Debian Packages for Forgejo

Project to bring Forgejo to Debian/Ubuntu as a system package with full systemd integration. This project is relatively stable for daily use, though it admittedly has some maintainership difficulties. We are currently working on automating more of the update process to allow for more streamlined updates.

Packages

You should use apt to install the package. It will take care of dependencies and online updates with minimal additional effort. The packages provided by this repo are described below.

• forgejo: Production-ready build for PostgreSQL or MariaDB (no SQLite support!)
• forgejo-sqlite: Build with SQLite support, no manual database setup required
• forgejo-common: Common files for Forgejo v7.0.7+, required dependency for both packages above
• forgejo-bin: Package with official binary downloaded from Codeberg, common package not required

You can also directly download releases for manual installation. This installation method is not recommended.

Install with apt

Debian's integrated package manager will be used in conjunction with Forgejo's Debian package registry to install and update Forgejo and any other required software. Run the following commands to install the repository on your system:

⚠️ This procedure will install the new repository on your system. If you have previously installed the old repository, please use sudo apt purge forgejo-deb-repo forgejo-deb-repokey to remove it from your system before proceeding!

sudo apt install curl apt-transport-https
sudo curl https://code.forgejo.org/api/packages/apt/debian/repository.key -o /etc/apt/keyrings/forgejo-apt.asc
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/forgejo-apt.asc] https://code.forgejo.org/api/packages/apt/debian lts main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/forgejo.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install forgejo-sqlite

You should now be able to access Forgejo setup by pointing a browser to http://localhost:3000. Replace forgejo-sqlite with whichever variant of the package you prefer from the list above. If you have previously installed one of these packages using the manual installation method, the commands above will use apt to update it. After installing the repository, future Forgejo updates will be installed along with system updates when running apt upgrade.

⁉️ If you wish to upgrade to the latest stable version of Forgejo instead of the LTS version, change lts to stable in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/forgejo.list, then run sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

On Debian 13 (trixie) or later, you can optionally use the DEB822 source format instead of a traditional sources.list file. Click here for details (for skilled Debian users)

If you wish to use DEB822 source format, use the same instructions from above, delete (or omit the creation of) the /etc/apt/sources.list.d/forgejo.list file and instead create a file called /etc/apt/sources.list.d/forgejo.sources with the following contents:

Types: deb
URIs: https://code.forgejo.org/api/packages/apt/debian
Suites: lts
Components: main
Architectures: amd64
Signed-By: /etc/apt/keyrings/forgejo-apt.asc

Remember to change the architecture according to your host system and change Suites to lts or stable according to your release cycle preferences.

Alternatively, you can use sudo apt modernize-sources to automatically convert all sources.list files on your machine to DEB822 source format. Please note that this will also convert your base system's sources.list file to debian.sources. See the Debian Wiki for more information

Matrix Channel

Join us in the #forgejo-deb Matrix channel to chat about development, support, and package updates!

You can also find us on the Forgejo Space or join us by room address: #forgejo-deb:matrix.org

Username Customization

The default username for Forgejo is forgejo, but it can easily be changed prior to installation. For example, if you would rather run Forgejo as user git. Download the files from the etc folder in this repository, place them in the respective directories on your filesystem, and customize them to your liking. When you use apt to install the Forgejo package, it will create a new user with the specified settings.

Supported versions

The following Forgejo versions are currently supported

Forgejo	Supported
v15.0.x LTS	✅ stable
v14.0.x	⚠️ EOL
v13.0.x	⚠️ EOL
v12.0.x	⚠️ EOL
v11.0.x LTS	✅ LTS
v7.0.x LTS	⚠️ EOL

Manual installation

This installation procedure is not recommended! It is annoying to install, difficult to maintain, and requires manual updates.

If you wish to proceed anyway, click to expand

1. Download the latest desired packages from the releases tab.
   • Choose a variant from the list above, and download the respective package(s)
   • Also download the respective forgejo-common package, if required
2. Use apt to install the package(s) from your local filesystem.
   • sudo apt install ./forgejo*.deb
3. If everything went smoothly, you should be able to access Forgejo setup by pointing a browser to http://localhost:3000

Uninstall

Click to expand

You can remove the package using sudo apt remove forgejo(-sqlite|-bin). If you use sudo apt purge, the related configuration files will also be removed from /etc/forgejo. To avoid accidentally destroying user data, other things including the Forgejo user will be left behind. The following commands will remove everything from your system.

sudo apt purge forgejo forgejo-sqlite forgejo-common forgejo-bin
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/forgejo
sudo rm -rf /etc/forgejo /etc/default/forgejo /etc/systemd/system/forgejo.service.d
sudo deluser forgejo

If you customized the user or home directory before installing Forgejo, make sure to adjust the commands accordingly.

If you installed the apt repository and you would like to remove it, use sudo rm /etc/apt/keyrings/forgejo-apt.asc /etc/apt/sources.list.d/forgejo.list