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.
As others have already pointed out, a lot of Linux software is installed from repositories in a standard way, and once you do that, it updates automatically.
However, as you’ve already discovered, there’s more than one way to install Linux software. Repositories are still the most common way, but installing single .deb’s (Debian based distributions) or .rpms (RedHat packaging format) is still there and there are more like Snap, Flatpak and Appimage. You can also often just download the source and compile it yourself. It’s a very diverse ecosystem, not like the controlled worlds of WIndows and Mac.
In this case you can download the .deb file, and pretty sure you can even install it through the file manager, just like in Windows (I don’t use Ubuntu, but I think it will just start GUI installation if you double-click on a .deb file).
But lot of things in Linux are still done through the terminal, like changing configurations and, yes, installing things.
Getting used to it takes a while, especially if you’re not used to modern Windows administration through PowerShell.
The important part is trying to figure out what each of the commands do and that the output actually means. Software that supports Linux normally has very clear instructions (like in this case), but it does require willingness to change habits, technical curiosity and some trial and error (patience). It’s not quite as polished experience as the commercial OS’s. There’s still a lot of rough edges for the user.
Yes, it is. You can achieve the same usung GUI of course, but this would be more difficult to describe because there are multiple GUIs and they change with new distro versions.
This is more convenient than “downloading and intalling” a file because you don’t have to track updates manually, the package manager will do this for you. You have to read something about what package manager is and how does it work. It is the main concept of all linux distros except LFS.
And click the “download .deb” button (It says underneath “Works on Ubuntu 20.04+, Debian 11+ (64bit only)”. As long as your Ubuntu is up-to-date, this will work fine)
you get a file (“MullvadVPN-2023.6_amd64.deb”) you can run just like on Windows (similar to MullvadVPN-2023.6.exe)
opening the file should open a GUI for installing the file
Keep in mind, to update Mullvad VPN, you would need to download a newer .deb file (after an update is released). It shows the latest version above the download buttons, below the “Mullvad VPN for Linux text” This is the same as how it is on Windows
Edit: This is not intended as good advice, just a simple way to install Mullvad VPN. The smartest solution would be to add the repo.
2nd Edit: While this is how Mullvad provides their software, it is never ideal to install random .deb packages or add third party repos without being sure that the ones who provided the package/repo is trustworthy.
It might not be good advice, but that was not what OP asked for.
My comment was meant as a beginner-friendly way to install Mullvad VPN on Ubuntu, and not unsolicited advice telling them to learn something that should not be needed for daily computer usage. And while adding the repo might be the better solution, that would require the use of the terminal, and as multiple people have proven to me, that wouldn’t be a friendly way to introduce Linux to someone just starting out.
You don’t teach someone to swim, by dropping them in the middle of the pacific.
Chance that your Ubuntu version already supports OpenVPN and wireguard (check your settings -> network). If so, just download wireguard/OpenVPN config files from mullvad: mullvad.net/account/openvpn-config?platform=linux
Download the .deb from their downloads page and run it, just like you would either a .exe on Windows. Their instructions list that as an option further down on the page. Should be higher up imo
Many, perhaps even most, installation guides for software use commands because the graphical alternatives can vary wildly between desktops and distributions. So using commands in guides is usually the more likely to work.
That said, what Mullvad does is stupid. The downloadable deb and rpm files should just initialize the update repository. That is what Google does with their Chrome download. Basically download the file, double click on it, confirm installation. That’s it. Users don’t need to do that manually for Chrome.
Luckily, there are only a few cases remain for this type of installation. Most regular things should be either in your distribution’s regular repository or on Flathub.
Asking why something is the way it is makes you more of a “Linux user” than many.
You make a valid criticism; there’s definitely a learning curve to installing software if you choose to do it that way (since it’s not similar to other OSs), and it’s not automatically explained to new users by using the OS.
Here’s the understanding of it I’ve come to, if you’re interested:
Like others have said, the .deb file would be the equivalent of an .exe file on Windows. Like many .exe files, unless they include an auto-updater, they won’t automatically update.
A key difference I would like to point out is that Linux package managers often update and manage parts of the OS in addition to extra software. Windows and macOS both update their OS separately.
“Ubuntu Software Center” is similar to the “Microsoft Store” on Windows and the “App Store” on macOS. Like those, it’s user friendly and provides automatic updates, but it also doesn’t have every app. You can ensure those apps are safe because the company behind the OS verifies them.
“apt-get” is the default package manager for Ubuntu. That is the tool doing the heavy lifting underneath, and what those commands Mullvad gave are for.
Mullvad could have provided a script to download and run that executes those commands for you, but then you wouldn’t know what it’s doing, especially with it needing admin permission. With how security-oriented Mullvad’s brand is, I think that’s one potential reason they explain the steps and have the user do it instead.
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.
I think if you read through this you have pretty much everything you asked about. As for understanding what these sorts of commands do in the future I think ChatGPT is actually really useful for stuff like this with good documentation. Just ask what the commands do and it is usually quite helpful. Someone already said it but you have to want to learn this. If you want something easy to use and you don’t have to learn buy a Mac, you want great software compatibility buy a windows pc. If you want something that is more private and a community effort use Linux but unless you are using steam os on a steam deck it is not even close to being as user friendly as the others. I hope this changes but the current goals and mindsets of people in this community will prevent Linux from becoming easy to use and in the case of steam os you just need lots of money to make it an easy experience. There are a million other reasons that Linux’s current state is this way but this is the gist.
If you want something easy to use and you don’t have to learn buy a Mac, you want great software compatibility buy a windows pc.
That is very bad advice, as that may well not be a solution. There are people who want to use their computers without the ads, data mining and forced program defaults windows is doing.
That’s true that if people switch OS, they’ll need to learn a lot of new things. But don’t forget that not only sysadmins and adventurous people use Linux.
That being said, there are distros that give you a decent GUI frontend to the package manager, for example openSUSE
Well what you said is true but this depends on the person you are recommending it. I didn’t know the op and generally can’t determine how interested they are in computers. I have friends who are just so use to their current understanding of using a computer with windows they wouldn’t be willing to learn anything else at all. They didn’t find yast easy to use because yes you have a gui for installing things but they don’t know all the things they need to install and it isn’t the most simplistic gui. Again you aren’t wrong it’s just that I’m hesitant to recommend people to use it unless they want the benefits of using Linux and are willing to learn.
I made this thread because I try to learn/understand
I have a Macbook, it’s what I use the most. I used to have Win7 on my gaming rig but Steam dropped their support for it so my options was either to go with a newer Windows or try Linux. As all of the games I play seemed to work on Linux with just minor tweaks I thought I’d give it a try. So far I’m really happy with how to OS works once it’s set up but it’s the setting up part that’s really confusing to me.
Normally you’d just run sudo apt install … but in this case you are adding a new repository so you have to follow the extra steps of adding the signing key and so on first.
usually it’s an appimage, i mistakenly said binary. although there are programs that offer ELF binaries, in that case you can try running it. if it doesn’t run, check the list of runtime dependencies for the program and install what is necessary using your package manager.
They asked how to do it, I wanted to make sure that they knew that an application not existing in the repo doesn’t mean the application isn’t actually available.
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