start the server, and you should see a message indicating that the server is running. By default, Xandikos listens on port 5232.

You can verify that the server is working by trying to access it from a web browser or a CalDAV/CardDAV client. To get started with Xandikos, you can use the built-in WebDAV client:

  • Open a web browser and go to http://your-ip:5232/
  • Enter your username and password and click "Login".
  • You should see a list of your calendars and address books.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed and configured Xandikos on Debian Latest.