LibrePortal/docs/guide/install-and-use.md

LibrePortal — Install & Use

How to install, place, update, and remove LibrePortal. For building releases or running a dev copy, see development guide.

Note: the get.libreportal.org host isn't live yet. Until it is, install from a local release artifact or a git/local checkout — see development guide. The commands below are the intended public flow.

Requirements

• A Debian or Ubuntu host.
• root (run with sudo).
• curl (or wget) and tar.

Install

curl -fsSL https://get.libreportal.org/install.sh | sudo bash

This downloads a versioned, checksum-verified release tarball (no git, no login), installs LibrePortal, and prints the WebUI address + a generated password (also saved to the install log). To choose the password yourself add --password=….

Put data where you want it (separate disks, external drives)

LibrePortal uses three independent roots, each can be its own path/disk:

Flag (default)	Holds	Owner
--system-dir=/libreportal-system	configs, database, logs, install	the manager user
--containers-dir=/libreportal-containers	live app data	the container user
--backups-dir=/libreportal-backups	backup repositories	the container user

curl -fsSL https://get.libreportal.org/install.sh | sudo bash -s -- \
  --system-dir=/mnt/ssd/libreportal \
  --containers-dir=/mnt/ssd/libreportal-apps \
  --backups-dir=/mnt/bigdisk/libreportal-backups

Notes:

• Defaults are top-level dirs on purpose — they avoid the permission/encryption pitfalls of living inside a user's home. To put containers/backups inside /home/<user> you must add --allow-home (it needs the container user to traverse that home — a small privacy trade-off).
• Other flags: --manager-user=NAME (default libreportal), --channel=stable|edge (default stable), --version=X.Y.Z (pin a version).

Where things end up

<system-dir>/      configs/  logs/  install/  database.db  ssl/  ssh/
<containers-dir>/  one folder per installed app (+ the libreportal WebUI)
<backups-dir>/     one folder per backup location

The locations are chosen at install and fixed afterward (changing them is a deliberate reinstall, not a setting — this is part of the security model).

Update

LibrePortal checks its channel for a newer version and shows a badge in the WebUI when one is available. Apply it from the dashboard, or on the host:

libreportal update apply       # update now if a newer version exists
libreportal update check       # just re-check the channel

Updates download + verify the new release tarball and redeploy. Your data, configs, and backups are untouched (they live outside the replaced install tree).

Backups on an external / removable drive

Point a backup location at the drive's mount path. For a removable disk, set Require Mounted Drive on the location (config key CFG_BACKUP_LOC_<n>_REQUIRE_MOUNT=true): LibrePortal then refuses to back up when the drive isn't mounted, so an unplugged disk never silently fills your system disk. Use a Linux filesystem (ext4/xfs/btrfs) — FAT/exFAT/NTFS can't hold the required ownership and will warn.

Uninstall

sudo libreportal-uninstall
# keep the rootless Docker layer + image cache for a fast reinstall:
sudo libreportal-uninstall --skip-docker-images

libreportal-uninstall is a fixed command on $PATH (no data path to type — it reads the real install locations from the installed service, so it works even with custom roots). It removes the three roots, the system users, and the small out-of-tree footprint (/usr/local/lib/libreportal, the /etc integration files).

⚠️ Uninstall permanently deletes all app data, configs, and the database. Take a backup first if you want to keep anything.