Version: 1.3.2 Last Updated: 13th March 2026 Status: Active Development
From 1.3.1 to 1.3.2 on 13th March 2026 by kierknoby
Update increasing the boot wait in the Heqet gate to address a race condition where localechooser was not ready when user input arrived on isolated virtualisation tiers. See changelog below.
Heqet is a streamlined installer for FreePBX 17 and Debian 12, built and maintained by 20tele.com. Boot the ISO, confirm locale at the Heqet gate, wait for Debian 12 to install, remove the ISO and walk away. The system installs Debian, applies your locale and root password, then runs IN1CLICK to deploy FreePBX 17 automatically on startup.
WARNING: Test in a non-production environment before relying on it. ISO thoroughly tested on Vultr, Proxmox, and VirtualBox.
IMPORTANT: USB boot has been tested on a small number of machines as of 13th March 2026. It works on modern UEFI hardware but older machines and those with unusual boot firmware may behave differently.
Download a beta version at https://heqet.in1.click/beta/freepbx17.iso
- Debian 12 (Bookworm) - Latest stable release
- FreePBX 17 - Latest version
- Asterisk 22 - Telephony engine
- MariaDB - Database server
- Apache2 + PHP - Web server and runtime
- All dependencies - Fully configured
- Download the ISO from https://heqet.in1.click/beta/freepbx17.iso
- Attach it to a VM or write it to a USB drive (see IMPORTANT note above regarding USB boot compatibility)
- Boot from the ISO
- The Heqet gate displays the target disk name and size, generates a random root password, and shows a 30-second wipe warning
- Note the password, select a locale (en_US, en_GB, en_CA, en_AU, or Other), or press Enter/0 to abort
- The installation runs unattended from this point
- After reboot, IN1CLICK installs FreePBX 17 automatically on tty1
Total install time is approximately 25-30 minutes depending on hardware and mirror speed.
Pre-Built ISO Install:
- 64-bit (x86_64) hardware or VM
- 1GB+ RAM (2GB+ recommended)
- 10GB+ disk space
- Internet connection
ISO Build:
- Debian/Ubuntu build host or GitHub Codespaces
- 10GB+ free disk space
- Root/sudo access
- Internet connection
- IN1CLICK Manual - The installer script that runs inside Heqet
- ISO Build Guide - Full technical guide for building the ISO
- ISO Build Steps (Codespaces) - Codespaces quickstart for building the ISO
- AI Disclosure
- Issues
Which doc should I read?
- Installing from the pre-built ISO? Read this README.
- Building in GitHub Codespaces? Start with ISO_BUILD_STEPS.md.
- Need full build details, testing, or troubleshooting? See ISO_BUILD.md.
heqet/
├── IN1CLICK # IN1CLICK installer script
├── IN1CLICK_README.md # IN1CLICK documentation
├── README.md # This document
├── ISO_BUILD.md # ISO build guide
├── ISO_BUILD_STEPS.md # Codespaces quickstart
└── iso-build/ # ISO build system
├── config/
│ ├── preseed.cfg # Debian preseed configuration
│ ├── heqet-gate.sh # Heqet installation gate script
│ └── isolinux.cfg # Custom BIOS boot menu
├── scripts/
│ ├── build-iso.sh # Main ISO build script
│ ├── test-iso.sh # QEMU testing script
│ └── diagnostics.sh # System diagnostics tool
├── build/ # (created during build)
├── output/ # (created during build)
└── logs/ # (created during build)
Root Password (Heqet Gate):
- The gate generates a random 16-character alphanumeric password at install time using /dev/urandom.
- The password cycles through 7 ANSI colours on tty1 so it is not missed.
- No disks are touched until you confirm the gate. The countdown is a safety pause.
- There are no default or hardcoded credentials in the ISO.
APT Source Auto-Fix:
- 'stable' is replaced with 'bookworm' automatically.
- 'trixie' lines are commented out.
- All sources are checked again after
apt update. - Warnings are printed if changes are made.
Upgrade Blocking:
- IN1CLICK will not allow upgrades to Debian 13 (Trixie).
- Only Bookworm sources are supported.
Mirror Gate:
- 3 consecutive successful checks via mirrors.in1.click are required before proceeding.
- Both module mirror status and deb.freepbx.org status must pass.
Heqet Gate (heqet-gate.sh): Runs before any disks are touched. Detects existing installs, detects the target disk and displays it with size in the wipe warning, generates the root password, collects locale/keymap selection, and writes values to temp files for the preseed to consume.
Preseed (preseed.cfg): Automates Debian installation. Includes USB-safe disk detection in early_command, runtime disk override via partman/early_command, and a late_command that applies the gate password, locale, and keymap, deploys IN1CLICK, and creates systemd firstboot/cleanup services.
