LePan / LifeDrive Installer

This public repository contains versioned LifeDrive installation assets built from the private LifeAlbum source repository.

For an ordinary Windows or macOS installation, download the matching package from LePan's Cloudflare-backed download URLs:

• Windows 10/11 or Windows Server (x64): LePan-Setup-windows-x64.exe
• Mac with Apple silicon: LePan-Setup-macos-arm64.pkg
• Mac with an Intel processor: LePan-Setup-macos-x64.pkg

The native packages contain a private Node.js runtime used only by LePan Setup. They do not install Node.js system-wide or replace an existing Node.js installation. Windows asks for Administrator approval. macOS installs LePan Setup in Applications, opens Terminal, and asks for an administrator password when registering background services and allowing Leither through the Application Firewall. Follow the on-screen prompts to choose storage and create the first mobile invitation.

New to LifeDrive? Read the user manual: installing and upgrading a node, users and devices, and what to do when a device or an identity is lost.

Command-line installation

Linux users and experienced Mac users can install Node.js 18 or later and run:

npx --yes @inoku/lifedrive

The npm package supports Linux and macOS on Apple Silicon/ARM64 and Intel/AMD64, plus native x64 Windows. Run it as your normal user on Linux/macOS or from an Administrator Windows Terminal on Windows. Fresh setup installs and starts Leither when it is missing. WSL, Git Bash, Homebrew, and third-party Windows service wrappers are not required. A fresh Windows node defaults to %ProgramData%\LifeDrive\Leither, uses the native official x64 Leither build, and activates household users during installation.

To upgrade an existing key-auth installation without changing its authorized devices, public address, or drive data, run:

npx --yes @inoku/lifedrive@latest --upgrade

The installer reuses a running Leither node and finds its directory automatically. If none is running, Linux/macOS fresh setup first looks for Leither in the selected directory, the current directory, or on PATH; otherwise it uses ~/.local/share/lifedrive/leither. Windows uses %ProgramData%\LifeDrive\Leither unless --leither-root selects another directory. It downloads the matching binary from the official Leither distribution, verifies its SHA-256 checksum, initializes local configuration and keys, installs boot startup, and waits for the managed process and local version endpoint before continuing. Existing executables, configuration, and keys are never replaced.

When the installer creates a new node, it shows the free space on the selected drive and asks how many whole decimal gigabytes Leither may use. The default is 100 GB. This is a node-wide maximum covering LePan and every other application stored by that Leither node; it does not reserve or preallocate the space. The installer refuses a value larger than the space currently available and saves the choice before Leither first starts. For unattended setup, pass --storage-max-gb GB or set LIFEDRIVE_STORAGE_MAX_GB. Existing nodes and upgrades keep their current limit; change those from LePan Settings.

Choose another empty directory for a fresh node, select a stopped node, or select among multiple running instances:

npx --yes @inoku/lifedrive --leither-root /path/to/leither

For example, create a fresh node with a 250 GB maximum:

npx --yes @inoku/lifedrive --leither-root /path/to/leither --storage-max-gb 250

Use --no-install-leither to require an already running node. Upgrades always require a running node and never install or start Leither. The legacy browser-device management options remain Linux/macOS-only; Windows uses household management from a paired phone. A nonempty directory without a Leither executable is left untouched. New nodes use port 4800 by default; a port conflict stops setup with instructions. Leither V0.24.11 or newer is required; older existing nodes must be upgraded separately.

