How to Install Xandikos on POP! OS Latest

Xandikos is an implementation of the CalDAV and CardDAV protocols which allows you to create your own self-hosted calendaring and address book server.

In this tutorial, I'll walk you through the steps to install Xandikos on your POP! OS Latest.

Prerequisites

Before starting the installation process, you have to make sure that the following prerequisites are installed on your system:

  • Python 3.7 or later
  • pip3

To check if Python3 is installed, run the following command:

python3 -V

To check if pip3 is installed, run the following command:

pip3 -V

If you don't have Python3 and pip3, install them by running the following commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install python3 python3-pip

Installation

Follow the steps below to install Xandikos:

  1. First, clone the Xandikos repository from GitHub, using the following command:
git clone https://github.com/jelmer/xandikos.git
  1. Change into the xandikos directory using the following command:
cd xandikos
  1. Install the required Python packages by running the following command:
pip3 install -r requirements.txt
  1. Install Xandikos by running the following command:
sudo python3 setup.py install
  1. To configure Xandikos, create a new configuration file:
sudo touch /etc/xandikos/xandikos.conf
sudo nano /etc/xandikos/xandikos.conf

Copy and paste the following configuration into your Xandikos configuration file.

[server]
host = 0.0.0.0
port = 8080
debug = false

[collections]
store_dir = /var/lib/xandikos/data

[[collections.account1]]
type = calendar
path = account1/calendar

[[collections.account1]]
type = addressbook
path = account1/contacts

[auth]
type = htpasswd
htpasswd_path = /etc/xandikos/users

This configuration creates an account called "account1" with both a calendar and an address book. You can modify this to meet your specific requirements.

  1. Now you need to create an htpasswd file to store your Xandikos credentials:
sudo touch /etc/xandikos/users
sudo chmod 640 /etc/xandikos/users
sudo sh -c "htpasswd -c /etc/xandikos/users user1"

This command will create a new user 'user1' in the htpasswd file. Replace 'user1' with your desired username.

  1. Start Xandikos by running the following command:
xandikos-server /etc/xandikos/xandikos.conf

You should now be able to access your new CalDAV and CardDAV server URI at http://localhost:8080/account1/.

  1. You can also configure Xandikos to automatically start at boot by creating a systemd service file:
sudo touch /etc/systemd/system/xandikos.service
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/xandikos.service

Copy and paste the following text into the file:

[Unit]
Description=Xandikos
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/xandikos-server /etc/xandikos/xandikos.conf
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Then enable the service and start it:

sudo systemctl enable xandikos
sudo systemctl start xandikos

Congratulations! You have successfully installed and configured Xandikos on your POP! OS Latest. You can now start using your own CalDAV and CardDAV server to manage your calendar and contacts.