requesting instructions on how to install the latest on debian bookworm

[nutpantz]

i would like the run the latest 3.4.0 on Debian bookworm.
however following the instructions on the website error out.
$ python3 -m pip install --upgrade https://github.com/Kozea/Radicale/archive/master.tar.gz
error: externally-managed-environment

× This environment is externally managed
╰─> To install Python packages system-wide, try apt install
python3-xyz, where xyz is the package you are trying to
install.

the latest on Debian is 3.1.8.
i cannot install testing package. and i could not find any other one.

can anyone point me to a safe secure install of the latest package?
for a non expert.

[pbiering]

have you tried adding --user

[nutpantz]

same error

[pbiering]

Have replayed and created now a Wiki page with instructions
https://github.com/Kozea/Radicale/wiki/Installing-on-Debian-Linux

As Debian 12 still contains only radicale 3.1.8 one should contact the maintainer to update the package...

[nutpantz]

well.
install works great and it runs as a user.

but anything that is tried from "the manual" on the official web page to run it as a service just fails. "module not loaded" after
env[12563]: /usr/bin/python3: No module named radicale
about three hours of chasing old documentation and old bug reports i gave up.

debian is one of the most popular linux distributions. i have been using linux for over 10 years.
and i see why it is next to impossible to convince people to use it.
documentation is an after thought, rarely tested regularly but breaks with almost any update.
( what is did to get it to work step by step 3 months ago FAILS today)

it is very frustrating.
( and zero documentation on how to get pipx to purge all the changes it made. so i may have to reinstall from scratch)
( and i just installed the OS 3 days ago and have set up nothing but lighttpd and shh.)

just building and releasing a .deb package from the developer would likely have it working in 15 seconds. most developers don't seem to care to make it to happen. lets just install 4 or 5 other things to install it....

so very frustrating.
no wonder google microsoft and apple are getting rich.

[pbiering]

for "trixie" and "sid" 3.5.1 is now available: https://packages.debian.org/radicale

file ticket to related maintainer, why older distributions haven't got an update so far.

[nutpantz]

How do you expect someone to package it for Debian 12, (the foundation for so many Linux distributions) when the instructions for installing it by the developer fail? Seems like if i could install it by the instructions here. It would not matter about the package anywhere else.

[pbiering]

I would have assumed that maintainer which created successfully packages for 3.5.1 would be able to backport changes to Debian 12. I cannot maintain instructions for all Linux distributions, this requries contributions.

BTW: "module not loaded" sounds like the package is stored in a directory outside the Python search path...one can try PYTHONPATH=/path/to/radicale/ to extend this search path.

[nutpantz]

BTW: "module not loaded" sounds like the package is stored in a directory outside the Python search path...one can try PYTHONPATH=/path/to/radicale/ to extend this search path.

that might work, if i had any idea where pipx put the files to run as a service, or of any way for pipx to remove all the files it installed, so i can start fresh. its not only in "~/ .local " as that is all manually purged.

[pbiering]

perhaps you should try using Python virtual environment for such.

[pbiering]

btw: have you tried installing 3.1.8 on Debian 12 and simply replace Radicale's Python files?

[nutpantz]

pipx install https://github.com/Kozea/Radicale/archive/master.tar.gz
pipx ensurepath

That was supposed to be a virtual environment, but there is no way to run it as a service without it failing.

I'm still trying to remove everything the above did. Since i tried that it has caused the same error in the package from debian. So until i find a way to remove everything "pipx install" did. I'm dead in the water unless i do a fresh install.

[alfalfascout]

Here is what worked for me, to install the latest Radicale in a managed environment (Raspbian Bookworm, similar to Debian). I tried many different things before finding something that worked, so my apologies if I miss a command.

One big difference was telling ExecStart to open the Radicale that exists within its virtual environment, and use that virtual environment's /bin/ folder as PATH. Another difference is chowning basically every folder Radicale uses to the radicale user and group, lest it give me a 226/NAMESPACE error instead of starting up.

sudo apt install python3-pip, apache2-utils
sudo python -m venv /venv/radicale
sudo /venv/radicale/bin/pip install --upgrade https://github.com/Kozea/Radicale/archive/master.tar.gz
sudo mkdir /etc/radicale
sudo nano /etc/radicale/config

Ordinary config will work fine. Mine looks like this, minus a few hosts:

[auth]
type = htpasswd
htpasswd_filename = /etc/radicale/users
htpasswd_encryption = autodetect

[server]
hosts = localhost:5232
max_connections = 20
max_content_length = 1000000000
timeout = 30

Back to bash. Make users like normal. Make and chown Radicale directories.

sudo htpasswd -5 -c /etc/radicale/users username
sudo useradd --system --user-group --home-dir / --shell /sbin/nologin radicale
sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/radicale/collections
sudo mkdir /var/cache/radicale/
sudo chown -R radicale:radicale /var/lib/radicale/collections
sudo chmod -R =o /var/lib/radicale/collections
sudo chown -R radicale:radicale /var/lib/radicale/
sudo chown -R radicale:radicale /var/cache/radicale/
sudo chown -R radicale:radicale /venv/radicale/
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/radicale.service

Service file is a little different.

[Unit]
Description=A simple CalDAV (calendar) and CardDAV (contact) server
After=network.target
Requires=network.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/venv/radicale/bin/python -m radicale
Environment="PATH=/venv/radicale/bin"
Restart=on-failure
User=radicale
# Deny other users access to the calendar data
UMask=0027
# Optional security settings
PrivateTmp=true
ProtectSystem=strict
ProtectHome=true
PrivateDevices=true
ProtectKernelTunables=true
ProtectKernelModules=true
ProtectControlGroups=true
NoNewPrivileges=true
ReadWritePaths=/var/lib/radicale/ /var/cache/radicale/

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Then start your service like normal.

systemctl enable radicale
systemctl start radicale
systemctl status radicale

If anyone spots a mistake or figures out how to do this a better way, I welcome feedback.