Install on Linux (systemd)¶

The recommended deployment.

apt (Debian, Ubuntu, Raspberry Pi OS)¶

curl -fsSL https://packet-net.github.io/apt/pubkey.asc | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/packet-net.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/packet-net.gpg] https://packet-net.github.io/apt ./" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/packet-net.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install dapps

amd64, arm64 and armhf are all published, so this is the same two commands on a Pi as on a server. The repository is the packet-net apt repo, signed with the key you just installed, and it carries the rest of the stack too (pdn-soundmodem, packetnet, axcall, the pdn-* services) - you only add it once.

Installing gives you:

The payload under /usr/lib/dapps, with /usr/bin/dapps a symlink into it.
A dapps system user, and /var/lib/dapps for the SQLite database (created by systemd, kept across upgrades and across apt purge - the message store is never something a package removal should take with it).
dapps.service, enabled and started.
/etc/dapps/dapps.env, seeded on first install and never touched again by an upgrade.

Then open http://<node>:5000/. The first request lands on /Setup - a two-step wizard for the admin password and your callsign + bearer. See Getting started for the full walk-through.

Updating¶

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

The package restarts the service for you. The dashboard checks the apt repository every six hours and, when a newer version is there, shows a banner with this command; there is no dapps-updater unit or Apply button in the apt install, because apt is the update path here - see Update.

Configuration¶

Callsign, bearer, ports, forwarding, discovery and the rest live in the dashboard and are stored in the database. /etc/dapps/dapps.env is only for the things the dashboard cannot own - principally where the HTTP listener binds:

sudo nano /etc/dapps/dapps.env      # e.g. ASPNETCORE_URLS=http://127.0.0.1:5000
sudo systemctl restart dapps

To change the unit itself, use a drop-in rather than editing /usr/lib/systemd/system/dapps.service - a package upgrade replaces that file, and drop-ins survive it:

sudo systemctl edit dapps

which opens /etc/systemd/system/dapps.service.d/override.conf. Add only what you want to change:

[Service]
Environment=ASPNETCORE_URLS=http://127.0.0.1:5000

If you bind below port 1024 (e.g. the dashboard on :80), grant the binary the capability rather than running as root - and note this has to be applied to the real binary, not the symlink, and re-applied after each upgrade:

sudo setcap 'cap_net_bind_service=+ep' /usr/lib/dapps/dapps.core

Migrating from an install.sh install¶

apt install dapps on a host that was set up with the one-liner installer will warn you, and it is worth reading: the installer writes its unit to /etc/systemd/system/dapps.service, which overrides the package's unit, so systemd would quietly keep running the old binary out of /opt/dapps while apt believes it owns the service. To finish the move:

sudo systemctl disable --now dapps-updater.timer
sudo rm -f /etc/systemd/system/dapps.service \
           /etc/systemd/system/dapps-updater.service \
           /etc/systemd/system/dapps-updater.timer
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart dapps
sudo rm -rf /opt/dapps

Your database in /var/lib/dapps is untouched and carries straight over, so the node keeps its callsign, peers and queued messages.

Uninstalling¶

sudo apt remove dapps      # stops and removes the service, keeps config and database
sudo apt purge dapps       # also removes /etc/dapps and the dapps user

Neither touches /var/lib/dapps. Remove it by hand once you are sure you want the message store gone.

One-liner installer (non-Debian hosts)¶

On a systemd Linux that is not Debian-family - or where you would rather not add a repository:

curl -sSL https://packet-net.github.io/dapps/install.sh | sudo bash

Detects your architecture (x86_64 / aarch64 / armv7l), downloads the matching single-file binary from the latest GitHub Release to /opt/dapps/dapps, creates the dapps system user and /var/lib/dapps state directory, drops dapps.service plus the privileged dapps-updater.service + .timer, and enables both. No env vars, no callsign yet - configuration happens in the dashboard once the daemon is up.

This path keeps the in-app update story: re-run the installer to upgrade in place, or use the dashboard's Apply update button, which goes through the supervised updater. See Update.

Use apt if you can. This exists so that "not Debian" does not mean "build it yourself", and it is the same binary either way.

Manual install¶

If you would rather see what is happening, or your distro has something unusual about its systemd setup, here is what the one-liner does step by step.

