Installation Instructions

Add our beta PPA to get the latest updates to the landscape-client package

Add repo to an Ubuntu series

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:landscape/self-hosted-beta

Add repo to a Debian based series that is not Ubuntu (experimental)

# 1. Install our signing key
gpg --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 6e85a86e4652b4e6
gpg --export 6e85a86e4652b4e6 | sudo tee -a /usr/share/keyrings/landscape-client-keyring.gpg > /dev/null

# 2. Add repository
echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/landscape-client-keyring.gpg] https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/landscape/self-hosted-beta/ubuntu focal main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/landscape-client.list

Install the package

sudo apt update && sudo apt install landscape-client

Non-root mode

The Landscape Client generally runs as a combination of the root and landscape users. It is possible to disable the administrative features of Landscape and run only the monitoring parts without using the root user at all.

If you wish to use the Landscape Client in this way, it's recommended that you perform these steps immediately after installing the landscape-client package.

Edit /etc/default/landscape-client and add the following lines:

RUN=1
DAEMON_USER=landscape

Edit /etc/landscape/client.conf and add the following line:

monitor_only = true

Running

Now you can complete the configuration of your client and register with the Landscape service. There are two ways to do this:

1. sudo landscape-config and answer interactive prompts to finalize your configuration
2. sudo landscape-config --account-name standalone --url https://<server>/message-system --ping-url http://<server>/ping if registering to a self-hosted Landscape instance. Replace <server> with the hostname of your self-hosted Landscape instance.

Developing

After cloning the repository, make sure you run the following command to pull the snap-http submodule:

git submodule update --init

To run the full test suite, run the following command:

make check

When you want to test the landscape client manually without management features, you can simply run:

./scripts/landscape-client

This defaults to the landscape-client.conf configuration file.

When you want to test management features manually, you'll need to run as root. There's a configuration file root-client.conf which specifies use of the system bus.

sudo ./scripts/landscape-client -c root-client.conf

Before opening a PR, make sure to run the full test suite and lint:

make check
make lint

You can run a specific test by running the following (for example):

python3 -m twisted.trial landscape.client.broker.tests.test_client.BrokerClientTest.test_ping

Building the Landscape Client snap

First, you need to ensure that you have the appropriate tools installed:

sudo snap install snapcraft --classic
lxd init --auto

There are various make targets defined to assist in the lifecycle of building and testing the snap. To generate the snap's snapcraft.yaml file:

make snap-yaml

To simply build the snap with the minimum of debug information displayed:

make snap

If you would prefer to see more information displayed showing the progress of the build, and would like to get dropped into a debug shell within the snap container in the event of an error:

make snap-debug

To use the make targets below, make sure you have yq installed. You can install it using Homebrew or as a snap:

brew install yq
snap install yq

To install the resulting snap:

make snap-install

To remove a previously installed snap:

make snap-remove

To clean the intermediate files as well as the snap itself from the local build environment:

make snap-clean

To enter into a shell environment within the snap container:

make snap-shell

If you wish to upload the snap to the store, you will first need to get credentials with the store that allow you to log in locally and publish binaries. This can be done at:

https://snapcraft.io/docs/creating-your-developer-account

After obtaining and confirming your store credentials, you then need to log in using the snapcraft tool:

snapcraft login

Since snapcraft version 7.x and higher, the credentials are stored in the gnome keyring on your local workstation. If you are building in an environment without a GUI (e.g. in a multipass or lxc container), you will need to install the gnome keyring tools:

sudo apt install gnome-keyring

You will then need to initialze the default keyring as follows:

dbus-run-session -- bash
gnome-keyring-daemon --unlock

The gnome-keyring-daemon will prompt you (without a prompt) to type in the initial unlock password (typically the same password for the account you are using - if you are using the default multipass or lxc "ubuntu" login, use sudo passwd ubuntu to set it to a known value before doing the above step).

Type the login password and hit followed by +D to end the input.

At this point, you should be able to log into snapcraft:

snapcraft login

You will be prompted for your UbuntuOne email address, password and, if set up this way, your second factor for authentication. If you are successful, you should be able to query your login credentials with:

snapcraft whoami

A common mistake that first-time users of this process might make is that after running the gnome-keyring-daemon command, they will exit the dbus session shell. Do NOT do that. Do all subsequent work in that bash shell that dbus set up for you because it will have access to your gnome-keyring.

If you need to leave the environment and get back in, keep in mind that you do not have to be logged into the store UNLESS you are uploading the snap or otherwise manipulating things in your store account. You will need to repeat the dbus-run-session and gnome-keyring-daemon steps BEFORE logging in if you do need to be logged into the store.

Automatic Builds and Releases

The landscape-client snap is automatically built from the most recent commit on the release branches and published to the <base>/edge channel of the respective core base:

Core Base	Edge Channel	Build Recipe
24	24/edge	core-24
22	22/edge	core-22

Other channels (<base>/beta, <base>/candidate, <base>/stable) are promoted and released manually.