Debian/Ubuntu

Compatibility

Debian 9 (Stretch), Ubuntu 16.04+ and up - anything that’s not end-of-life. Ubuntu-based distributions have a number of flavors, for instance Xubuntu and Mint.



Install from PPA repository

In Ubuntu-based distributions, use the following commands in Terminal to add the PPA and install Kolibri:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:learningequality/kolibri
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install kolibri

In Debian-based distributions you need to use these commands to point to our Launchpad PPA:

sudo apt-get install dirmngr
sudo su -c 'echo "deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/learningequality/kolibri/ubuntu bionic main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/learningequality-ubuntu-kolibri.list'
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv-keys DC5BAA93F9E4AE4F0411F97C74F88ADB3194DD81
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install kolibri

Uninstall

From the command line: sudo apt-get remove kolibri.

Tip

To remove all the user data and the downloaded channels, delete the ~/.kolibri folder (go to Device > Info to find the exact location of the folder on your system). If you install Kolibri again, you will have to go through the Initial Setup steps from the beginning.

Upgrade

Warning

We recommend making sure Kolibri is not running before upgrading.

When you use the PPA installation method, upgrades to newer versions will be automatic, provided there is internet access available.

Install from a .deb file

The advantages of downloading a .deb file is the portability: you can copy the file from device to device and install Kolibri without internet access.

  1. Download the latest .deb installer for Kolibri version 0.15, or have it copied to your local drive.

  2. Run this command from the location where you downloaded the DEB file:

    sudo dpkg -i kolibri-installer-filename.deb

  3. Wait for the installation to finish and run this command to start Kolibri:

    kolibri start

    Note

    If you choose to install Kolibri as a system service, you will not need to start it manually.

  4. When the command finishes, open the default browser at http://127.0.0.1:8080 and proceed with the Initial setup of your facility.

Uninstall

  • Open Software on Ubuntu and locate the Kolibri. Press Remove.
  • Or from the command line: sudo apt-get remove kolibri.

Tip

To remove all the user data and the downloaded channels, delete the ~/.kolibri folder (go to Device > Info to find the exact location of the folder on your system). If you install Kolibri again, you will have to go through the Initial Setup steps from the beginning.

Upgrade

When you use the PPA installation method, upgrades to newer versions will be automatic, provided there is internet access available.

To upgrade Kolibri on a Debian device without internet access, bring the updated .deb file and follow the same steps as in Install from a .deb file.

Changing the owner of Kolibri system service

The system service is the script that runs Kolibri in the background when your system boots on Debian-based distributions.

You may need to change the system service to run with the permissions of a different user account. Prior to v0.10, kolibri user account was the owner of the system service, while from v0.10 and later, desktop user’s account is preferred, in order for Kolibri to access the local USB storage.

To change the system service owner, you need to change the configuration of the system service, move the .kolibri data folder (containing channels, databases etc.), and assign owner permissions to the new user. Follow these steps.

  1. Stop Kolibri.
sudo systemctl stop kolibri
  1. Move data to your desktop user.
sudo mv /var/kolibri/.kolibri /home/$USER/.kolibri
  1. Change ownership.
sudo chown -R $USER /home/$USER/.kolibri
  1. Change the username configuration.
sudo sh -c 'sudo echo -n $USER > /etc/kolibri/username'
  1. Start Kolibri again.
sudo systemctl start kolibri

Note

Replace the $USER in commands above with the name of the user you wish to be the new Kolibri system service owner.

Higher performance with the kolibri-server package

We have of a higher-performance wrapper around the kolibri package for Ubuntu and Debian systems called kolibri-server.

kolibri-server has some specific features like static content cache and optimized usage of the CPU processing power in multi core devices. For example, a Raspberry Pi 3+ device has 4 CPU cores, and with kolibri-server it will likely be able to serve 2-3 times more client devices compared to base Kolibri. Find out more details in the package repository.

To install kolibri-server follow these steps.

  1. Run these commands in the Terminal:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:learningequality/kolibri
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install kolibri-server

During the installation you will be offered the option to choose the port (8000, 80 or leave the default 8080).

  1. Restart the system.

Warning

Keep in mind that the kolibri-server system performance will depend not only on server device features, but also on local WiFi access point characteristics.