Radicale is simple CalDAV (calendars, to-do lists) and CardDAV (contacts) server, that is easy to install and maintain, do not require a database and can optionally use a git storage back end. Radicale do not implement the full specification, but a subset.

Radicale might not be the best choice for heterogeneous environments.

The Radicale software stack layers are as follows:

Layer	Part	Function	Provider	Protocol, Format
1	Daemon	Storage	Radicale	iCal/vCard
2	Daemon	Server	Radicale	CalDAV/CardDAV
(3)	Daemon	Server	nginx	socket/proxy
4	Transfer	Network	internet	http + TLS / https proxy
5	Client	Receiver	Evolution	CalDAV/CardDAV
6	Client	GUI	Evolution	Terminal, GTK, Web, …

• Layer 3 is optional
• The provider of layer 3,4,5 and 6 can be changed
• Alternative to nginx is apache2

Radicale Installation Methods

The Radicale daemon can theoretically be build and installed via:

#	From	Via	Version	Result	Notes
01	tar	source	3.0.6	NT
02	tar	[packages]	2.1.11-6	OK	See below
03	git	pip	3.0.6		Package not tried, install works, function not tested
04	git	debuild, dpkg	2.1.12	NT
05	git	debuild, dpkg	3.0.6*	NG	tried with changed Debian dir from 2.1.12-1
06	git	stdeb	3.0.6*	NG	tried latest
07	git	stdeb	3.0.6*	NG	tried with modified setup.py and setup/cfg
08	tar	stdeb	3.0.6	NG	tried
09	tar	stdeb	3.0.6	NG	tried with modified setup.py and setup/cfg
10	deb	apt-get or aptitude	2.1.11-6	OK	works
11	deb	apt-get or aptitude	2.1.12-2	OK	works
12	deb	apt-get or aptitude	3.0.6-1	NA

• Debian package
  • via Debian official package repository (only version 2.1.12-1 as of 2020-11-02 and 2.1.12-2 as of 2020-12-29 both in sid). The Debian wiki explains: https://wiki.debian.org/Radicale
  • via a self build package

Abbreviations:

	Explanation
NT	not tried
NG	not good (failed)
OK	good (passed)
NA	not available

Radicale Debian Packages

As of now (2020-12-29) only version 2.1.11-6 is available for Debian Buster and 2.1.12-2 for Debian Sid. There is no official Debian package for 3.0.x.

Build Dependencies

As far as known the following build dependencies should be met to build radicale 2.1.11.

aptitude install help2man dh-buildinfo devscripts cdbs python3-atomicwrites \
python3-bcrypt python3-passlib python3-pytest python3-vobject quilt dh-python \
python3-setuptools

Building A Debian Package

For Radicale 2.1.11 the process is straight forward on Debian 10 Buster after installing the dependencies.

wget http://deb.debian.org/debian/pool/main/r/radicale/radicale_2.1.11.orig.tar.gz
wget http://deb.debian.org/debian/pool/main/r/radicale/radicale_2.1.11-6.debian.tar.xz
tar xvzf radicale_2.1.11.orig.tar.gz
cd Radicale-2.1.11
tar xvJf ../radicale_2.1.11-6.debian.tar.xz
debuild -us -uc

This will create radicale_2.1.11-6_all.deb.

It is not possible (easy) to build Debian packages from the upstream git source repository, as this do not include a debian directory. The debian directory for 2.1.11 do not work for 3.0.x.

Clients

• Thunderbird with lightning plugin (outdated) requires CalDAV (not iCalendar (ICS)).
• Newer version of Thunderbird already include a calender, no plugin needed
• Evolution

Links

• Apache2
• CalDAV
• CardDAV
• Evolution
• Nginx
• Radicale

History

Version	Date	Notes
0.1.4	2022-07-05	Shell->Bash
0.1.3	2022-05-09	Change level of section ‘Links’
0.1.2	2020-12-29	Update front matter, links, Sid package version
0.1.1	2020-12-29	Update build process
0.1.0	2020-11-02	Initial release