Installation

CaudalGhost ships as two .deb packages for Debian/Ubuntu (amd64). Pick the one that matches your machine. No email, account, or sign-up required.

Coming soon

The first public release is in the works. Once it’s out, the download links will appear right here on this page. In the meantime, these instructions walk through the full process.

Requirements

• Distro: Debian/Ubuntu 22.04 or later (or a derivative: Kubuntu, etc.).
• Architecture: amd64 (x86-64).
• Kernel with eBPF: pretty much any recent desktop or bare-metal server kernel works. On container-based VPS, the host may block eBPF.

Desktop edition (.deb with GUI)

For your desktop Linux (Kubuntu, CachyOS…). Includes daemon + CLI + GUI.

sudo apt install ./caudalghost_0.7.4-1_amd64.deb

If the installer complains about dependencies (WebKit/GTK), fix them with:

sudo apt-get install -f

Once installed, the daemon starts as a service and the GUI shows up in your application menu. No need to log out.

Headless server edition (.deb)

For your server or homelab (bare-metal Ubuntu Server). Includes daemon + CLI only (no GUI).

sudo apt install ./caudalghost-server_0.7.4-1_amd64.deb

This edition replaces the desktop one if you already had it installed (it declares Conflicts/Replaces).

Permissions: why it asks for privileges on install (and why it doesn’t afterward)

Installation requires privileges (sudo) because it registers the system service, creates the caudalghost user, and sets up a permissions rule. But day-to-day use doesn’t need sudo: the daemon runs as a service with just the right capabilities (eBPF read access) and grants you socket access automatically. See Permissions for the details.

Verify the download

Before installing, check that the .deb wasn’t corrupted or tampered with. Every release publishes the SHA-256 for each package.

# Compute the hash of the downloaded file:
sha256sum caudalghost_0.7.4-1_amd64.deb

Compare the output against the value that will be published next to the download. If it matches, the file is intact. To verify automatically against a checksums file:

# With a SHA256SUMS file alongside the .deb packages:
sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS

It should print caudalghost_0.7.4-1_amd64.deb: OK.

Updating

To update, install the new .deb with sudo apt install ./…. The process restarts the daemon and keeps your database at /var/lib/caudalghost.

Uninstalling

# Remove the package (keeps the database):
sudo apt-get remove caudalghost        # or caudalghost-server

# Remove the package AND its configuration:
sudo apt-get purge caudalghost

To also delete your historical data, see how to delete your data.