Linux

AvNav can be installed on many Linux systems because it is based on Python and the necessary packages are available for most distributions. Development and testing primarily take place on Debian/Ubuntu, but other distributions are also possible.

Package installation

Repositories

Thanks to Oleg, there are ready-made package repositories that can be integrated into your Debian Linux. This works on the Raspberry Pi – but also on any other Debian variant (e.g., Ubuntu).

You can add the package sources as follows:

Debian Buster (amd64,armhf,arm64)

wget https://www.free-x.de/debian/oss.boating.gpg.key
sudo apt-key add oss.boating.gpg.key
wget https://www.free-x.de/debian/boating-buster.list
sudo cp boating-buster.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/

Debian Bullseye (amd64,armhf,arm64)

wget -O - https://www.free-x.de/debian/oss.boating.gpg.key | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/oss.boating.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/oss.boating.gpg] https://www.free-x.de/debian bullseye main contrib non-free" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/boating.list

Debian Bookworm (amd64,armhf,arm64)

wget -O - https://www.free-x.de/debian/oss.boating.gpg.key | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/oss.boating.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/oss.boating.gpg] https://www.free-x.de/debian bookworm main contrib non-free" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/boating.list

Debian Trixie (amd64,armhf,arm64)

wget -O - https://www.free-x.de/debian/oss.boating.gpg.key | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/oss.boating.gpg
echo -e "Types: deb\nURIs: https://www.free-x.de/debian\nSuites: trixie\nComponents: main\nSigned-By: /usr/share/keyrings/oss.boating.gpg" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/boating.sources

Ubuntu Jammy (amd64)

wget -O - https://www.free-x.de/ubuntu/oss.boating.gpg.key | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/oss.boating.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/oss.boating.gpg] https://www.free-x.de/ubuntu jammy main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/boating.list

Ubuntu Noble (amd64,arm64)

wget -O - https://www.free-x.de/ubuntu/oss.boating.gpg.key | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/oss.boating.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/oss.boating.gpg] https://www.free-x.de/ubuntu noble main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/boating.list

For installation on a Linux system, you must perform the following steps after adding the package sources:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install avnav

Download packages

Alternatively, you can download the Debian/RPM packages directly from the download page:

• Releases
• Daily builds

After downloading, you can install the packages with

sudo apt install ./avnav_xxxxxxxx_all.deb

Startup

Afterwards, you can start the server as any user with the command

avnav

It then runs directly under the respective user account and saves its data in the home directory under /avnav.

With

sudo systemctl enable avnav
sudo systemctl start avnav

you can activate AvNav automatically at system startup using the "avnav" user. The data is then stored under /var/lib/avnav.

User service

Since 20240520, you can have AvNav automatically started as a user systemd service for your own user.

To enable this service, run

avnavservice enable [port]

The service starts automatically when the user logs in and stops when they log out. To activate the service at system startup, you must set the "linger mode" for the user:

loginctl enable-linger

For details, see the systemd documentation.

To check the status, use

systemctl --user status avnav

AvNav uses the (default) data directory $HOME/avnav.

To deactivate the service again, use

avnavservice disable

Other user

If you want to start AvNav with a user other than "avnav" – e.g., user "pi" – you should use the systemd user service as described.

You can then simply start AvNav from the command line as user "pi".

If you want to run AvNav as a system-wide service with a different user, you can also perform the following steps:

Create

/usr/lib/systemd/system/avnav.service.d

and create the file anvav.conf there with the following content:

#Overrides for the avnav service
[Service]
User=pi
ExecStart=
ExecStart=/usr/bin/avnav -q -b /home/pi/avnav/data -t /usr/lib/avnav/avnav_template.xml -n /etc/default/avnav
[Unit]
After=avnav-check-parts.service

Afterwards, you can start AvNav as a system service with the commands

sudo systemctl daemon-reload  
sudo systemctl enable avnav  
sudo systemctl start avnav