RiseupVPN for Linux

Requirements

To use Riseup’s VPN service, you will need to install the program called RiseupVPN. On Linux, it is available either as a snap, or as a package in Debian Stable.

RiseupVPN is currently tested on Ubuntu LTS (18.04) and Debian Stable. If you have a different release, it may or may not work.

Snap Installation

If you use Ubuntu, snap is already installed. Otherwise, run:

sudo apt install snapd gnome-software-plugin-snap

Then, search for RiseupVPN in the Software Center or click on this link:

Open RiseupVPN in Software Center

If the link above does not work for you, you can also install via the command line:

sudo snap install --classic riseup-vpn

If you get an error stating that “python” is missing from /usr/bin/env, you need to install python. This is the case for instance in Lubuntu, at least since version 19.04.

Package Installation

The VPN is packaged in Debian bookworm and later, install it by running the following command in a terminal, or look for the riseup-vpn package in your favorite package manager:

   sudo apt install riseup-vpn

Older releases are not currently supported (but you can use the snap method above).

Troubleshooting

Bug Reports and Feature Requests

RiseupVPN is built using a free software program called bitmask-vpn.

Step 1: Search to see if the bug has already been reported.

Step 2: Register an account with 0xacab.org and log in.

Step 3: Create a new bug report or feature request.

Please include the following information in your bug report:

  • Steps to reproduce the bug
  • What is the expected behaviour and what do you see
  • A screenshot if it is something visual
  • Your linux distribution and its version
  • The log of the program

Get the logs

The log of RiseupVPN is located in your home folder:

~/.config/leap/systray.log

When reporting a bug it is very useful to include the log file.

Force quit

If anything stops working, run this command and then try again:

sudo pkill -e -f riseup-vpn

Won’t start

If the launcher icon does not work, you can run RiseupVPN from the command line in order to identify the problem:

/snap/bin/riseup-vpn.launcher

Any problem starting will be displayed on the terminal.

Have the tray icon visible on GNOME

In recent GNOME versions, tray icons are not shown by default, or are shown in a tiny tray in the bottom right of the screen. In order to have RiseupVPN’s icon visible in the top-right corner of the screen, you can install the AppIndicator GNOME extension and enable it:

For Debian-based distributions (only tested on Debian Buster): * Install package gnome-shell-extension-appindicator, from the package manager or using this command line in a terminal: sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-appindicator * Close your session and reopen it, or restart the computer * Open the Tweaks application, and in the left pane, select Extensions * Enable “Kstatusnotifieritem/appindicator support” * Enjoy :)

RiseupVPN on Linux Mint

On Linux Mint, Snap is sometimes disabled by default, so you have to enable it first, by running the following command:

sudo mv /etc/apt/preferences.d/nosnap.pref /etc/apt/preferences.d/nosnap.pref.disabled

Then install Snap:

sudo apt install snapd

Install RiseupVPN from Snap:

sudo snap install --classic riseup-vpn

Create RiseupVPN entry in Linux Mint menu:

cp /var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications/riseup-vpn_riseup-vpn.desktop /usr/share/applications/

Test a pre-release version

If you want to help us test a development, pre-release version of RiseupVPN, you can install it using this command:

sudo snap install --classic --beta riseup-vpn

Remove PID file

Sometimes RiseupVPN will fail to start if it thinks another version is already running.

If you get this error, run these commands:

sudo pkill -e -f riseup-vpn
test -f ~/.config/leap/systray.pid && rm -v ~/.config/leap/systray.pid

Source code

RiseupVPN’s clients are based on the open source software Bitmask. The code for the Linux client can be found here.