Hiberden for Linux

Hiberden on Linux, two ways: the full desktop application, and the command-line tools built for a headless or air-gapped server. Both write the same archive format and read the same catalog as the Windows app.

The same verified 3-2-1 engine, archive format, and catalog as the Windows app, on your own hardware. Free for 30 days from your first archive, on the desktop app and the command-line tools alike; writing a new archive is what needs a license, reading your data back never does.

Install the desktop app

The full graphical workflow: projects, archives, verification, restore, the built-in virtual tape drive, and the bundled AI connector. Built on Ubuntu 22.04, so it runs on Ubuntu 22.04 and later, Debian 12 and later, and equivalents, on x86_64.

Get the download

Grab the .deb (or the AppImage) from the download page, then verify the checksum and install:

# in your download folder
curl -fsSLO https://cdn.hiberden.app/downloads/hiberden-desktop-linux-x86_64.deb.sha256
sha256sum -c hiberden-desktop-linux-x86_64.deb.sha256
sudo apt install ./hiberden-desktop-linux-x86_64.deb

Then launch Hiberden from your applications menu. The full product is free for 30 days from your first archive; restore and verify always work, license or not, and a license from hiberden.app/register activates on Linux the same way it does on Windows. Activation works even with no internet on the machine, using a USB stick: see Activate a computer that is offline.

Prefer a portable build? The AppImage is on the same download page: verify against the checksum, chmod +x, run.

Install the command-line tools

For a headless or air-gapped server: catalog your archives and write them, with no desktop and no network. Same install floor as the desktop app.

# the CLI: catalog, archive, licensing
curl -fsSLO https://cdn.hiberden.app/downloads/hiberden-cli-linux-x86_64
curl -fsSL https://cdn.hiberden.app/downloads/hiberden-cli-linux-x86_64.sha256 \
  | awk '{print $1"  hiberden-cli-linux-x86_64"}' | sha256sum -c -
chmod +x hiberden-cli-linux-x86_64
sudo mv hiberden-cli-linux-x86_64 /usr/local/bin/hiberden

hiberden --version
hiberden --help

# start the free 30-day trial on this machine
hiberden license trial you@example.com

The MCP connector, for driving Hiberden from an AI assistant, is the same download with hiberden-mcp in place of hiberden-cli. Setup is in the connector repository.

What the command-line tools do

Catalog and archive. hiberden archive <dir> --to-tape <mount> writes a verifiable TAR with a signed sidecar.
Licensing without a screen. hiberden license trial <email> starts the free 30 days on that machine, and hiberden license activate <KEY> licenses it. For a machine with no internet at all, hiberden license request writes a file you exchange for a license on any other computer. Writing a new archive is what needs a license; reading your data back never does.
Verify and restore stay in the desktop app for now. The command-line tools catalog and write; reading a copy back and restoring it are desktop features today. Say so if you need them headless, it moves the roadmap.
Cloud destinations, headlessly. hiberden set-cloud-credential reads the secret from standard input, never the command line, so it is not exposed to other processes on the box or captured in shell history.

Signing and custody

Each archive is signed by a per-install Ed25519 key kept under ~/.hiberden/keys/, readable only by your user. It is the same kind of custody the operating-system keyrings provide on other platforms: it protects the key from other users on the machine, and it is not hardware-backed. If no signing key is available, the tool refuses to write rather than quietly producing an unsigned archive; pass --allow-unsigned to override that deliberately.

Verify what you downloaded

The published SHA-256 for the current builds. sha256sum -c checks it for you; these are here so you can confirm out of band.

desktop .deb · a5326a8b4abbfd62596bea684f985ea6a2adeff74de4574747d7734065063876

desktop AppImage · 805a14fdeba016ed1ecd46c9ef494d897c658738303a18d027e64ddc8bebbab3

hiberden-cli · dd1cc0a4d0fb53b761515530ce98294e100493aba3c25d5268d5f7e475831728

hiberden-mcp · 11504eef870655c1d1b5c1ed39d99be9b51826852328a2d42c3b38ded6b6bbe0

Verify the signature

Every download on this page is signed with Hiberden's offline Ed25519 release key, and so is the macOS build. Once you have the hiberden command-line tool, download the .sig next to a file and check it, with no network:

hiberden release verify hiberden-desktop-linux-x86_64.deb

It prints OK only if the file was signed by us, and rejects anything tampered with or unofficial. The signing key is the same across releases, so you can pin it out of band and compare:

release key (ed25519) · 96dfa273389c99d4d10703b8b4ae73bcc3c54ba842a844725b962ce06433f966

Tape

Evaluate the tape workflow before you spend a dollar on hardware: the desktop app's virtual tape drive is built in, so you can write an archive to a cartridge, read it back, verify it, and restore it with no drive attached. On real hardware, tape on Linux runs through the open-source LTFS implementation, the same open standard the tapes are written in, and Installing on Linux walks through setting it up.

On Windows? The desktop application is at hiberden.app/download. Its installer is signed a different way: it carries a code signature from Agave Information Solutions, LLC, which Windows checks for you. Right-click the file, choose Properties, then Digital Signatures.