Installing Services

StartOS services are installed from the Marketplace, which consists of curated registries. You can also sideload packages directly from .s9pk files.

From the Marketplace

The Marketplace is made up of multiple “registries”. A registry is a curated list of services that can be downloaded and installed onto StartOS. You can think of a registry as just one “store” or “booth” inside a broader marketplace.

StartOS comes preloaded with two default registries: (1) The Start9 Registry and (2) the Community Registry.

Services in the Start9 Registry are vouched for, recommended, supported, and maintained by Start9. Services in the Community Registry are not. For a more detailed explanation of the Registry framework, check out this short blog post.

To install a service from the marketplace, simply visit the Marketplace, select a service, and click “Install”.

Switching Registries

To switch between registries or add a custom registry, simply click arrows underneath the current Registry title.

Sideloading

Sideloading is useful if you are testing a service that does not yet exist on a registry, or if you prefer to eliminate the Marketplace as a point of trust. An s9pk can be obtained from anywhere or even built from source code.

To sideload a service, go to Sideload and upload the appropriate .s9pk file.