Install on Arch Linux

Install doona from its .pkg.tar.zst package and honk-core from the same release on Arch Linux or another pacman-based system. Then continue with Minimal configuration.

Note

Download the beta.19 assets from the release page.

Before you start

• Linux 6.12 or later and the kernel options listed in Requirements. Check the kernel with uname -r.
• A user account with sudo, or a root shell. Commands that need root have a sudo tab and a root tab; pick the one that matches your shell.
• Access to github.com.
• Run every step in the same terminal: later steps use the VERSION, PKGVER, BASE and TARGET variables that earlier steps set.

For lite, ensure curl and CA certificates are installed, then go directly to 4. Install doona and select the doona lite tab. Skip the standard edition’s package, repository, download and verification steps before it.

1. Install curl and CA certificates

honk uses the system CA certificates to verify HTTPS subscription and geodata downloads.

sudo pacman -Syu --needed curl ca-certificates

pacman -Syu --needed curl ca-certificates

2. Download doona

Set the release version, then download the package and the checksum file into the current directory. Arch package names write the prerelease without its - and ., so PKGVER holds that form.

VERSION=0.1.0-beta.19
PKGVER=0.1.0beta19
BASE=https://github.com/Zakkaus/doona/releases/download/v$VERSION
curl -fL -O "$BASE/doona-${PKGVER}-1-any.pkg.tar.zst" -O "$BASE/SHA256SUMS"

3. Verify the download

grep " doona-${PKGVER}-1-any.pkg.tar.zst\$" SHA256SUMS | sha256sum -c -

You should see:

doona-0.1.0beta19-1-any.pkg.tar.zst: OK

4. Install doona

With ui: embedded, the honk debug.2026.10.9.native-api.2 assets for doona beta.19 (commit eac5e0c5fba5078a7ff4517a3e3851e7fa0f4f8e) serve bundled doona 0.1.0-beta.19 without a separate UI package. You can also serve the beta.19 package installed here with ui: /usr/share/doona; see Minimal configuration.

For doona lite, use the archive; there are no lite distribution packages yet. Follow Install doona lite, set ui: /usr/share/doona-lite, then continue with the honk steps on this page. Choose the tab for your edition and shell.

sudo pacman -U ./doona-${PKGVER}-1-any.pkg.tar.zst
ls -l /usr/share/doona/index.html

pacman -U ./doona-${PKGVER}-1-any.pkg.tar.zst
ls -l /usr/share/doona/index.html

VERSION=0.1.0-beta.19
BASE=https://github.com/Zakkaus/doona/releases/download/v$VERSION
curl -fL -O "$BASE/doona-lite-${VERSION}.tar.gz" -O "$BASE/SHA256SUMS"
grep " doona-lite-${VERSION}.tar.gz\$" SHA256SUMS | sha256sum -c -
sudo mkdir -p /usr/share/doona-lite
sudo tar -xzf "doona-lite-${VERSION}.tar.gz" -C /usr/share/doona-lite
ls -l /usr/share/doona-lite/index.html

VERSION=0.1.0-beta.19
BASE=https://github.com/Zakkaus/doona/releases/download/v$VERSION
curl -fL -O "$BASE/doona-lite-${VERSION}.tar.gz" -O "$BASE/SHA256SUMS"
grep " doona-lite-${VERSION}.tar.gz\$" SHA256SUMS | sha256sum -c -
mkdir -p /usr/share/doona-lite
tar -xzf "doona-lite-${VERSION}.tar.gz" -C /usr/share/doona-lite
ls -l /usr/share/doona-lite/index.html

For lite, ls must list /usr/share/doona-lite/index.html. Continue at 5. Choose the honk-core build; skip the standard edition results and optional packages below. In Minimal configuration, set ui to /usr/share/doona-lite.

For the standard edition:

ls prints a line ending in /usr/share/doona/index.html. The package holds doona’s web files and documentation; it installs no service.

The optional doona-precompressed package adds .br and .gz copies beside the web files so a server can send precompressed responses. Install the same version as doona; without it, the main package stays unchanged.

Optional: the doona-fonts package adds the Noto Sans TC and SC fonts for the Chinese interface.

curl -fL -O "$BASE/doona-fonts-${PKGVER}-1-any.pkg.tar.zst"
grep " doona-fonts-${PKGVER}-1-any.pkg.tar.zst\$" SHA256SUMS | sha256sum -c -
sudo pacman -U ./doona-fonts-${PKGVER}-1-any.pkg.tar.zst

curl -fL -O "$BASE/doona-fonts-${PKGVER}-1-any.pkg.tar.zst"
grep " doona-fonts-${PKGVER}-1-any.pkg.tar.zst\$" SHA256SUMS | sha256sum -c -
pacman -U ./doona-fonts-${PKGVER}-1-any.pkg.tar.zst

5. Choose the honk-core build

uname -m

The release carries eight honk-core archives, named honk-core-debug-<target>.tar.gz. Build the target from the machine type and the C library:

For example, x86_64-unknown-linux-musl, aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu or x86_64-unknown-linux-musl-stock.

6. Download and verify honk-core

Set TARGET to the build you chose, then download it from the same release and check it against the same SHA256SUMS.

TARGET=x86_64-unknown-linux-musl
curl -fL -O "$BASE/honk-core-debug-$TARGET.tar.gz"
grep " honk-core-debug-$TARGET.tar.gz\$" SHA256SUMS | sha256sum -c -

You should see:

honk-core-debug-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz: OK

7. Install honk-core

The archive holds one directory with the honk-core binary. Install it as /usr/local/bin/honk-core, the path the service in Service management starts.

tar -xzf honk-core-debug-$TARGET.tar.gz
sudo install -m 0755 honk-core-debug-$TARGET/honk-core /usr/local/bin/honk-core
/usr/local/bin/honk-core --version

tar -xzf honk-core-debug-$TARGET.tar.gz
install -m 0755 honk-core-debug-$TARGET/honk-core /usr/local/bin/honk-core
/usr/local/bin/honk-core --version

The last command prints the honk build, for example:

honk-core debug.2026.10.9.native-api.2

HONK-SOURCE.txt in the same release records the honk build and links both its source and the matching doona source.

Before starting honk, follow Directories and geodata to install geosite.dat and geoip.dat.

Next: Minimal configuration.

If it doesn’t work

For problems after installation, see Troubleshooting.