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.
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-vpnThe 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.
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
sudo apt install curlI would have guessed that Ubuntu would install it by default since its a very common way to get stuff from the internet (when in the terminal), but apparently not (the other option is
wgetwhich is most likely installed, but that uses a different way to get the stuff).You should be able to install curl with
sudo apt install curlYou 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.ascfrom 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/
Really appreciate your replies dude. So many are being a bit of an jerks here, but you (and few other) have been really helpful.
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.
- Download the file
This is a great explanation. And really well written. Thank you for taking the time to put it together
So usually people do install Linux software from trusted software repositories. Linux practically invented the idea of the app store a full ten years before the first iPhone came out and popularized the term “app.”
The problem with the Mullvad VPN is that their app is not in the trusted software repositories of most Linux distributions. So you are required to go through a few extra steps to first trust the Mullvad software repositories, and then install their VPN app the usual way using
apt installor from the software center.You could just download the “.deb” file and double click on it, but you will have to download and install all software security updates by hand. By going through the extra steps to add Mullvad to your trusted software repository list, you will get software security updates automatically whenever you install all other software updates on your computer.
Most Linux distros don’t bother to make it easy for you to add other trusted software repositories because it can be a major security risk if you trust the wrong people. So I suppose it is for the best that the easiest way to install third-party software is to follow the steps you saw on the website.
As others have mentionned downloading the .deb and running it will also work, but I feel nobody gave your a tldr of why you may want to follow those instructions instead, so here it is:
Those instructions configure your package manager (apt) with a new repository for this application.
The upside to that is that anytime you will look for updates, this app will also get updated.
It’s a bit more work up front, but it can pay off when you have dozens of app updating as part of normal system operations.
Imagine a world where windows updates would also update all your software, that’s what this is.
Also, no, this is not an ideal way to do this. Ideally every package you want is in your distro’s repos so you’d just need to do “apt install [package]”.
The reason this one isn’t is because mullvad wants to make sure you use their tested, secure, and updated version and they don’t want to maintain that for every distro. So they have you configure your package manager to use their repos.
This is relatively uncommon to come across in Debian. You’ll normally only find it in security applications or very niche ones. The Debian repos aren’t the most comprehensive but they’ll contain the vast majority of common softwares.
Download the .deb and double click it. https://mullvad.net/en/download/app/deb/latest
People seem to be making this a more difficult job than it needs to be. Yeah I get we’re powerusers but can’t we drop that for 2 minutes while giving advice so a new user can actually get a job done quickly? Windows EXEs don’t automatically update either. Sure it might not be the best way to do it but it’s fast and not confusing. (EDIT: Apparently this specific program actually has it’s own auto updater)
Things take time to learn. Throwing all of the existing knowledge of repo management at a new user at once does not work.
Chance that your Ubuntu version already supports OpenVPN and wireguard (check your settings -> network). If so, just download wireguard/OpenVPN config files from mullvad: https://mullvad.net/account/openvpn-config?platform=linux
“I have no idea what I’m doing here” <- Happens in the beginning. How about you start by trying to know what exactly you are doing? Let me give you a fasttrack…
-
The first command you get in the instructions is
curl. It is generally used to download stuff from a networked server.1.1. To understand the
-fsSLoin the command, I strongly advise you to check out the manual ofcurlusingman curlin a terminal. -
The second command in the instructions is
echo "something" | sudo tee some/file2.1 Here you see 3 commands
echo,sudoandtee. 2.1.1 Again, you can useman command-nameto check the manual pages for these commands 2.2 There is a|symbol over here. It is called the “pipe symbol”, which is what you can use to search for it. It is usually difficult to search for the symbol itself and I haven’t found a man page for it, but openman bashand look for “Pipelines” and you’ll know what it is about. Use Link, Link and Link to help yourself understand this. -
The commands in “Install the package” use the
aptprogram. This is a Package Manager. Its job is to read package information that package developers have made and try to not let the system become unusable.- e.g. If you have a program called Xorg from 5 years ago, and a program called mesa from 5 years ago and Xorg depends upon mesa to work. Here, if you replace your mesa with a new, recent mesa yourself, there is a good chance Xorg will not work. The Package Manager prevents that from happening.
