While Signal provides packages for Debian-based Linux distributions, there are no official binaries for other distributions available, such as Gentoo or Fedora.

Sure, there are enough of third-party binaries around, but if you are like me and you would like to avoid running binaries provided by random strangers on the internet, the best strategy is always to build from source.

And Signal Desktop is easy to build! You can even create an AppImage that contains everything you need to run Signal on your favorite flavor of Linux.

  1. git clone https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Desktop && cd Signal-Desktop
  2. Checkout the release you want to build, e.g., git checkout v6.1.0
  3. Edit package.json and add --linux AppImage to the end of the build:electron target
  4. Run git lfs install
  5. Make sure you have the correct nodejs version (requires nvm to be installed): nvm use
  6. Make sure you have yarn: npm install --global yarn
  7. yarn install --frozen-lockfile
  8. yarn generate
  9. yarn build
  10. Copy the executable ./release/Signal-x.y.z.AppImage to wherever you want
  11. Start with --use-tray-icon to have a nice tray indicator

Make sure to regularly check for new releases and rebuild your AppImage to stay up to date and secure.