Packaging and doc fixups

.goreleaser.yml

@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ nfpms:
     bindir: /usr/bin
     formats:
       - deb
-      - rpm
+      # - rpm
     contents:
       - src: ./config-example.yaml
         dst: /etc/headscale/config.yaml

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@
 
 ### Changes
 
-- Add `.deb` and `.rpm` packages to release process [#1297](https://github.com/juanfont/headscale/pull/1297)
+- Add `.deb` packages to release process [#1297](https://github.com/juanfont/headscale/pull/1297)
+- Update and simplify the documentation to use new `.deb` packages [#1349](https://github.com/juanfont/headscale/pull/1349)
 - Add 32-bit Arm platforms to release process [#1297](https://github.com/juanfont/headscale/pull/1297)
 - Fix longstanding bug that would prevent "\*" from working properly in ACLs (issue [#699](https://github.com/juanfont/headscale/issues/699)) [#1279](https://github.com/juanfont/headscale/pull/1279)
 - Target Go 1.20 and Tailscale 1.38 for Headscale [#1323](https://github.com/juanfont/headscale/pull/1323)

docs/packaging/postinstall.sh

@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ summary() {
 	echo ""
 	echo " Please follow the next steps to start the software:"
 	echo ""
+	echo "    sudo systemctl enable headscale"
 	echo "    sudo systemctl start headscale"
 	echo ""
 	echo " Configuration settings can be adjusted here:"

docs/running-headscale-linux-manual.md

@@ -0,0 +1,198 @@
+# Running headscale on Linux
+
+## Note: Outdated and "advanced"
+
+This documentation is considered the "legacy"/advanced/manual version of the documentation, you most likely do not
+want to use this documentation and rather look at the distro specific documentation (TODO LINK)[].
+
+## Goal
+
+This documentation has the goal of showing a user how-to set up and run `headscale` on Linux.
+In additional to the "get up and running section", there is an optional [SystemD section](#running-headscale-in-the-background-with-systemd)
+describing how to make `headscale` run properly in a server environment.
+
+## Configure and run `headscale`
+
+1. Download the latest [`headscale` binary from GitHub's release page](https://github.com/juanfont/headscale/releases):
+
+```shell
+wget --output-document=/usr/local/bin/headscale \
+   https://github.com/juanfont/headscale/releases/download/v<HEADSCALE VERSION>/headscale_<HEADSCALE VERSION>_linux_<ARCH>
+```
+
+2. Make `headscale` executable:
+
+```shell
+chmod +x /usr/local/bin/headscale
+```
+
+3. Prepare a directory to hold `headscale` configuration and the [SQLite](https://www.sqlite.org/) database:
+
+```shell
+# Directory for configuration
+
+mkdir -p /etc/headscale
+
+# Directory for Database, and other variable data (like certificates)
+mkdir -p /var/lib/headscale
+# or if you create a headscale user:
+useradd \
+	--create-home \
+	--home-dir /var/lib/headscale/ \
+	--system \
+	--user-group \
+	--shell /usr/bin/nologin \
+	headscale
+```
+
+4. Create an empty SQLite database:
+
+```shell
+touch /var/lib/headscale/db.sqlite
+```
+
+5. Create a `headscale` configuration:
+
+```shell
+touch /etc/headscale/config.yaml
+```
+
+**(Strongly Recommended)** Download a copy of the [example configuration][config-example.yaml](https://github.com/juanfont/headscale/blob/main/config-example.yaml) from the headscale repository.
+
+6. Start the headscale server:
+
+```shell
+headscale serve
+```
+
+This command will start `headscale` in the current terminal session.
+
+---
+
+To continue the tutorial, open a new terminal and let it run in the background.
+Alternatively use terminal emulators like [tmux](https://github.com/tmux/tmux) or [screen](https://www.gnu.org/software/screen/).
+
+To run `headscale` in the background, please follow the steps in the [SystemD section](#running-headscale-in-the-background-with-systemd) before continuing.
+
+7. Verify `headscale` is running:
+
+Verify `headscale` is available:
+
+```shell
+curl http://127.0.0.1:9090/metrics
+```
+
+8. Create a user ([tailnet](https://tailscale.com/kb/1136/tailnet/)):
+
+```shell
+headscale users create myfirstuser
+```
+
+### Register a machine (normal login)
+
+On a client machine, execute the `tailscale` login command:
+
+```shell
+tailscale up --login-server YOUR_HEADSCALE_URL
+```
+
+Register the machine:
+
+```shell
+headscale --user myfirstuser nodes register --key <YOUR_MACHINE_KEY>
+```
+
+### Register machine using a pre authenticated key
+
+Generate a key using the command line:
+
+```shell
+headscale --user myfirstuser preauthkeys create --reusable --expiration 24h
+```
+
+This will return a pre-authenticated key that can be used to connect a node to `headscale` during the `tailscale` command:
+
+```shell
+tailscale up --login-server <YOUR_HEADSCALE_URL> --authkey <YOUR_AUTH_KEY>
+```
+
+## Running `headscale` in the background with SystemD
+
+:warning: **Deprecated**: This part is very outdated and you should use the [pre-packaged Headscale for this](./running-headscale-linux.md
+
+This section demonstrates how to run `headscale` as a service in the background with [SystemD](https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/).
+This should work on most modern Linux distributions.
+
+1. Create a SystemD service configuration at `/etc/systemd/system/headscale.service` containing:
+
+```systemd
+[Unit]
+Description=headscale controller
+After=syslog.target
+After=network.target
+
+[Service]
+Type=simple
+User=headscale
+Group=headscale
+ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/headscale serve
+Restart=always
+RestartSec=5
+
+# Optional security enhancements
+NoNewPrivileges=yes
+PrivateTmp=yes
+ProtectSystem=strict
+ProtectHome=yes
+WorkingDirectory=/var/lib/headscale
+ReadWritePaths=/var/lib/headscale /var/run/headscale
+AmbientCapabilities=CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE
+RuntimeDirectory=headscale
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=multi-user.target
+```
+
+Note that when running as the headscale user ensure that, either you add your current user to the headscale group:
+
+```shell
+usermod -a -G headscale current_user
+```
+
+or run all headscale commands as the headscale user:
+
+```shell
+su - headscale
+```
+
+2. In `/etc/headscale/config.yaml`, override the default `headscale` unix socket with path that is writable by the `headscale` user or group:
+
+```yaml
+unix_socket: /var/run/headscale/headscale.sock
+```
+
+3. Reload SystemD to load the new configuration file:
+
+```shell
+systemctl daemon-reload
+```
+
+4. Enable and start the new `headscale` service:
+
+```shell
+systemctl enable --now headscale
+```
+
+5. Verify the headscale service:
+
+```shell
+systemctl status headscale
+```
+
+Verify `headscale` is available:
+
+```shell
+curl http://127.0.0.1:9090/metrics
+```
+
+`headscale` will now run in the background and start at boot.