Create your own off-grid library https://wrolpi.org
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Roland 19f4958fb5 zim: ship a default fallback Zim and honor the configured Zim directory
Two related gaps in how WROLPi serves Kiwix content:

1. A fresh WROLPi (or one whose zims are all corrupt/absent) showed a blank
   Kiwix.  Every image now ships a small built-in default Zim that Kiwix falls
   back to, telling the user to download real Zim files.

2. The startup scripts hardcoded the `/zims` directory, ignoring wrolpi.yaml's
   `zims_destination` (which the Python side already honors).

Changes:
- New wrolpi/scripts/read_config_value.sh: a zero-dependency (awk) reader so
  non-Python scripts can reliably read top-level wrolpi.yaml scalars.  Also a
  config_value() wrapper in wrolpi/scripts/lib.sh.
- New wrolpi/scripts/default_zim/: HTML source + a reproducible builder
  (ghcr.io/openzim/zim-tools) that outputs the committed wrolpi/blobs/default.zim.
- New wrolpi/blobs/: any committed blob here is copied to /opt/wrolpi-blobs by
  the pi-gen and debian-live builds; the Docker zim image bakes it in.
- start_kiwix_serve.sh honors zims_destination and falls back to the default
  Zim when no functioning zim is found.
- docker/zim/entrypoint.sh gains the same default-Zim fallback.  It needs no
  config read: it already scans the whole mounted media dir, and
  zims_destination is always a subdirectory of that mount.
- Changing zims_destination via the settings API now restarts Kiwix so it
  serves the new directory without a reboot.

Tests: new test_read_config_value.py, extended test_start_kiwix_serve.py
(configured dir + default-Zim fallback), and a root_api test for the restart.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-20 19:09:57 -06:00
.circleci Postgres -> SQLite hard cutover: the database moves into the media directory. 2026-07-12 14:09:37 -06:00
.github Splitting dependabot PRs to avoid massive breaking PRs. 2026-05-03 12:18:39 -06:00
.run Video downloads have many more options. Downloads are migrated. 2024-11-28 09:48:57 -07:00
alembic SQLite: make the browse pages index-only. 2026-07-14 07:46:29 -06:00
app Fix "node.contains is not a function" crash on Modal/Popup triggers 2026-07-20 11:43:14 -06:00
controller Controller: hide Root CA download until drive is ready 2026-07-18 13:44:35 -06:00
debian-live-config zim: ship a default fallback Zim and honor the configured Zim directory 2026-07-20 19:09:57 -06:00
docker zim: ship a default fallback Zim and honor the configured Zim directory 2026-07-20 19:09:57 -06:00
etc kiwix: a corrupt zim must not bring down the whole server 2026-07-20 13:06:46 -06:00
modules zim: ship a default fallback Zim and honor the configured Zim directory 2026-07-20 19:09:57 -06:00
pi-gen zim: ship a default fallback Zim and honor the configured Zim directory 2026-07-20 19:09:57 -06:00
release Retrying build image uploads multiple times before failing release attempt. 2026-06-11 19:46:31 -06:00
scripts zim: ship a default fallback Zim and honor the configured Zim directory 2026-07-20 19:09:57 -06:00
test Modifying Video/Channel/RSS Downloaders so that they can download videos, but audio only. These audio files are grouped under their channel directories. 2026-04-14 15:33:01 -06:00
wrolpi zim: ship a default fallback Zim and honor the configured Zim directory 2026-07-20 19:09:57 -06:00
.coveragerc Adding coverage config which ignores non-API directories. 2024-10-16 18:56:03 -06:00
.dockerignore A new start 2021-11-01 16:43:09 -06:00
.gitignore Remove stale Postgres references after SQLite cutover. 2026-07-18 13:28:54 -06:00
.gitmodules Adding FileGroup.published_date/author/etc. Creating script which converts a Singlefile to an Archive FileGroup files. 2023-10-23 18:09:08 -06:00
.gitpod.yml Postgres -> SQLite hard cutover: the database moves into the media directory. 2026-07-12 14:09:37 -06:00
.mcp.json.example Removing WROLPi admin functionality that is now in Controller. 2025-12-19 18:41:27 -07:00
alembic.ini Postgres -> SQLite hard cutover: the database moves into the media directory. 2026-07-12 14:09:37 -06:00
conftest.py Zim/Kiwix (Wikipedia) feature 2023-07-10 21:30:40 -06:00
demo_link.jpg Replacing demo image. 2023-01-30 13:27:26 -07:00
docker-compose.yml Postgres -> SQLite hard cutover: the database moves into the media directory. 2026-07-12 14:09:37 -06:00
help.sh help.sh: add Kiwix service, port 9085, and zim-corruption checks 2026-07-20 17:42:14 -06:00
icon.ico A new start 2021-11-01 16:43:09 -06:00
icon.png Zim/Kiwix (Wikipedia) feature 2023-07-10 21:30:40 -06:00
INSTALL.md Docs: recommend Raspberry Pi Imager instead of Etcher. 2026-07-03 18:58:54 -06:00
install.sh Disambiguate 'git checkout release' in install.sh 2026-06-27 13:57:27 -06:00
join_discord.png A new start 2021-11-01 16:43:09 -06:00
LICENSE A new start 2021-11-01 16:43:09 -06:00
main.py Postgres -> SQLite hard cutover: the database moves into the media directory. 2026-07-12 14:09:37 -06:00
pytest.ini FileGroups in Collections can be reorganized in the Collection's directory. 2026-01-31 18:08:41 -07:00
README.md Postgres -> SQLite hard cutover: the database moves into the media directory. 2026-07-12 14:09:37 -06:00
repair.sh Remove stale Postgres references after SQLite cutover. 2026-07-18 13:28:54 -06:00
requirements.txt Bump safe dependencies (combined Dependabot updates) 2026-07-15 20:07:21 -06:00
test_all.sh Creating test_all.sh script to run all frontend and backend tests. 2025-12-17 15:11:57 -07:00
UPGRADE.md Documenting WROLPi Portable USB, splitting install docs into INSTALL.md. 2026-05-28 21:33:22 -06:00
upgrade.sh Upgrade: mark the pinned GPG key trusted in the throwaway keyring. 2026-07-06 20:57:01 -06:00

