Linux: Offer Tarball Package for Non-Debian Distributions

[rk9qn3j]

Hello,

Are there any reason why no tarball (tar.xz or tar.gz) package is provided for other Linux distributions? Thanks.

[gasi-signal]

@kartongsaft Could you try an build it from source, e.g. via https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Desktop/releases/tag/v1.6.1?

We have some instructions here: https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Desktop/blob/3841154295598021a61d3b4bacab7fb88eccd380/CONTRIBUTING.md#changing-to-production

[rk9qn3j]

I would be more convenient if there was a link to the source on the main website with some minimal instructions. Why use Yarn instead of a "classical" setup like below (just curious)?

./configure
make
sudo make install

We have some instructions here: https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Desktop/blob/3841154295598021a61d3b4bacab7fb88eccd380/CONTRIBUTING.md#changing-to-production

According to the instructions, I can't have both my phone and desktop linked at the same time; is that correct?

[gasi-signal]

@kartongsaft We are just a two-person team on the desktop app and therefore have limited resources. If you’d like to try doing the install from source and then better document it, we’d be happy to accept a README.md pull request. The current setup using yarn is based on how we develop the software as is fairly standard in the JavaScript / Electron community. We normally install it via official builds.

According to the instructions, I can't have both my phone and desktop linked at the same time; is that correct?

Good catch. If you want to run a production instance from source, you may want to do yarn start --production which will then pick up config/production.json (untested). Hope this helps.

[rk9qn3j]

We are just a two-person team on the desktop app and therefore have limited resources. If you’d like to try doing the install from source and then better document it, we’d be happy to accept a README.md pull request. The current setup using yarn is based on how we develop the software as is fairly standard in the JavaScript / Electron community. We normally install it via official builds.

Oh, I see! 😄

Good catch. If you want to run a production instance from source, you may want to do yarn start --production which will then pick up config/production.json (untested). Hope this helps.

So, I download the source, install Yarn and then compile it using yarn start --production? Would I be able to use the desktop and mobile app at the same time (will my messages appear on both devices)?

[gasi-signal]

So, I download the source, install Yarn and then compile it using yarn start --production? Would I be able to use the desktop and mobile app at the same time (will my messages appear on both devices)?

I’d recommend following these steps and substitute yarn start --production for the last step: https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Desktop/blob/887bd83852be76e3de27e66b030fa58834c36933/CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-setup And yes, this will run the app similarly to how a downloaded app works, e.g. you connect it to your phone and messages appear on both.

[bluebirch]

I built Signal according to the above instructions and executed signal-desktop in the subdirectory release/linux-unpacked. Worked just fine. Above mentioned methods of yarn start --production didn't work. Maybe a .tar.gz distribution can be built from that directory?

[gasi-signal]

@bluebirch We may consider but one big downside is the lack of auto-update with a source installation.

[hasufell]

Yes, it's hard to package signal for a distro. And I have no idea what the difference between production and those other configs are.