Installing EPrints on Debian/Ubuntu: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 09:25, 14 September 2026

Manual Sections
Introduction How to Get Help/Support History Installing EPrints & Getting Started Installing EPrints Installation on RHEL-based Linux Installation on Debian/Ubuntu Installation on Generic Linux OS Required software Upgrading EPrints Setting up an Archive Backups Troubleshooting Advanced Installation How to use EPrints with HTTPS Setting up email Configuring EPrints Branding with confidence Deposit Types and Metadata Organisation Hierarchy Searches Advanced Configuration/Howtos Setting up HTTPS using Let's Encrypt HTTPS-only and HSTS User Authentication using Shibboleth Technical Reference EPrints Configuration Reference Repository Configuration Reference Metadata Reference (also Functions) API Overview Entire Manual (for printing)

Requirements[edit]

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (non-LTS versions not recommended)
Debian 11 (Bullseye), Debian 12 (Bookworm) or Debian 13 (Trixie) - These are not as comprehensively tested as Ubuntu LTS versions.

Dependencies and Pre-configuration[edit]

The ideal way to install from source is via git using the Core Git repositories EPrints 3.4 or EPrints 3.3, and installing from a source tarball is generally discouraged.

Installing from source via git is now the recommended way to install EPrints for production repositories, after having proved to be a useful installation method to those seeking to develop the EPrints code, develop a plugin or develop a Bazaar package too.

First, as the root user install all the dependencies for EPrints (N.B. Some dependencies may not be able in certain versions of Debian/Ubuntu. See Operating System Version Specific Requirements towards the end of this page):

apt install perl libncurses6 libselinux1 apache2 libapache2-mod-perl2 libxml-libxml-perl \
  libunicode-string-perl libterm-readkey-perl libmime-lite-perl libmime-types-perl libdigest-sha-perl \
  libdbd-mysql-perl libxml-parser-perl libxml2-dev libxml-twig-perl libarchive-any-perl libjson-perl \
  liblwp-protocol-https-perl libtext-unidecode-perl lynx wget ghostscript poppler-utils antiword elinks \
  texlive-base texlive-binaries psutils imagemagick adduser tar gzip unzip libsearch-xapian-perl \
  libtex-encode-perl libio-string-perl python3-html2text make libexpat1-dev libxslt1-dev

If you are installing on Ubuntu, install MySQL server and client:

 apt install mysql-server mysql-client libmysqlclient-dev

If you are installing on Debian, install MariaDB server and client:

 apt install mariadb-server mariadb-client libmariadb-dev

Next, create the eprints user

adduser eprints

Now add the eprints user to the www-data group and vice-versa

usermod -a -G eprints www-data
usermod -a -G www-data eprints

Downloading and Deploying EPrints Source[edit]

Create initial directory with correct permissions[edit]

As root:

mkdir /opt/eprints3
chown eprints:eprints /opt/eprints3
chmod 2775 /opt/eprints3

Cloning from Git[edit]

apt install git
su eprints
git clone https://github.com/eprints/eprints3.4.git /opt/eprints3
cd /opt/eprints3/
git checkout tags/v3.4.7

Configuration[edit]

Next, as the eprints user copy EPRINTS_PATH/perl_lib/EPrints/SystemSettings.pm.tmpl to EPRINTS_PATH/perl_lib/EPrints/SystemSettings.pm, if it does not already exist.

EPRINTS_PATH should now always be /opt/eprints3. However, historically other paths have been used when EPrints was available as a Deb package.

EPrints is now fully installed at EPRINTS_PATH/. However, you will not yet have a running archive. Follow the Getting Started with EPrints 3 instructions to set this up.

Post-configuration[edit]

Next, add the file /etc/apache2/sites-available/eprints.conf with the following line:

Include EPRINTS_PATH/cfg/apache.conf

To enable this as root run the command:

root> a2ensite eprints

Also it may be necessary to disable the default site otherwise the default Apache page will still be shown:

a2dissite 000-default

Finally, restart Apache:

service apache2 restart

You should now be able to access your vanilla repository at the hostname you specified when running epadmin create from the Getting Started with EPrints 3 instructions. You should then login as the admin user you created during this process and turn on the indexer. This can be done by clicking on the Admin link under the Logged in menu, then clicking on the System Tools tab and finally the Start Indexer button.