WROLPi

Build Status License: GPL v3 Discord Gitpod

Create your own off-grid library.

WROLPi Logo

WROLPi is a self-contained collection of software to help you survive the world Without Rule of Law.

WROLPi is intended to be run on a Raspberry Pi with an optional external drive attached. It serves up it's own Wi-Fi network so that any user with a laptop/tablet/phone can connect and use the library created by the maintainer.

Table of Contents

Features

  • Videos
  • Web Archives
  • Maps
  • Wikipedia
  • File search
  • eBooks (EPUB / PDFs)
  • Wi-Fi Hotspot
  • Universal search
  • Food Inventory management
  • One-Time pad generator, encrypter/decrypter
  • Synchronizer/duplicator
  • Food storage calculator

Module features matrix

Module View Search Download Project
Videos yes yes yes yt-dlp
Web Archives yes yes yes Singlefile
Wikipedia yes yes yes Kiwix
eBooks yes yes planned EPUB/PDF
Map yes yes yes Protomaps
Podcasts/Audio yes planned planned

Demo

YouTube Demo Video

Download

Images are available at wrolpi.org

Try WROLPi!

You can try out WROLPi by running the docker containers.

  1. Install docker-ce and docker-compose
  2. Copy the latest WROLPi code.
    • git clone https://github.com/lrnselfreliance/wrolpi.git
  3. Change directory into the code base.
    • cd wrolpi
  4. Initialize git submodules
    • git submodule update --init
  5. Build the containers.
    • docker-compose build --parallel
  6. Create volumes.
    • docker volume create --name=openstreetmap-data
    • docker volume create --name=openstreetmap-rendered-tiles
  7. Initialize the database (SQLite in the media directory).
    • docker-compose run --rm api db upgrade
  8. Start the docker containers.
    • docker-compose up
  9. Browse to WROLPi.

More Docker documentation is available in docker/README.md

Install WROLPi

Full installation instructions are in INSTALL.md. Pick the option that matches your hardware:

  • WROLPi Portable (Live USB) — boot a complete WROLPi from a USB stick on any x86 PC or laptop. Nothing is installed to the computer; the first boot creates a persistence partition on the USB so your library, database, and configuration survive reboots.
  • Debian 12 — install WROLPi onto an x86 PC or laptop.
  • Raspberry Pi — install WROLPi onto a Raspberry Pi with an external drive.
  • Docker — run the WROLPi containers on an existing Linux host.

Charter

Guiding Principals

  1. Storage is cheaper than power.
  2. Two is one, one is none.
  3. Run silently.
  4. Primary, secondary, tertiary.
  5. Secure as a bookshelf in your home.

Physical properties

  1. A WROLPi instance should be capable of running with a minimal of hardware:
    • Raspberry Pi
    • SD card
    • External USB hard drive
    • Power supply and cables
    • Wi-Fi USER device such as a phone, tablet, or laptop.
  2. A WROLPi instance should consume a minimal amount of electricity during WROL event. It is expected power will be scarce when WROLPi is needed most.

User expectations

  1. A WROLPi instance should be run and maintained by a person (MAINTAINER) with a moderate amount of Linux and Raspberry Pi experience. It is expected that they should be able to do this using only the documentation on their WROLPi.

Software properties and capabilities

  1. A WROLPi instance should be able to "factory-reset" itself without any outside services.
  2. WROLPi should function completely without any internet services.
  3. A user should have easy access to their data if WROLPi fails:
    • For example, a user can watch their videos by navigating a short and intuitive directory structure and opening the video in their preferred video player.
  4. WROLPi should be self-documented. The UI should contain a tutorial for USERS as well as the MAINTAINER.
    • If the UI isn't functional, the code should be documented such that a user can restore functionality.
  5. WROLPi should favor pre-processing, rather than processing during a WROL event. Such as re-encoding a video, or processing captions. This is to ensure that when a user adds content during non-WROL time, the processing for optimum performance is already done for a WROL event.

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