Debian packages — Mopidy 1.0.8 documentation

# Debian packages

The Mopidy Debian package, `mopidy`, is available from apt.mopidy.com as well as from Debian, Ubuntu and other Debian-based Linux distributions.

Some extensions are also available from all of these sources, while others, like Mopidy-Spotify and its dependencies, are only available from apt.mopidy.com. This may either be temporary until the package is uploaded to Debian and with time propagates to the other distributions. It may also be more long term, like in the Mopidy-Spotify case where there is uncertainities around licensing and distribution of non-free packages.

## Installation

See Debian/Ubuntu: Install from apt.mopidy.com.

## Running as a system service

The Debian package comes with an init script. It starts Mopidy as a system service running as the `mopidy` user, which is created by the package.

The Debian package version 0.18.3-1 and older starts Mopidy as a system service by default. Version 0.18.3-2 and newer asks if you want to run Mopidy as a system service, defaulting to not doing so.

If you’re running 0.18.3-2 or newer, and you’ve changed your mind about whether or not to run Mopidy as a system service, just run the following command to reconfigure the package:

    sudo dpkg-reconfigure mopidy

If you’re running 0.18.3-1 or older, and don’t want to use the init script to run Mopidy as a system service, but instead just run Mopidy manually using your own user, you need to disable the init script and stop Mopidy by running:

    sudo update-rc.d mopidy disable
    sudo service mopidy stop

This way of disabling the system service is compatible with the improved 0.18.3-2 or newer version of the Debian package, so if you later upgrade to a newer version, you can change your mind using the `dpkg-reconfigure` command above.

## Differences when running as a system service

If you want to run Mopidy using the init script, there’s a few differences from a regular Mopidy setup you’ll want to know about.

- All configuration is in `/etc/mopidy`, not in your user’s home directory. The main configuration file is `/etc/mopidy/mopidy.conf`. You can do all your changes in this file.

- Mopidy extensions installed from Debian packages will sometimes install additional configuration files in `/usr/share/mopidy/conf.d/`. These files just provide different defaults for the extension when run as a system service. You can override anything from `/usr/share/mopidy/conf.d/` in the `/etc/mopidy/mopidy.conf` configuration file.

  Previously, the extension’s default config was installed in `/etc/mopidy/extensions.d/`. This was removed with the Debian package mopidy 0.19.4-3. If you have modified any files in `/etc/mopidy/extensions.d/`, you should redo your modifications in `/etc/mopidy/mopidy.conf` and delete the `/etc/mopidy/extensions.d/` directory.

- The init script runs Mopidy as the `mopidy` user. The `mopidy` user will need read access to any local music you want Mopidy to play.

- To run Mopidy subcommands with the same user and config files as the init script uses, you can use `sudo mopidyctl <subcommand>`. In other words, where you’ll usually run:

      mopidy config

  You should instead run the following to inspect the system service’s configuration:

      sudo mopidyctl config

  The same applies to scanning your local music collection. Where you’ll normally run:

      mopidy local scan

  You should instead run:

      sudo mopidyctl local scan

  Previously, you used `sudo service mopidy run <subcommand>` instead of `mopidyctl`. This was deprecated in Debian package version 0.19.4-3 in favor of `mopidyctl`, which also work for systems using systemd instead of sysvinit and traditional init scripts.

- Mopidy is started, stopped, and restarted just like any other system service:

      sudo service mopidy start
      sudo service mopidy stop
      sudo service mopidy restart

- You can check if Mopidy is currently running as a system service by running:

      sudo service mopidy status

- Mopidy installed from a Debian package can use both Mopidy extensions installed both from Debian packages and extensions installed with pip.

  The other way around does not work: Mopidy installed with pip can use extensions installed with pip, but not extensions installed from a Debian package. This is because the Debian packages install extensions into `/usr/share/mopidy` which is normally not on your `PYTHONPATH`. Thus, your pip-installed Mopidy will not find the Debian package-installed extensions.