Building Signal-Desktop from source

Update [2018-06-11 Mon]

• use yarn instead of npm

In the following lines I will explain how I managed to build signal-desktop from source.

Since there aren't any official packages for rpm based distros like fedora I decided to build Signal from source.

Install dependencies:

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

Clone the repository:

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

Checkout the branch you want to build: (I like to build the latest tag-release. Right now v1.3.0 v1.12.0 is the latest version)

cd Signal-Desktop
git checkout tags/v1.3.0

Build the electron app:

# npm install  # outdated
# npm run dist-prod # outdated
npm install yarn
yarn install
yarn generate
yarn build-release

When the build process is finished you can start signal-desktop:

# ./dist/linux-unpacked/signal-desktop # outdated
./release/linux-unpacked/signal-desktop

To create an app launcher: Create a symbolic link:

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

(If the directory /usr/local/share/icons does not exsist yet, create it sudo mkdir /usr/local/share/icons/)

With the editor of your choice (you might want to use emacs or nano over vim) create a signal.desktop file:

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

Enter the the following content:

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

That's it. Close the file and open Signal from your launcher.

Please remember that you are responsible for updating the app yourself. To update the app:

git checkout tags/vNewVersion
# npm install
# npm run dist-prod
yarn generate
yarn build-release

To verify your version open the Signal -> Help -> About Signal Desktop