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LocalSend

The LocalSend extension adds LocalSend, a file-sharing app and AirDrop alternative, to a Frostyard desktop image. Use it when you want to send files to other devices on your network. Every image carries the extension’s definition, switched off. The extension itself is not in the image: Updex turns it on and downloads it.

Before you start

Section titled “Before you start”

You need:

  • A Frostyard desktop bootc image: Snow, Snowfield, or Sundog, not Floe.
  • Root access to enable, update, and remove the extension.
  • Network access to https://repository.frostyard.org/ext/localsend/.
  • Free space in /var for the download and the installed image.

The LocalSend extension has no published test results on Frostyard images yet. Try it on a machine you can spare first.

Enable LocalSend

Section titled “Enable LocalSend”

See what Updex found, then enable the feature and download it now:

Terminal window
updex features list --component=localsend
sudo updex features enable localsend --now

localsend appears as a component, with its feature disabled. The enable command downloads the image, checks its checksum and signature, links it, and refreshes the merge.

Check the merge and the files that the extension adds:

Terminal window
systemd-sysext status
command -v localsend localsend_app
ls /usr/share/applications/localsend_app.desktop

systemd-sysext status lists localsend. Each name prints a path, and ls prints the launcher file.

If enable --now exits with a refresh error (refresh_error in JSON), the download worked, but the activation did not. If the output says activation did not finish, the extension is merged, but users and groups can be missing: reboot. Otherwise the merge state is unknown: reboot. A sudo systemd-sysext refresh by hand does not create users and groups. Then run the checks above again.

Use LocalSend

Section titled “Use LocalSend”

Start LocalSend from your applications, or run localsend. The extension ships no service and adds nothing to /etc.

Update, roll back, and remove

Section titled “Update, roll back, and remove”

See whether a newer image exists, then update:

Terminal window
updex features check --component=localsend
sudo updex features update --component=localsend

The update downloads the newest image and links it. A refresh replaces /usr under a running app, and a running app can fail. Close LocalSend before you run updex features update, or update with --no-refresh and reboot. See Manage system extensions for the check output and the update timer.

Roll back with sudo updex features rollback localsend. It takes effect at the next boot. See Roll back.

Remove LocalSend now:

Terminal window
sudo updex features disable localsend --now --force

Updex unmerges all extensions on the host, deletes the LocalSend image, and merges the rest again. Your LocalSend settings and the files you received stay in your home directory. Reboot when the command finishes. Without --force, Updex refuses while the image is merged.

What ships

Section titled “What ships”
Item What you get
Package requests The LocalSend .deb (a pinned download), plus libayatana-appindicator3-1, gir1.2-ayatanaappindicator3-0.1, libayatana-ido3-0.4-0, and xdg-user-dirs
Version The image file name carries the localsend version
Commands and launcher /usr/bin/localsend, /usr/bin/localsend_app, and /usr/share/applications/localsend_app.desktop; the app lives in /usr/lib/localsend_app
Services None
Image file localsend_<version>_<os>_<arch>.raw.zst; .raw.xz, .raw.gz, and .raw also work
Download From https://repository.frostyard.org/ext/localsend/, signature required (Verify=true), into /var/lib/extensions.d/

Each build checks that these paths are present: the LocalSend binary, the two /usr/bin links, and the launcher. A build that is missing one fails.

See also

Section titled “See also”

Sources

Section titled “Sources”

Reviewed 2026-10-27; Updex facts reviewed 2026-10-30. snosi commit b2858ca0222814c395cf8248db98f3e096d57dc9; Updex v2.1.3 commit 2661e987faac986f2594d1d9bbbadf1bf3053f5b.