Operating System Version Specific Requirements[edit]

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS[edit]

N.B. It is assumed that you are installing the latest version of 3.4. Earlier versions may have issues not listed here.

NO CURRENT ISSUES

Previous issues[edit]

libsepol1 Deb package no longer exists: This has been removed as a dependency on 29th May 2022, as it is not specifically required by EPrints.
MySQL root user cannot be used: This is now explained under EPrints' Getting Started instructions. As it is typical for most modern Linux operating systems.
libncurses6 Deb package not available: In more recent versions of Ubuntu libncurses6 is the name for the ncurses package but as Ubuntu 22.04 is older you will need to install libncurses5 instead.

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS[edit]

N.B. It is assumed that you are installing the latest version of 3.4. Earlier versions may have issues not listed here.

Previous Issues[edit]

MySQL root user cannot be used: This is now explained under EPrints' Getting Started instructions. As it is typical for most modern Linux operating systems.
libncurses5 APT package dependency no longer exists: Install libncurses6 instead. However, as both Ubuntu 24.04 and Ubuntu 26.04 only have libncurses6 the general instructions have been updated to use libncurses6, so this is no longer an issue.

Debian Known Issues[edit]

See Debian Known Issues

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{manual}}
 [[Category:Debian and Ubuntu]]
+[[Category:Installation]]
-David Tarrant has built a Debian/Ubuntu package for Eprints.
+== Requirements ==
+* Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (non-LTS versions not recommended)
+* Debian 11 (Bullseye), Debian 12 (Bookworm) or Debian 13 (Trixie) - These are not as comprehensively tested as Ubuntu LTS versions.
-=APT Mirrors=
+=== Dependencies and Pre-configuration ===
+'''The ideal way to install from source is via git using the Core Git repositories [https://github.com/eprints/eprints3.4 EPrints 3.4] or [https://github.com/eprints/eprints EPrints 3.3], and installing from a source tarball is generally discouraged.'''
-<b>Add one of the following mirrors (2 lines) to your /etc/apt/sources.list file as the root user. Please ensure that there is only one set in the file or you may not experience the correct behaviour.</b>
+'''Installing from source via git is now the recommended  way to install EPrints for production repositories, after having proved to be a useful installation method to those seeking to develop the EPrints code, develop a plugin or develop a Bazaar package too.'''
-==EPrints 3.1==
+First, as the root user install all the dependencies for EPrints ('''N.B.''' Some dependencies may not be able in certain versions of Debian/Ubuntu.  See [[#Operating System Version Specific Requirements|Operating System Version Specific Requirements]] towards the end of this page):
-===Stable Release===
-Add the following to /etc/apt/sources.list:
+ apt install perl libncurses6 libselinux1 apache2 libapache2-mod-perl2 libxml-libxml-perl \
+   libunicode-string-perl libterm-readkey-perl libmime-lite-perl libmime-types-perl libdigest-sha-perl \
+   libdbd-mysql-perl libxml-parser-perl libxml2-dev libxml-twig-perl libarchive-any-perl libjson-perl \
+   liblwp-protocol-https-perl libtext-unidecode-perl lynx wget ghostscript poppler-utils antiword elinks \
+   texlive-base texlive-binaries psutils imagemagick adduser tar gzip unzip libsearch-xapian-perl \
+   libtex-encode-perl libio-string-perl python3-html2text make libexpat1-dev libxslt1-dev
- deb http://deb.eprints.org/3.1/ stable/
+If you are installing on Ubuntu, install MySQL server and client:
- deb-src http://deb.eprints.org/3.1/ source/
-===Unstable Release===
+  apt install mysql-server mysql-client libmysqlclient-dev
-To install the latest '''unstable''' release add the following to /etc/apt/sources.list:
+If you are installing on Debian, install MariaDB server and client:
- deb http://deb.eprints.org/3.1/ unstable/
