Install guide · Debian 13 (trixie)printed 29 Oct 2026, 02:19 UTC

Install Forgejo 17 on Debian 13

Debian 13 doesn't ship Forgejo. The current release is 17.0.1. freshdeb builds it for trixie from upstream's release with packaging in Debian's style, so it updates with apt upgrade like the rest of the system.

Debian 13 ships: nothing
main: 17.0.1follows every upstream release, minors and majors included. Currently 17.0.1.
lts: 15.0.11stays on 15.x, minor releases included, until it moves to a newer line. Currently 15.0.11, upstream support until Jul 2027.
Built for: amd64 and arm64, natively

1Trust the signing key (once per machine)

sudo install -d -m 0755 /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://deb.freshdeb.com/freshdeb-archive-keyring.gpg \
  | sudo tee /etc/apt/keyrings/freshdeb-archive-keyring.gpg >/dev/null

Fingerprint 3BBD F03A 9C0B F890 F8CA 9510 7595 CC55 468F 3161. How to verify.

2Add the source for trixie

sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/freshdeb-forgejo.sources >/dev/null <<EOF
Types: deb
URIs: https://deb.freshdeb.com/forgejo
Suites: trixie
Components: main
Signed-By: /etc/apt/keyrings/freshdeb-archive-keyring.gpg
EOF

main follows every upstream release, minors and majors included. Currently 17.0.1. Other components: lts, listed with the versions.

3Install

sudo apt update && sudo apt install forgejo
apt policy forgejo   # expect 17.0.1-2+freshdeb~deb13

How it's packaged.

Before you install

Neither Debian nor Ubuntu ship Forgejo: the packaging is ours, written the way Debian would, and there's nothing to replace.

First: The service isn't enabled on install: until the install wizard is done, the first visitor to port 3000 configures the instance and becomes its administrator. Run systemctl enable --now forgejo when you're ready to complete it, then make /etc/forgejo read-only for Forgejo, as upstream's guide says. A new major migrates the database on its first start, with no way back: take a forgejo dump before one. The package's NEWS entry says how.

Why a package

Upstream's guide installs its binary by hand, or runs the container image. This package is that binary, laid out the way the guide describes, with the git user and upstream's systemd unit, and apt upgrade brings each release. lts keeps you on the long-term support release.

Forgejo elsewhere

forgejo: every release line, its contents and origin