wrolpi/README.md
Roland 960eb81880
Documenting WROLPi Portable USB, splitting install docs into INSTALL.md.
- New INSTALL.md consolidates all install paths: WROLPi Portable (Live
  USB) as the headline option, plus Debian 12, Raspberry Pi, and Docker.
- README install sections collapsed into a single Install section that
  links to INSTALL.md.
- UPGRADE.md gains an "Upgrading a WROLPi Portable USB" section covering
  scripts/wrolpi-usb.sh upgrade, and documents that in-place conversion
  of an existing data drive is not supported (backup -> flash -> restore).
- wrolpi-usb.sh install now prints that supported procedure instead of a
  "not implemented" stub; debian-live-config/README.md documents the same.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-05-28 21:33:22 -06:00

6.5 KiB

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. Start the database.
    • docker-compose up -d db
  8. Initialize the database.
    • docker-compose run --rm api db upgrade
  9. Start the docker containers.
    • docker-compose up
  10. 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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