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

Run the following commands in a terminal to install the Debian Stable package.

   sudo apt install leap-archive-keyring
   echo "deb https://deb.leap.se/client release buster" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/leap.list
   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install riseup-vpn

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 these commands 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.

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.