Install Signal Desktop from source on Linux Fedora

This article has not been updated for a long time and may be outdated

Since there is no official available package for Fedora, there are some solutions like installing Singal as Flatpak package. However, Flatpak installation is not the way to always stay updated with the latest release and may cause problems.
The solution for that problem is building Signal Dekstop from source, directly from GitHub.

First, install system depedencies:

sudo dnf install npm
sudo dnf install libXScrnSaver
sudo dnf install gcc-c++

Download files from repository:

git clone https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Desktop.git ~/.gitware/SignalDeskto

Check the branch you want to build (for example v1.12.0):

cd Signal-Desktop
git checkout tags/v1.12.0

Build Signal Desktop:

npm install
npm run dist-prod

Now you can run Signal Desktop with the following command:

./dist/linux-unpacked/signal-desktop

Optional: create a shortcut. Create a symbolic link:

sudo ln -s ~/.gitware/Signal-Desktop/dist/linux-unpacked/signal-desktop /usr/local/bin/signal-desktop

Copy the icon:

sudo cp ~/.gitware/Signal-Desktop/images/icon_250.png /usr/local/share/icons/signal.png

sudo vim /usr/local/share/applications/signal.desktop

Enter the the following content:

Desktop Entry
Name=Signal Desktop
Comment=Private messaging from your desktop
Exec=signal-desktop
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Icon=signal.png
StartupWMClass=Signal

Signal desktop will appear in your system's menu.

Updates

You are now responsible for manually updating the app. To update Signal to the newest version, run the following commands:

git checkout tags/vNewVersion
npm install
npm run dist-prod

Written by Krzysztof Karolak

Install Signal Desktop from source on Linux Fedora

Updates

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