-
The gist of what the instructions are making you do is, telling the Package Manager that there is another place from where you want it to look for packages.
To understand man pages better, check out this link.
Don’t think too badly of people dissing you in the comments. They are tired and fed up of help vampires. Hopefully, you can try not to become one.
- Try and build your own process of understanding the commands you see on the internet before entering them into the terminal.
- The comments telling you to just follow the instructions, are coming from the perspective that you don’t have the patience and determination to understand them yourself, which, a lot of people don’t. I will leave it upto you to determine which one you decide to be. It is, however, a bad idea to follow instructions on any website, just because it “seems legit”. You can’t really say you “trust” the site until you have the ability to find out for yourself whether you want to trust it.
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The comment section here is a perfect example of why people don’t use Linux
This comment here is a prefect example of being unhelpful and inflammatory.
You added nothing to the conversation but instead tried to be “clever” by doing the same tired old “angsty Linux vs. Windows shtick” that’s been around for as long as GNU/Linux was a thing.
Other people at least offered an explanation or suggestion.
No, he’s 100% correct
100% correct about what? That people trying to offer different bits of advice/explanations are driving people away? Even if some of the advice is not the best/contradict one another, it’s still support being given to another user.
Comments like these don’t say or do much of anything. They just finger wag and scold people for not being the “100% best Linux representative” they can be. Believe it or not, people who are in Linux communities aren’t a monolith of perfect technological wisdom and understanding.
My problem isn’t even with the basis behind the comment which I actually somewhat agree with. It’s just framed in a cowardly way that obnoxiously blames community members for driving people away.
So yes comments like these are useless and the people who make them are lazy.
Clearly, for you, it’s a bitter pill. I get it.
The instructions on that page make it so that every time you run a system update, mullvad automatically updates as well. If you’re happy doing the updating yourself, you can download the
debfile from here: https://github.com/mullvad/mullvadvpn-app/releasesThat’s even more confusing.
I just don’t get why on windows and mac I can download the app from their site, install it and it just works but on Linux I have to do everything thru terminal. It’s not that I can’t get it done but it just seems insane to me that it has to be this difficult.
You don’t have to do everything through terminal. You can use synaptic for example. What you have to do is to learn new concepts. If you want to do everything like in windows, use windows.
I’m giving Linux a chance because people here recommended that I do and now you’re telling me to use Windows.
Look at it like this.
When you got your first smart phone, be it android or iOS, you didn’t know where anything was, so there was a learning curve.
But, in the same way as phones, there are built in “stores”. Those stores are called repositories, and they’re accessible in more than one way. You don’t actually have to use the terminal, it’s just usually faster since you really don’t type much more than you would entering a search in whatever GUI interface comes with your distro. Indeed, you can actually set up the commands in a notepad, change the package name each time, and copy/paste the commands, and you’re only a couple of seconds slower than opening the package manager, searching, scrolling to find what you want, clicking to install… See what I’m getting at?
Windows isn’t really faster than that. You have to go to a site, download, find the exe or msi in your download folder, then click in the various pop-up windows. And you can find .deb files that do the same thing as an exe or msi, just not for every program, because they’re an unnecessary pain in the ass. It’s extra steps.
I promise you, comparing the way Linux works now, and the learning curve it takes to the learning curve on windows back when it was a new experience (and I’m talking windows 95, the previous msdos shells were worse than that), Linux is way easier. And don’t even get me started on how shitty a user experience DOS was. Jfc, I’m dyslexic, and it was a nightmare. Windows 95 wasn’t a big jump better in dyslexia land, but it was at least better than DOS.
If you were used to something like mac only, and had never used windows, the transition would be similarly annoying. And, for me at least, dealing with installs on windows is more of a pain in the ass now that I’m used to package managers.
I did a clean install of Windows 7 on my media PC (and yes, you valiant security friends, it’s air gapped) maybe two years ago. From start to finish, including programs, took me about five hours.
My laptop that I run Linux mint on? An hour, start to finish. The only differences in the programs installed are in specifics, not in types. I plugged in my live drive, hit install, and was ready to start installing programs in maybe twenty minutes. My media pc is an old gaming PC, btw. Tons of ram, ssd, etc. The laptop is an old thinkpad. So it wasn’t like the laptop was better hardware lol.
