Debian/Ubuntu-headless build of Bitfocus Buttons.

This is a Debian/Ubuntu-compatible headless build of Bitfocus Buttons.

Configuration is stored under `$HOME/.config/bitfocus-buttons`, which you may want to include in your backups.

To start the application, launch `./watchdog-cli 0.0.0.0 4440`. You can set this up to launch on startup with your preferred init system. An example systemd unit is provided.

For a description of the required and optional arguments, check `./watchdog-cli -help`.

Prerequisites

You’ll need sudo access and an internet connection.

1. Update your system:

sudo apt update

sudo apt upgrade

sudo apt install curl

2. Install PostgreSQL 17:

Buttons requires PostgreSQL 17 from the official PostgreSQL repository (not the Ubuntu default version)

sudo sh -c ‘echo “deb http://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt $(lsb_release -cs)-pgdg main” > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pgdg.list’

curl -fsSL https://www.postgresql.org/media/keys/ACCC4CF8.asc | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/postgresql.gpg

sudo apt update

sudo apt install -y postgresql-17

Disable the default postgresql server, as Buttons manages and runs its own.

sudo systemctl disable postgresql

sudo systemctl stop postgresql   

3. Install Redis & Avahi (mDNS/Bonjour):

sudo apt install -y redis-server avahi-daemon libnss-mdns libudev1

Disable the default redis server, as Buttons manages and runs its own.

sudo systemctl disable redis-server

sudo systemctl stop redis-server 

4. Create a Group and User and Set up udev rules and access:

Create a group for access to stream deck devices:

sudo addgroup buttons

Add your user to the buttons group:

sudo adduser $USER buttons

Copy the 50-bitfocus-buttons.rules to /etc/udev/rules.d/  make sure that your terminal is in the directory where the file is i.e home/bitfocus/bitfocus-buttons-linux-x64

sudo cp 50-bitfocus-buttons.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/

Reload the rules

sudo udevadm control --reload-rules

Replug any Stream Decks to reload the reloaded rules.

Before starting buttons, open a new terminal/shell to make sure the group changes are applied to your session.

Running manually

You can start buttons on http://127.0.0.1:4440 (https://127.0.0.1:4443) by running:

./watchdog-cli 127.0.0.1 4440

For UI availability on Local machine only or:

./watchdog-cli 0.0.0.0 4440

For UI availability on all networks

Running as a service

An example systemd service file (bitfocus-buttons.service) is included to get you started.

It expects a `buttons` user to exist, and to be a member of a `buttons` group.

You will likely want to modify the command to add additional arguments.