+  apt install mariadb-server mariadb-client libmariadb-dev
- deb-src http://deb.eprints.org/3.1/ source/
-===Nightly Build===
+Next, create the eprints user
-To install the nightly build add the following to /etc/apt/sources.list:
+ adduser eprints
- deb http://deb.eprints.org/3.1/ nightly/
+Now add the eprints user to the www-data group and vice-versa
- deb-src http://deb.eprints.org/3.1/ source/
-==EPrints 3.0==
+ usermod -a -G eprints www-data
-To install the old 3.0 branch follow the same instructions as above replacing 3.1 with 3.0 in all instances.
+ usermod -a -G www-data eprints
-==EPrints 3.2 (Current Trunk Build)==
+=== Downloading and Deploying EPrints Source ===
-This is available as a nightly build only and offers no guarantees.
+==== Create initial directory with correct permissions ====
+As root:
+ mkdir /opt/eprints3
+ chown eprints:eprints /opt/eprints3
+ chmod 2775 /opt/eprints3
-To install the nightly build add the following to /etc/apt/sources.list:
+==== Cloning from Git ====
-  deb http://deb.eprints.org/3.2/ nightly/
+  apt install git
-  deb-src http://deb.eprints.org/3.2/ source/
+ su eprints
+ git clone https://github.com/eprints/eprints3.4.git /opt/eprints3
+  cd /opt/eprints3/
+ git checkout tags/v3.4.7
+== Configuration ==
+Next, as the eprints user copy <code>EPRINTS_PATH/perl_lib/EPrints/SystemSettings.pm.tmpl</code> to <code>EPRINTS_PATH/perl_lib/EPrints/SystemSettings.pm</code>, if it does not already exist.
+<code>EPRINTS_PATH</code> should now always be <code>/opt/eprints3</code>.  However, historically other paths have been used when EPrints was available as a Deb package.
+EPrints is now fully installed at <code>EPRINTS_PATH/</code>. However, you will not yet have a running archive. Follow the [[Getting Started with EPrints 3]] instructions to set this up.
-=Installing Eprints via apt-get=
+=== Post-configuration ===
+Next, add the file <code>/etc/apache2/sites-available/eprints.conf</code> with the following line:
-To install Eprints and all its dependencies execute the following (as root):
+ Include EPRINTS_PATH/cfg/apache.conf
- apt-get update
+To enable this as root run the command:
- apt-get install eprints
-=Setting up a Repository=
+ root> a2ensite eprints
-You should now have a working installation of eprints in /usr/share/eprints3/. Please follow the on-screen instructions to set up an eprints repository. You probably want to start with (as root):
-'''For more information about setting up an EPrints repository take a look at [[Getting Started with EPrints 3]]'''
+Also it may be necessary to disable the default site otherwise the default Apache page will still be shown:
-<b>Read First: Known issues with the Debian/Ubuntu package can be found at [[Debian Known Issues]].</b>
+ a2dissite 000-default
- su eprints
+Finally, restart Apache:
- cd
- ./bin/epadmin create
- logout
- a2ensite eprints3
- apache2ctl restart
+ service apache2 restart
-If you have any problems getting set up you can get free help and support from the EP-Tech msiling list. {{EPrintsTech}}
+You should now be able to access your vanilla repository at the hostname you specified when running '''epadmin create''' from the [[Getting Started with EPrints 3]] instructions.  You should then login as the admin user you created during this process and turn on the indexer.  This can be done by clicking on the '''Admin''' link under the Logged in menu, then clicking on the '''System Tools''' tab and finally the '''Start Indexer''' button.
-=Getting and Compiling from Source (not required)=
+== Operating System Version Specific Requirements ==
-To install dependencies and retrieve the Eprints source execute the following:
+=== Ubuntu 22.04 LTS ===
+{{:Issues with Installing EPrints on Ubuntu 22.04}}
- apt-get update
+=== Ubuntu 24.04 LTS ===
- apt-get build-dep eprints
+{{:Issues with Installing EPrints on Ubuntu 24.04}}
- apt-get source eprints
-The source will be saved to a tarball in the current directory.
+=== Debian Known Issues ===
+See [[Debian Known Issues]]