Which seems tangential, but it’s pointing to the underlying ease of use once you’re used to the system. I’ve being doing windows installs since the nineties (and a little before, but only in classes), so it isn’t like I’m not experienced. I’ve only been doing Linux installs since about 2015.
Hell, my very first Linux install was Ubuntu on my dad’s old computer just to make sure I didn’t screw a box up that was in use. Even that, going from Ubuntu being ready to go, and having the programs set up to use was only maybe two hours, and that was mostly looking up the very process that’s been described by others in this thread and copy/pasting things in for each program.
So don’t get discouraged. If you end up really not liking it once you get past the learning curve, that’s okay, windows will still be there. You can go back to it. But, if you’re like me at all, once that learning curve is past, you won’t enjoy the extra hassles windows puts in the way.
My favorite part of this thread is everyone just saying copy and paste the commands so it will work. Like we should totally get users into the habit of running random commands off the net as root.
I mean I agree that this is a new user nightmare, but we’ve been conditioning people for 30 years to download and run random .EXE files as admin too.
More or less: yes.
It’s copy and pasting 5 lines into the terminal and hitting enter. It’s not that hard. If it’s not worth the 15 seconds of ‘work’ you probably don’t need the software that badly.
And it’s not the default. Usually you shouldn’t add random software sources and download software from some websites. Your Linux package manager should be the source for software. (Software Manager / Store / Synaptics, … whatever Ubuntu calls it) It installs software with one or two clicks with the mouse, the software there is tested and tied into the rest of the systems and tens of thousands of packages are available. No malware guaranteed, and updates are handled automatically.
And with other Operating systems it’s also ridiculous: You need to find the website of some software, avoid malware and copycats that advertise similar software with ads, click download, click ‘yes’ I accept a download with a harmful extension. Then you need to open the file manager and double click on it. Then a window opens and you need to click ‘next’. Accept the terms. Give permission to install and maybe remove a few ticks and choose a location. I’d say it’s about the same amount of work and the downside is it doesn’t necessarily handle updates and security fixes.
I think Ubuntu doesn’t have Mullvad available in their own repository. I took another approach and imported their settings/profile into the VPN/network manager that is available per default on many Linux distributions. No install required at all. But importing the settings isn’t easier, so YMMV here. And I think you have to create a profile for each and every country/endpoint which is a bit cumbersome, depending on what you’re trying to do with the VPN.
It’s copy and pasting 5 lines into the terminal and hitting enter. It’s not that hard. If it’s not worth the 15 seconds of ‘work’ you probably don’t need the software that badly.
Telling people to just run random code they found on the internet and don’t understand is really bad advice.
That statement is certainly true.
But how do you think you install software on Windows? You download a random installer from the internet and double-click it. The installer is an executable file and runs some code on your computer to set up the software. I’d argue it’s exactly the same.
In the one instance you copy and paste code and run it. In the other instance you execute an installer that also contains the random code. And you can’t even have a look what happens.
The real issue is: You have to trust the vendor. If you don’t trust Mullvad, don’t run their 5 lines of code. But you then also shouldn’t install their software and not run their windows installer. I don’t see a way around this ‘trust’ issue.
The proper way of course would be a standardised process that also confines the software into containers with minimal permissions. Something like Android Apps. In theory you could add a default update process so the vendor just needs to define an update server in the (apk) installer file. Google didn’t do this, but they want people to use their Play Store. And I don’t think we have a permission system that is actively used on any of the major desktop operating systems, anyways.
This is a troll, clearly. Purge this guy.
?
This post is proof that Linux desktop isn’t as good, perfect and polished as everyone says it is. Stop living in the delusion.
You’re deluded if you think that “everybody” let alone a large minority of people say that the Linux desktop is “good, perfect and polished”.
That’s a new one around here ahaha
Do you even use Linux?
He’s using a shitty version of linux. I use Arch btw
Yes and I do and while it is great for infrastructure, magnitudes better than anything Microsoft ever offered as a reasonable desktop it’s a fucking a joke.
