You can build package files for Debian based distributions (including Ubuntu) by running the standard build commands: # Install build dependencies i="$(dpkg-checkbuilddeps 2>&1 | sed -e 's/.*dependencies: //;t;d')" [ -n "$i" ] && sudo apt-get install $i # Build package files dpkg-buildpackage These commands replace "./configure" and "make", which you would run on non-Debian systems. If you have a very old Debian system, you might have to use "fakeroot dpkg-buildpackage", instead of just "dpkg-buildpackage". If you want HTTPS support, and if you want the ability to run "shellinaboxd" as a non-privileged user, you should now install these run-time libraries: sudo apt-get install libssl0.9.8 libpam0g openssl Running "dpkg-buildpackage" puts package files into your parent directory. You can install them with: sudo dpkg -i ../shellinabox_*.deb You can now connect to your new shell at: http://localhost:4200 In contrast to installation by "make install", this package file creates files that are managed by the system tools. This allows it to install configuration files in "/etc" and to automatically start the daemon. You can configure the daemon process by editing "/etc/default/shellinabox". You can also provide SSL certificates for your site by installing them in "/var/lib/shellinabox". By default, the system will install self-signed certificates for you. These certificates are likely to raise warnings when you point your browser to the site. At the very least, you need a file called "certificate.pem" that includes both the private key and the public certificate in PEM (i.e. ASCII) format. Additionally, you should create files for each of the publically visible hostnames that your machine has. These are named "certificate-${FQDN}.pem". You probably also want "certificate-localhost.pem". After you make any configuration changes, you need to restart the daemon by running: sudo /etc/init.d/shellinabox restart If you want to know which files were installed by the package, run dpkg -L shellinabox If you want to uninstall it again, run: sudo apt-get remove shellinabox For all other administrative tasks, refer to the documentation that came with your system.