Installation

EDLD Installation Guide

EDLD is a Python daemon for real-time Elite Dangerous session monitoring, running on Linux, Windows and macOS. It offers four interfaces over the same dashboard: EDCARS, the PySide6 desktop window drawn as a console (--edcars, the default); the same window with every panel at once (--dashg or --gui); a Textual terminal dashboard (--dasht or --tui); and plain scrolling terminal output (--term or --text).

Running from source is the norm on Linux, and needs Python 3.11 or later. On Windows and macOS, download a prebuilt binary from the Releases page — no Python install needed — or follow the source instructions below if you prefer.

Server mode, for the EDAM mobile app, needs two more packages, cryptography and segno; add them to the pip install line below if you will use it (on Arch, cryptography is python-cryptography from pacman). See Dependencies.

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Linux — Arch

Arch ships current versions of everything EDLD needs.

sudo pacman -S python-psutil
pip install textual miniaudio --break-system-packages

git clone https://github.com/indevlin/EDLD.git
cd EDLD
bash install.sh
nano ~/.local/share/EDLD/config.toml   # JournalFolder, unless the game runs under Steam/Proton

./edld.py                    # EDCARS, the desktop window (default)
./edld.py --dashg            # desktop window, Dashboard layout (or --gui)
./edld.py --dasht            # terminal dashboard (or --tui)
./edld.py --term             # plain scrolling output (or --text)

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Linux — Debian / Ubuntu

sudo apt install python3-psutil
pip install textual miniaudio --break-system-packages

git clone https://github.com/indevlin/EDLD.git
cd EDLD
bash install.sh
nano ~/.local/share/EDLD/config.toml

./edld.py
./edld.py --dasht
./edld.py --term

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Linux — Fedora

sudo dnf install python3-psutil
pip install textual miniaudio --break-system-packages

git clone https://github.com/indevlin/EDLD.git
cd EDLD
bash install.sh
nano ~/.local/share/EDLD/config.toml

./edld.py
./edld.py --dasht
./edld.py --term

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Windows and macOS

Prebuilt binary (recommended)

Download the archive for your platform from the Releases page, extract it, and run the executable. Everything is bundled — Python, Qt and all dependencies.

Verify the download first if you like; see docs/SIGNING.md.

The binary opens EDCARS by default. On its first run the Windows binary adds a Start-menu folder, EDLD, holding one shortcut per interface — EDCARS, Dashboard, Terminal dashboard and Terminal text. It remakes them if you move or update the binary; EDLD.exe --remove-shortcuts removes them and stops it making them again, and --shortcuts brings them back. The terminal shortcuts open their own console window. Server mode needs no shortcut of its own: turn it on in Options → Server and it runs beside whichever interface you open.

From a shell, --dasht and --term open the terminal interfaces on any platform, and --version confirms which build you have.

The game's journal folder, Saved Games\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous, is found by itself. To read journals from anywhere else, set JournalFolder in the config file — its path is printed at startup — or in Options → General.

From source

git clone https://github.com/indevlin/EDLD.git
cd EDLD
pip install -r requirements.txt
python edld.py

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The desktop interface

The desktop window — EDCARS, the default, and the Dashboard layout (--dashg) — needs PySide6. It is the largest dependency EDLD has (roughly 100 MB), so install.sh asks before installing it rather than assuming, and the terminal interfaces work perfectly without it.

pip install PySide6 --break-system-packages

If PySide6 is missing, a plain ./edld.py opens the terminal dashboard instead and says why; --edcars and --dashg, which ask for the window by name, exit with a message. --dasht and --term are unaffected.

install.sh also adds a launcher entry for each interface to your desktop's application menu (~/.local/share/applications); run ./edld.py --shortcuts to add them yourself, or --remove-shortcuts to take them away.

PySide6 is Qt for Python, under the LGPL v3. See docs/LICENSING.md for what that means for redistribution, and docs/BUILDING.md for how to build your own binaries.

On a minimal Linux install Qt also needs a few X libraries present at runtime:

sudo apt-get install -y libegl1 libxkbcommon-x11-0 libxcb-cursor0 \
  libxcb-icccm4 libxcb-keysyms1 libxcb-shape0 libxcb-randr0 \
  libxcb-render-util0 libxcb-xinerama0

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Config file location

Platform	config.toml
Linux	~/.local/share/EDLD/config.toml — ~/.config/EDLD is a symlink to the same directory
Windows	%LOCALAPPDATA%\EDLD\config.toml
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/EDLD/config.toml

A repo-adjacent config.toml is accepted as a development fallback.

If no config file is found on startup, EDLD writes one — a copy of example.config.toml, every setting at its default with a note on what it does — and prints its location. A blank JournalFolder finds the game's own journal folder on Windows and under Steam/Proton on Linux; anywhere else, set it and restart.

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Dependencies

Dependency	Purpose	Install method
python-psutil	Process utilities	Package manager
textual>=0.47	Terminal dashboard (--dasht)	pip
rich>=13.3.3	Terminal dashboard markup — arrives with Textual	pip
miniaudio>=1.71	Radio tab playback (MP3, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC) — optional	pip
PySide6>=6.6	Desktop window: EDCARS (the default) and --dashg — optional	pip
A compositor (picom or equivalent)	Streamer Stats Overlay transparency on Linux — optional	distro package
cryptography>=42	Server mode (-s) for the EDAM mobile app: the server's key and certificate — optional	package manager (python-cryptography, python3-cryptography) or pip
segno>=1.5	Server mode: draws the pairing QR code — optional; without it --pair still prints the code as text	pip

Prebuilt binaries bundle all of the above, including psutil, the server-mode packages and a CA certificate bundle (certifi), so they have no external requirements at all. Server mode is covered in docs/SERVER.md.

Do not install psutil via pip on Linux. It has C extensions that require system libraries only available through the distro package manager.

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Verifying a Linux install

./edld.py --selftest

That reports on each interface directly:

EDLD 20261111 selftest
  OK    server (identity qJqSd2OL…)
  OK    pairing QR code
  OK    terminal dashboard (--dasht)
  OK    desktop window (--edcars, --dashg)
  OK    radio (miniaudio 1.71, MP3 decode OK)

A FAIL line names the missing piece. The server and QR lines only matter if you use server mode, and the radio line only if you use the Radio tab. To check the individual packages instead:

python3 -c "import textual, miniaudio; print('Core OK')"
python3 -c "import psutil;  print('psutil OK')"    # game-process detection
python3 -c "import PySide6; print('Desktop OK')"   # only for the desktop window

EDLD starts and runs without psutil, but it cannot detect whether the game is running and session management is unavailable.

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Troubleshooting

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'psutil' Install via package manager: sudo pacman -S python-psutil (Arch) · sudo apt install python3-psutil (Debian/Ubuntu) · sudo dnf install python3-psutil (Fedora).

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'textual' Run pip install textual --break-system-packages.

PySide6 GUI import failed Run pip install PySide6 --break-system-packages. The terminal interfaces do not need it.

The desktop window fails to start with an xcb plugin error Qt cannot find its X libraries. Install the libxcb-* packages listed under The desktop interface above.

sshfs for remote access sudo pacman -S sshfs (Arch) · sudo apt install sshfs (Debian/Ubuntu) · sudo dnf install fuse-sshfs (Fedora). See docs/guides/REMOTE_ACCESS.md.