Overview

bisos.geneweb is a BISOS package for running GeneWeb, genealogy software, on a BISOS host: its web server, gwd, as a BISOS Capability Bundle (CBS/CBM) of systemd-planted Command Services, browsable as http://geneweb.here, with an empty demo base so http://geneweb.here/demo works out of the box.

It is small (21 MB with 2 workers) and is enabled in the rawBisosCbm set, with the raw platform as its real home (see bxGenesis/start/rawBisosCBMs/README.org).

Package Documentation At Github

The information below is a subset of the full of documentation for this bisos-pip package. More complete documentation is available at: https://github.com/bisos-pip/geneweb-cs

Table of Contents TOC

• Overview

• Package Documentation At Github

• The BISOS GeneWeb Model

• The Wizard Password

• What Gets Installed, and Where

• The 3 sboms and the Unit

• Installation

• Usage

  • Materialization

  • Bases: Create, Import, Export

  • Day-to-Day Admin: ``genewebAdmin.cs` <#day-to-day-admin-genewebadmincs>`__

• Key Files

• Part of BISOS — ByStar Internet Services Operating System

• Documentation and Blee-Panels

• Support

• Planned Improvements

  • Move to a final 7.1 release when one is published (with its digest)

  • The “secure it” layer: real passwords, HTTPS, listening beyond loopback

  • gwsetup, if it gains an option to bind an address

  • Plant the CBM leaf in brorawBisos (``sys/cbm/collective/hereWeb/geneweb/`), enabled <#plant-the-cbm-leaf-in-bro_rawbisos-syscbmcollectiveherewebgeneweb-enabled>`__

The BISOS GeneWeb Model

bisos.geneweb packages GeneWeb 7.1.0-beta2 as a hereWeb CBS/CBM, on the pattern of the other CBM packages (the cbm-package-authorship skill): one module of facts (genewebInfo.py), a pinned and checksummed upstream release, config written only when absent, a read-only driftCheck, a server sbom and a usage sbom joined only by the CBS.

• The release. Debian 13 does not package GeneWeb. The upstream Linux zip (59 MB; 171 MB unpacked) is pinned with the SHA-256 GitHub records for it. 7.1.0-beta2 (2025-12-25) is the newest release and the only one with a published digest. It is named a beta. GeneWeb is OCaml: its binaries need only libgmp10 beyond libc.

• gwd only. gwsetup, GeneWeb’s setup web UI, is not run: it cannot bind an address and would listen on every interface. Bases are created with the command-line tools (below).

• Read-only distribution. gwd runs from the root-owned unpacked zip and writes only to its bases and work directories.

• Earlier BISOS GeneWeb. /bisos/asc/geneweb6 and geneweb7 hold older bash-ICM installers (an unpinned 2022 zip); this package replaces them for the CBM pattern.

As of 2026-10-16 it is materialized on one host (Debian 13): the unit active; a GEDCOM imported with ged2gwb, browsed through http://geneweb.here, and exported back with gwb2ged; editing refused without the wizard password and allowed with it; driftCheck agrees.

The Wizard Password

GeneWeb has no user names: a wizard password lets you edit, a friend password lets you see private data. Following the rawBisos convention (the password is the service’s name), the wizard password is geneweb; there is no friend password, and public pages need no login. It is passed to gwd with -wizard (visible in ps). Insecure by design; securing a host is a separate layer.

What Gets Installed, and Where

ARGS sets -a 127.0.0.1 -p 24017 -n_workers 2 -lang en -wizard geneweb -log - (the log goes to journald). The EnvironmentFile is written only when absent; the demo base is created once. genewebAdmin.cs -i driftCheck reports the EnvironmentFile, the unit, the link and the demo base.

The 3 sboms and the Unit

GeneWeb has no separate client: one uses it in a browser. Its usage side is its tools — ged2gwb, gwb2ged, gwc, gwu — for preparing and converting family trees on any host. They ship only in the zip, so both sboms unpack the same pinned zip (whichever runs first).

The unit, geneweb-sysd.pcs, runs gwd $ARGS as User=geneweb. Port 24017 and geneweb.here (127.0.22.119) come from bisos.banna.

Installation

The sources are at https://github.com/bisos-pip/geneweb and the package is at https://pypi.org/project/bisos.geneweb. Install with pip install bisos.geneweb, or with pipx install bisos.geneweb for the commands only: genewebAdmin.cs, quickGeneweb.cs, geneweb-assemble.cs, cbmProc-geneweb.spcs. The planted .pcs files are invoked from py3/bin/.

Usage

geneweb-sbom.pcs -i sbom_fullUpdate          # the server only
genewebUsage-sbom.pcs -i sbom_fullUpdate     # the tools only
geneweb-cbs.pcs -i cbs_materialize           # both sboms + unit + assemble

cd /var/lib/geneweb/bases
sudo -u geneweb /opt/geneweb/current/gw/gwc -o family                       # an empty base
sudo -u geneweb /opt/geneweb/current/gw/ged2gwb /tmp/family.ged -o family   # GEDCOM -> base
sudo -u geneweb /opt/geneweb/current/gw/gwb2ged family -o /tmp/family.ged   # base -> GEDCOM

genewebAdmin.cs -i hostInfo        # fqdn, listener, wizard password, paths
genewebAdmin.cs -i servicesInfo    # links for operating the unit, dns and vhost
genewebAdmin.cs -i basesInfo       # create, import, export, list bases
genewebAdmin.cs -i driftCheck      # read-only: env file, unit, link, demo base vs genewebInfo
quickGeneweb.cs                    # the flat cheat sheet

Key Files

• py3/bisos/geneweb/genewebInfo.py — the single source of facts: the pinned release, paths, port, wizard password, the demo base, the generators and the install scripts (zipSetupScript, the zip form of the tarball helper).

• py3/bin/geneweb-cbs.pcs, cbmProc-geneweb.spcs — the CBS and the CBM pointer.

• py3/bin/geneweb-sbom.pcs, genewebUsage-sbom.pcs, genewebCbs-sbom.pcs — the three sboms.

• py3/bin/geneweb-sysd.pcs — the unit.

• py3/bin/geneweb-assemble.cs, geneweb-here-dns.pcs, geneweb-wvd.pcs — assembly.

• py3/bin/genewebAdmin.cs, quickGeneweb.cs — admin CS and cheat sheet.

• py3/tests/verify.sh — smoke test of every command and of genewebInfo’s invariants.

Part of BISOS — ByStar Internet Services Operating System

Layered on top of Debian, BISOS (By* Internet Services Operating System) is a unified and universal framework for developing both internet services and software-service continuums that use internet services. See Bootstrapping ByStar, BISOS and Blee for getting started with BISOS.

BISOS is a foundation for The Libre-Halaal ByStar Digital Ecosystem which is described as a cure for losses of autonomy and privacy in a book titled: Nature of Polyexistentials

bisos.geneweb is part of BISOS. It is a standalone package that can be used independently of the full BISOS environment.

Documentation and Blee-Panels

bisos.geneweb is part of the ByStar Digital Ecosystem http://www.by-star.net. Its primary documentation is in the form of Blee-Panels, in ./panels; see file:./panels/bisos.geneweb/_nodeBase_/fullUsagePanel-en.org for a starting point. It is best developed with Blee, the By* BISOS Libre-Halaal Emacs Environment.

Support

Planned Improvements