Installing extenddb on Linux

June 24, 2026 · View on GitHub

See NOTICE for important disclaimers.

This guide is the Linux-specific path for the generic instructions in docs/getting-started.md. See that doc for the full CLI surface and feature walkthrough.

Quick Install (recommended)

The installer script checks dependencies, builds extenddb, sets up a Python venv for documentation, and builds PDF manuals:

scripts/install-linux.sh

The script does not install missing dependencies — it reports what's missing so you can install them with your package manager, then re-run.

After the script completes, skip to Step 3: Initialize the deployment.

Manual Installation

If you prefer to run each step yourself, follow the sections below.

Prerequisites

Rust 1.88+ (rustup update)
PostgreSQL 14+
Python 3.10+ (for test suites)
AWS CLI v2 (for testing)

1. Install and start PostgreSQL

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y postgresql postgresql-client
sudo systemctl start postgresql
sudo systemctl enable postgresql

Amazon Linux 2 (PGDG):

Note: These instructions target Amazon Linux 2 (EL-7 compatible). For Amazon Linux 2023, use sudo dnf install -y postgresql15-server postgresql15 directly — no PGDG workaround needed.

sudo rpm -ivh --nodeps \
    https://download.postgresql.org/pub/repos/yum/reporpms/EL-7-x86_64/pgdg-redhat-repo-latest.noarch.rpm
sudo yum install -y --releasever=7 \
    --disablerepo="*" --enablerepo="pgdg15" \
    postgresql15-server postgresql15
/usr/pgsql-15/bin/initdb -D ~/pgdata --auth=trust --no-locale --encoding=UTF8
/usr/pgsql-15/bin/pg_ctl -D ~/pgdata -l ~/pgdata/server.log start

Fedora/RHEL 9+:

sudo dnf install -y postgresql-server postgresql
sudo postgresql-setup --initdb
sudo systemctl start postgresql
sudo systemctl enable postgresql

Verify it's accepting connections:

pg_isready
# /var/run/postgresql:5432 - accepting connections

2. Build extenddb

cargo build --release

Binary lands at target/release/extenddb.

extenddb init creates the PostgreSQL extenddb role, the catalog and data databases, applies schema migrations, generates an encryption key, creates a default account + admin user, and writes extenddb.toml for you. Do not hand-write extenddb.toml before running init.

On most Linux systems the PostgreSQL admin user is postgres:

./target/release/extenddb init --pg-user postgres

If you run PostgreSQL as your own user (e.g., Amazon Linux 2 with a user-owned data directory), omit --pg-user — it defaults to $(whoami):

./target/release/extenddb init

This prints the admin credentials once. Save them — they cannot be retrieved later.

init writes a extenddb.toml with auth.provider = "builtin" (the default). All DynamoDB requests must be signed with valid access keys. Create an IAM user and access key after starting the server (see step 7 below).

4. Verify

./target/release/extenddb verify --config extenddb.toml

Expected:

=== extenddb verify ===
...
  OK: Catalog version 0.0.2
...
=== HEALTHY: All checks passed ===

5. Start the server

./target/release/extenddb serve --config extenddb.toml

extenddb daemonizes automatically and logs to syslog.

Check status:

./target/release/extenddb status --config extenddb.toml

Read logs:

journalctl -t extenddb -f          # follow live
journalctl -t extenddb --since "5 minutes ago"

Stop the server:

./target/release/extenddb stop --config extenddb.toml

6. Smoke test

curl --cacert ~/.extenddb/tls/cert.pem https://127.0.0.1:18443/health
# {"status":"healthy"}

export AWS_CA_BUNDLE=~/.extenddb/tls/cert.pem
aws dynamodb list-tables \
    --endpoint-url https://127.0.0.1:18443 \
    --region us-east-1
# { "TableNames": [] }

7. Management console

Open https://127.0.0.1:18443/console/ in a browser (accept the self-signed certificate warning). Log in with the admin user and the password printed during init.

Upgrading after a `git pull`

If the binary's expected catalog version is ahead of the deployed catalog, extenddb serve refuses to start and extenddb verify reports a version mismatch. Apply migrations:

cargo build --release
./target/release/extenddb migrate --config extenddb.toml

No data is lost; only the catalog schema is updated.

Tearing it all down

# Stop the server
./target/release/extenddb stop --config extenddb.toml

# Drop both databases and the extenddb role
./target/release/extenddb destroy --config extenddb.toml --yes

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
`connection refused` on port 18443	Server not running. `./target/release/extenddb serve --config extenddb.toml`
`Catalog version X.Y.Z (binary expects A.B.C)`	`./target/release/extenddb migrate --config extenddb.toml`
`role "postgres" does not exist`	Use `--pg-user $(whoami)` if PG runs as your user
`FATAL: Peer authentication failed`	Edit `pg_hba.conf` to allow `trust` or `md5` for local connections
DROP DATABASE hangs after hard kill	Check for lingering backends: `ps -eo pid,command \| grep postgres`

See docs/troubleshooting.md for the full troubleshooting guide.

License

This software is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. ExtendDB is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Amazon Web Services. "DynamoDB" is a trademark of Amazon.com, Inc.