IN1CLICK: Bash script that runs on first boot via systemd. Performs all pre-checks, installs FreePBX 17 using the official Sangoma installer, upgrades modules, and verifies the installation. Marks completion and triggers cleanup.
Cleanup Service: Disables the firstboot and cleanup services, unmasks and restarts getty@tty1, and removes both unit files from disk.
Heqet Gate (heqet-gate.sh)
- Increased countdown from 10 to 30 seconds and added a two-stage boot wait with inline message overwrite. "Ensuring boot finishes, please wait..." is replaced in-place by "Generating the root password for you..." with 10 second sleeps either side, to address a race condition where localechooser was not ready when user input arrived on isolated virtualisation tiers such as Vultr dedicated cloud compute.
Heqet Gate (heqet-gate.sh)
- Added VERSION and IN1CLICK_VERSION variables at the top of the script, referenced in the banner printf so version numbers only need updating in one place.
- Added disk detection using /proc/cmdline and candidate list, excluding the boot device, with NVMe sed fix.
- Added disk size display using blockdev --getsize64.
- Replaced generic "on the server" WARNING with a three-state output: disk and size detected shows the disk name and size, size undetectable shows the disk name with "size unknown", disk undetectable shows "Target disk unknown. Please abort and request support!" with no automatic reboot.
Build Script (build-iso.sh)
- Accepts the ISO version as an optional first argument, normalising dash-separated input (e.g. 1-3-1) to dot notation internally, so the version no longer needs to be edited in the script before each build.
Heqet Gate (heqet-gate.sh)
- Version bump to 1.3.0 in banner.
- Locale options expanded from 2 to 5: en_US, en_GB, en_CA, en_AU, and Other. Other falls back to en_US with post-install instructions.
Preseed (preseed.cfg)
- Added dd wipe of the first 2048 sectors of the target disk in early_command to clear existing partition tables before partman starts, fixing partitioning failures on machines with prior installations.
- Added console-setup preseed settings (charmap, fontface, fontsize) to fix console-setup.service failure on first boot.
Boot Configuration (isolinux.cfg)
- Added cdrom-detect/try-usb=true to APPEND line to fix installation media detection on machines that enumerate optical drives before USB devices.
Build Script (build-iso.sh)
- Version bump to 1.3.0.
- Base Debian netinst ISO updated from 12.8.0 to 12.13.0.
- Added cdrom-detect/try-usb=true to GRUB kernel parameters for the same media detection fix on UEFI systems.
Heqet Gate (heqet-gate.sh)
- Version bump from 1.0.1 to 1.2.0 in banner (skipped 1.1.0 to keep Heqet versioning aligned with IN1CLICK 1.2.x).
- Password display now cycles through 7 ANSI colours before settling.
- Changed prompt wording from "select a region" to "select a locale".
- Locale and keymap values written to /tmp/heqet-locale and /tmp/heqet-keymap for late_command.
- Debconf block wrapped in a subshell with </dev/null stdin redirection, fixing the hang after region selection.
- Debconf tool priority flipped: debconf-set tried first, debconf-set-selections as fallback.
- Removed DEBIAN_FRONTEND and DEBCONF_NONINTERACTIVE_SEEN exports.
- Fallback error message updated to reflect temp-file recovery path.
Preseed (preseed.cfg)
- USB-safe disk detection in early_command to identify and skip the boot device.
- Added partman/early_command to override partman-auto/disk at runtime.
- Late_command now applies locale and keymap from the gate via /tmp/heqet-locale and /tmp/heqet-keymap.
- Added plymouth-quit.service to firstboot unit ordering.
- Updated late_command description to reflect current functionality.
- Removed inline comments and normalised indentation to spaces.
Build Script (build-iso.sh)
- Version bump to 1.2.0.
- Updated GRUB menuentry to include DEBIAN_FRONTEND=text, debian-installer/framebuffer=false, and nosplash.
Boot Configuration (isolinux.cfg)
- Removed DEBCONF_DEBUG=5 from boot parameters for production builds.
- Initial release.
- Email: support@20tele.com
- Portal: https://support.20tele.com
- Issues: GitHub Issues
- Heqet ISO and IN1CLICK: Developed by 20tele.com
- FreePBX: Sangoma Technologies
- Debian: Debian Project
- Mirror Monitoring: mirrors.in1.click by 20tele.com
Contributions are welcome! Please:
- Test thoroughly in a controlled environment
- Follow code style
- Document changes
- Submit pull requests with details
This software is provided as-is without warranty of any kind, express or implied. You may modify, distribute, and use this software; 20tele.com accepts no responsibility for any damage or issues arising from its use. Please test thoroughly in a controlled environment before deploying.
GNU General Public License v3.0
See LICENSE for full details.