Leither starts automatically at boot

Fresh setup installs boot startup and crash recovery. Linux/macOS request sudo to run Leither as the invoking account through systemd or a system LaunchDaemon. Windows uses a SYSTEM Scheduled Task and grants that task access to the selected node directory. Every platform sets the working directory and runs Leither run in the foreground so the manager can supervise it directly.

| Platform | Service definition | Status and logs | |---|---|---| | Linux | /etc/systemd/system/lifedrive-leither.service | systemctl status lifedrive-leither.service; journalctl -u lifedrive-leither.service | | macOS | /Library/LaunchDaemons/uk.inoku.leither.plist | sudo launchctl print system/uk.inoku.leither; <Leither root>/leither-service.log | | Windows | Task Scheduler: LifeDrive Leither | Task Scheduler history; Get-ScheduledTask -TaskName "LifeDrive Leither" |

To configure only Leither's startup without changing LifeDrive files:

npx --yes @inoku/lifedrive --leither-service --leither-root /path/to/leither

Run this as the node's normal user, not with sudo npx; on Windows, use an Administrator terminal. It can enable an already running service installed by this package without restarting it. A process started manually or by another service manager is left untouched: keep that manager, or stop it in a maintenance window and disable its old boot registration before adopting the package's service. A service/task definition with different settings or another node/account is never overwritten. Normal LifeDrive upgrades do not restart Leither. Systems without systemd can supply a running node through their own manager and use --no-install-leither.

The npm package contains the versioned installer, checksum, and LifeDrive bundle. The Windows and macOS packages contain the same payload plus a checksum-verified Node.js 22 runtime from nodejs.org. After the package is downloaded, LifeDrive's files do not depend on GitHub's release-asset network. Installing a missing Leither runtime additionally needs access to vzhan.cn. Its official distribution currently uses HTTP with a same-source checksum; that checksum detects corrupt downloads and is not an authenticated signature. If npm is unavailable on Linux/macOS, use the GitHub release bootstrap directly (Node.js is still required):

curl -fLO https://github.com/cfa532/lifedrive-installer/releases/latest/download/lifedrive-install.sh
chmod +x lifedrive-install.sh
./lifedrive-install.sh

The bootstrap verifies lifedrive-bundle.tar.gz against its SHA-256 file, installs it below the detected Leither root, and runs the interactive terminal setup. The npm launcher reads those assets from its own package; the standalone bootstrap downloads them from the matching GitHub Release. All installer options after the npm package name pass through to that bootstrap.

The Linux/macOS legacy browser-owner setup uses the built-in AV1 registration endpoint and does not ask users for a service URL, AV1 login, or developer-issued code. Windows skips that shell-only flow and uses household pairing.

LifeDrive requires Leither V0.24.11 or newer. Linux/macOS browser-owner setup creates a separate Ed25519 sodiumv2 identity for the primary browser. Windows prints a private ten-minute invitation for the first paired phone; later users and devices are managed from a paired device.

An existing installation is backed up before replacement. The explicit --upgrade path requires the saved application and key-auth owner state before changing files, synchronizes the same published application MID, and does not rerun device or domain setup. This release intentionally does not migrate the earlier password-owner prototype. Application files are active only after Leither advances the application from cur to last; a publication timeout leaves the prior last version serving users.

Source code and design documentation are maintained separately. No device key, identity bundle, PPT, publisher key, or node-specific application MID is included in these release assets.

Household users

This release includes the household identity service for Linux, macOS, and x64 Windows. Existing installations retain their application MID. On Linux/macOS, an ordinary --upgrade installs the service files but does not automatically activate household mode. Fresh Windows setup uses household mode by default because the legacy browser-owner tools are shell-only.

Household activation uses the existing Leither node address. On Linux/macOS, run the matching release with --upgrade --household. Windows performs the same private configuration and invitation flow during fresh setup. No additional public hostname or TLS certificate is required. On iPhone or Android, use Settings → Set up users. Each user starts with an empty personal drive; older files are not imported.

On Windows, Task Scheduler entries named LifeDrive Leither and LifeDrive Identity run as SYSTEM at startup with their working directories set to the selected Leither root. Setup also adds a Windows Firewall rule for the configured Leither port. The loopback identity port 4811 is not opened publicly.

