Linux

48220 readers

723 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
No misinformation
No NSFW content
No hate speech, bigotry, etc

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

161

New Linux user here. Is this really how I'm supposed to install apps on Linux? (feddit.uk)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

260 comments fedilink hide all child comments

https://mullvad.net/en/help/install-mullvad-app-linux

Trying to install VPN and these are the instructions Mullvad is giving me. This is ridiculous. There must be a more simple way. I know how to follow the instructions but I have no idea what I'm doing here. Can't I just download a file and install it? I'm on Ubuntu.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 207 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (31 children)

It's less complicated than it looks like. The text is just a poorly written mess, full of options (Fedora vs. Ubuntu, repo vs. no repo, stable vs. beta), and they're explaining how to do this through the terminal alone because the interface that you have might be different from what they expect. And because copy-pasting commands is faster.

Can’t I just download a file and install it? I’m on Ubuntu.

Yes, you can! In fact, the instructions include this option; it's under "Installing the app without the Mullvad repository". It's a bad idea though; then you don't get automatic updates.

A better way to do this is to tell your system "I want software from this repository", so each time that they make a new version of the program, yours get updated.

but I have no idea what I’m doing here.

I'll copy-paste their commands to do so, and explain what each does.

sudo curl -fsSLo /usr/share/keyrings/mullvad-keyring.asc https://repository.mullvad.net/deb/mullvad-keyring.asc
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/mullvad-keyring.asc arch=$( dpkg --print-architecture )] https://repository.mullvad.net/deb/stable $(lsb_release -cs) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mullvad.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install mullvad-vpn

The first command boils down to "download this keyring from the internet". The keyring is a necessary file to know if you're actually getting your software from Mullvad instead of PoopySoxHaxxor69. If you wanted, you could do it manually, and then move to the /usr/share/keyrings directory, but... it's more work, come on.

The second command tells your system that you want software from repository.mullvad.net. I don't use Ubuntu but there's probably some GUI to do it for you.

The third command boils down to "hey, Ubuntu, update the list of packages for me".

The fourth one installs the software.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 10 months ago (15 children)

Thanks for the explanation. However trying to run the first command gives me sudo: curl: command not found

So I'm stuck right there in the first step lol

[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

You have two options: install curl (check @[email protected]'s comment) or do it manually. Installing curl is the easiest.

If you want to do it the hard way (without the terminal), here's how:

Download the file https://repository.mullvad.net/deb/mullvad-keyring.asc from your web browser.
Open your file browser as administrator. There's probably some link for that in the Menu.
Move the file that you just downloaded to the directory /usr/share/keyrings/

[–] [email protected] 21 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Really appreciate your replies dude. So many are being a bit of an jerks here, but you (and few other) have been really helpful.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

You're welcome.

I think that people being jerks take for granted how confusing this might be, if you're new; we (people in general) tend to take vocab that we already know for granted, as well as solutions for small problems. ...except that it doesn't work when you're starting out, and we all need to start out somewhere, right.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Yeah, once you work in Linux for so long seeing someone ask about curl missing is really easy to take for granted that we all started there, we’ve all been fresh on Linux. A lot of people take pride in their experience, but they shouldn’t lord it over those who are learning to advance themselves. It’s completely counter to why Linux even exists.

load more comments (13 replies)

load more comments (28 replies)