ArchiveBox Debian Package

This repo builds the archivebox .deb package used by apt install on Ubuntu/Debian-based systems.

The package is just a thin apt wrapper around the normal Python install flow, it's not a "proper debian package" because it depends on postinstall scripts to setup python, uv, and archivebox.

1. apt installs /usr/bin/archivebox, /opt/archivebox/install.sh, a systemd unit, and a small package metadata file.
2. postinstall installs the official prebuilt uv into /opt/archivebox/uv.
3. uv resolves Python 3.13 from the host or its normal managed-Python location for the archivebox system user.
4. uv pip install installs the exact PyPI wheel and SHA-256 selected at package build time into /opt/archivebox/venv.
5. archivebox install installs the runtime dependencies for all enabled extractor plugins.

Install

echo 'deb [trusted=yes] https://archivebox.github.io/debian-archivebox dev main' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/archivebox.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install archivebox

The systemd service uses /var/lib/archivebox/data as its collection. Install the extractor dependencies before starting it, then create its admin user:

cd /var/lib/archivebox/data
sudo archivebox install
sudo systemctl enable --now archivebox
sudo -u archivebox -H bash -lc 'cd /var/lib/archivebox/data && archivebox manage createsuperuser'

The package creates the archivebox system user and the state/config/runtime directories needed for systemd usage. To use a separate personal collection instead, run the normal commands in a directory you own:

mkdir -p ~/archivebox/data && cd ~/archivebox/data
archivebox init
archivebox install
archivebox add 'https://example.com'

If managed plugin installation needs system packages, run sudo archivebox install from the collection directory. The wrapper drops privileges to the collection owner and does not recursively change collection ownership.

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Building the .deb Wrapper

go install github.com/goreleaser/nfpm/v2/cmd/nfpm@latest
# jq and curl are also required to resolve the exact published PyPI wheel
ARCHIVEBOX_VERSION=0.9.35rc175 ./bin/build_deb.sh
sudo apt install ./dist/archivebox_*.deb

ARCHIVEBOX_VERSION is the only ArchiveBox release input. The build resolves that version's unique wheel URL and SHA-256 from PyPI, stores them in /opt/archivebox/package.env, and installs that exact wheel; it never clones or embeds the ArchiveBox source tree.

Before publishing, CI verifies the built package on an Ubuntu GitHub Actions runner by installing the .deb with apt, running the installed /usr/bin/archivebox as both root and a normal passwordless-sudo user, running full archivebox install flows for both, archiving a local fixture page as the normal user, and asserting that index.sqlite3 plus real files under archive/ are written to disk.