On macOS, setup registers the selected Leither executable with the Application Firewall, allows incoming connections, and verifies the rule. The system's Block all incoming connections setting and managed firewall policy can still override that application rule. Setup also installs /Library/LaunchDaemons/uk.inoku.lifedrive-identity.plist. The identity service runs as your Leither account, starts at boot, and remains running after Terminal closes or you log out. Leither must also be running for LifeDrive to work. Logs are stored in <Leither root>/.lifedrive-household/identity.log. Stop any previously started foreground identity service before activating the daemon. The advanced --household-config option continues to print a manual start command for custom configurations. Router port forwarding remains a separate manual step.

The shared browser URL remains http://drive.lepan.org/?n=<node-id>. Native identities persist; a paired browser stays signed in until it goes seven days without use. Direct setup requires Leither to enforce private MiMei access and stops if its checks cannot confirm that. See the source deployment notes for the HTTP transport limitations.

Once synchronized, Leither follows new publications of the same application MID. The household browser also loads that published application. Updates to the separate identity-service executable require another npm upgrade; the Windows upgrader restarts only its identity task, while Linux/macOS operators restart their identity service. The installer never restarts Leither. Install mobile application updates separately.

After upgrading on macOS, restart only the identity service:

sudo launchctl kickstart -k system/uk.inoku.lifedrive-identity
sudo launchctl print system/uk.inoku.lifedrive-identity
curl --fail http://127.0.0.1:4811/health

iPhone photo backup with your own domain

The photo HTTPS helper supports a domain controlled by the node owner. Use a release whose lifedrive-identity/setup-photo-https.sh --help lists --domain. Automatic certificate management is built into the identity service on Linux and macOS; nginx, Certbot and DNS-provider credentials are not required. It is separate from ordinary household pairing and backup.

Create a dedicated A record, such as photos.example.com, pointing to the node's public IPv4 address. Any DNS provider is supported; on Cloudflare use DNS only. Public TCP port 443 must reach the identity service's private photo listener. The default router mapping is WAN 443 → node 8443. Port 80 is not needed. Carrier-grade NAT requires a separately configured reachable endpoint or TLS pass-through tunnel; creating DNS does not provide connectivity.

Wait until at least one iPhone is paired with the node and its owner intends to enable photo sync before creating this record. Node installation and pairing do not enable iOS background photo upload. The app registers it only after explicit Photos consent and a successful HTTPS readiness response from the paired node.

From the installed node's lifedrive-identity directory, run:

bash setup-photo-https.sh --domain photos.example.com --agree-acme-terms

On Windows, open an Administrator PowerShell in that directory and run:

.\setup-photo-https.ps1 -Domain photos.example.com -AgreeAcmeTerms

The Windows helper opens only the private photo-listener port (8443 by default) in Windows Firewall. The router must still forward public TCP 443 to that private port. The ordinary Leither port remains separately forwarded; port 4811 and public port 80 are not needed.

Replace the example hostname with yours and run the command as the Leither account. This accepts Let's Encrypt's subscriber agreement, obtains a certificate through TLS-ALPN-01 and enables automatic renewal. Use --photo-listen ADDRESS:PORT only to change the default private listener. It restarts only LifeDrive identity and verifies the trusted HTTPS endpoint. Leither is not restarted. The ACME account and certificates stay in the private identity state; none is included in the installer package.

The iPhone needs a LePan build containing the Photos background-upload extension and iOS 26.5 or later. Open Settings → Auto sync, enable Photos with Full Access, and check the photo-change backup status below Wi-Fi only. Paired phones discover the address from their node; no address needs to be entered on each phone. iOS decides when uploads run. File and Android backup use their existing connection.

To change domains, finish pending uploads, point the new name at the node and rerun the helper with that name. Reopen LePan on each phone after setup. The old photo hostname is no longer served after successful activation; jobs already queued to that address may require retries. The helper restores the previous identity configuration if activation fails. Old DNS records and private ACME cache entries are not deleted automatically.