1. Drop the binary¶

Pick the right binary for your architecture from the latest release:

sudo mkdir -p /opt/dapps /var/lib/dapps
sudo curl -L \
  https://github.com/packet-net/dapps/releases/latest/download/dapps-linux-x64 \
  -o /opt/dapps/dapps
sudo chmod +x /opt/dapps/dapps

Substitute dapps-linux-arm64 (Pi 4/5, Apple Silicon Linux) or dapps-linux-arm (Pi Zero, Cubie) as needed.

2. Set up the runtime user¶

DAPPS runs as a non-privileged user. The updater service runs as root because it needs to swap a binary that's currently executing - but the daemon itself does not.

sudo useradd --system --home /var/lib/dapps --shell /usr/sbin/nologin dapps
sudo chown -R dapps:dapps /var/lib/dapps

3. Install the systemd units¶

There are two: dapps.service (the daemon) and dapps-updater.service plus dapps-updater.timer (the privileged updater).

dapps.service¶

[Unit]
Description=DAPPS daemon
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=dapps
Group=dapps
WorkingDirectory=/var/lib/dapps
ExecStart=/opt/dapps/dapps
Environment=ASPNETCORE_URLS=http://0.0.0.0:5000
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5s
# Exit code 78 = fatal config error - don't restart in a tight
# loop, leave it down so the journal message is actionable.
RestartPreventExitStatus=78

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Note: no DAPPS_CALLSIGN env var. The daemon starts with the placeholder callsign and the dashboard's /Setup wizard configures the real one. (If you'd rather pre-set it for an automated deployment, Environment=DAPPS_CALLSIGN=M0LTE-1 still works as a first-run seed - just include it before the unit starts the first time.)

If you bind to a port below 1024 (e.g. you want the dashboard on :80), either run as root (not recommended) or grant the binary CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE:

sudo setcap 'cap_net_bind_service=+ep' /opt/dapps/dapps

dapps-updater.service + .timer¶

Privileged. Polls a marker file (/var/lib/dapps/update-requested) every 60 seconds; when present, runs dapps --apply-update, which downloads the latest release for this architecture, swaps /opt/dapps/dapps, restarts dapps.service, verifies the new daemon stays up for 60 seconds, and rolls back to /opt/dapps/dapps.previous on any failure.

# /etc/systemd/system/dapps-updater.service
[Unit]
Description=DAPPS supervised updater
After=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/opt/dapps/dapps --apply-update

# /etc/systemd/system/dapps-updater.timer
[Unit]
Description=Poll for DAPPS update requests

[Timer]
OnBootSec=2min
OnUnitActiveSec=1min
Unit=dapps-updater.service

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target

The timer fires the service every minute; the service does nothing if no marker file exists, so the steady state is a no-op heartbeat.

Do not install these alongside the apt package. They swap a binary in /opt/dapps that an apt install does not use, and the unit in /etc/systemd/system silently wins over the packaged one.

4. Enable and start¶

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now dapps.service
sudo systemctl enable --now dapps-updater.timer
sudo systemctl status dapps.service

You should see Active: active (running) and a journal line Now listening on: http://0.0.0.0:5000.

sudo journalctl -u dapps.service -f

5. Open the dashboard¶

http://<node>:5000/. The first request lands on /Setup - a two-step wizard for the admin password and your callsign + bearer. See Getting started for the walk-through.

The /Health and /Operational endpoints are intentionally not behind the cookie - they're designed to be scraped by watchdogs and your own monitoring. The MCP endpoint at /mcp is also open for the same reason.

Logs¶

DAPPS logs to stdout, which systemd captures into the journal:

# Tail the live stream
sudo journalctl -u dapps.service -f

# Last 24 hours
sudo journalctl -u dapps.service --since '24h ago'

# Search a single message id end-to-end
sudo journalctl -u dapps.service | grep abc1234

The journal also captures the structured decision-events that the /Operational endpoint surfaces - so an "what happened to message X two weeks ago" investigation is a journalctl --grep away.

Backups¶

The state worth backing up is /var/lib/dapps/dapps.db - the SQLite database. The binary is recoverable from apt or GitHub Releases; everything else is derived from defaults. Stop DAPPS before copying for a consistent snapshot, or use SQLite's online backup API.

sudo systemctl stop dapps.service
sudo cp /var/lib/dapps/dapps.db /backup/dapps.db
sudo systemctl start dapps.service

Uninstall (one-liner installs)¶

sudo systemctl disable --now dapps.service dapps-updater.timer
sudo rm /etc/systemd/system/dapps.service /etc/systemd/system/dapps-updater.{service,timer}
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo rm -rf /opt/dapps /var/lib/dapps
sudo userdel dapps

For an apt install, see Uninstalling above.