A shellscript to create a Postman .deb file, for simple installation on Debian-based Linux distro's. Also creates a .desktop file.

readme.md

Postman Debian Package Builder

Usage

Simply run the one of the following commands in your terminal and it will download the latest Postman version, build a .deb package and ask you if you want to install it.

if you have curl:

curl https://gist.githubusercontent.com/SanderTheDragon/1331397932abaa1d6fbbf63baed5f043/raw/postman-deb.sh | sh

If you do not have curl:

wget -O - https://gist.githubusercontent.com/SanderTheDragon/1331397932abaa1d6fbbf63baed5f043/raw/postman-deb.sh | sh

License

This script is licensed under the MIT License.

Contributors

• pedzed: idea for this script
• SanderTheDragon: initial script and updates

---

Issues

Building Problems

• chrisbjr: missing -e in some shells
• cyfrost: -e not working with direct command
• fakhamatia: dpkg-deb not building with wrong permissions

Missing Dependencies

• jveillet: gconf2
• kagurazakakotori: libgtk2.0-0 and libcanberra-gtk-module
• wirwolf: desktop-file-utils

Installation Problems

• maxgalbu, R0nAk: desktop file not installing

Upstream Changes

• emamut: changed icon path
• mikiTesf: changed tarball name from Postman to postman
• stillru: changed tarball name to one without version information
• 0xjams: changed from GTK 2 to GTK 3

---

Ideas

• xlmnxp, cyfrost, Killea: direct curl command (at the top)
• cyfrost: version check before building
• n8eloy: -y flag for apt install
• stillru: using date as version
• 0xjams: support for ARM64

postman-deb.sh

#!/bin/sh

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2017-2024 SanderTheDragon <sanderthedragon@zoho.com>
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT

arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture)
echo "Detected architecture: $arch"

case "$arch" in
	amd64) downloadURL="https://dl.pstmn.io/download/latest/linux64";;
	arm64) downloadURL="https://dl.pstmn.io/download/latest/linux_arm64";;

	*)
		echo "Unsupported architecture: $arch"
		exit
		;;
esac

curlExists=$(command -v curl)
echo "Testing Postman version"

dateString=""
if [ -z $curlExists ]; then
	dateString=$(wget -S --spider $downloadURL 2>&1 | grep "Date" | awk -F ':' '{ print $2 }')
else
	dateString=$(curl -sI $downloadURL 2>&1 | grep "date" | awk -F ':' '{ print $2 }')
fi

targetName="postman-$(date --date="$dateString" "+%y-%j-%H").tar.gz"
versionMaj=$(echo "$targetName" | awk -F '.' '{ print $1 }' | awk -F '-' '{ print $2 }')
versionMin=$(echo "$targetName" | awk -F '.' '{ print $1 }' | awk -F '-' '{ print $3 }')
versionRev=$(echo "$targetName" | awk -F '.' '{ print $1 }' | awk -F '-' '{ print $4 }')
version="$versionMaj.$versionMin-$versionRev"
echo "Most recent Postman version V$version"

current=$(dpkg-query --showformat='${Version}' --show postman 2> /dev/null)
if [ $? -gt 0 ]; then
	echo "Postman is not installed"
else
	echo "Installed version V$current"

	if [ "$current" = "$version" ]; then
		echo "The most recent version of Postman is currently installed"
		exit
	else
		echo "Updating Postman to the latest version"
	fi
fi

originalPWD="$(pwd)"
targetPWD="$(mktemp -d postman.XXXXXX)"
cd "$targetPWD"

echo "Downloading latest Postman tarball"

if [ -z $curlExists ]; then
	wget -q --show-progress $downloadURL -O $targetName
else
	curl -# $downloadURL -o $targetName
fi

if [ $? -gt 0 ]; then
	echo "Failed to download Postman tarball"
	exit
fi

echo "Extracting Postman tarball"
tar -xf $targetName

if [ $? -gt 0 ]; then
	echo "Failed to extract Postman tarball"
	exit
fi

echo "Creating 'postman_$version' folder structure and files"
mkdir -m 0755 -p "postman_$version"

mkdir -m 0755 -p "postman_$version/usr/share/applications"
touch "postman_$version/usr/share/applications/Postman.desktop"

mkdir -m 0755 -p "postman_$version/usr/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps"

mkdir -m 0755 -p "postman_$version/opt/postman"

mkdir -m 0755 -p "postman_$version/DEBIAN"
touch "postman_$version/DEBIAN/control" "postman_$version/DEBIAN/postinst" "postman_$version/DEBIAN/prerm"

echo "Copying files"
cp "Postman/app/resources/app/assets/icon.png" "postman_$version/usr/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps/postman.png"
cp -R "Postman/"* "postman_$version/opt/postman/"

echo "Testing whether to use '-e'"
lines=$(echo "\n" | wc -l)
e=""
if [ $lines -eq 1 ]; then
	echo "'-e' is required"
	e="-e"
else
	echo "'-e' is not required"
fi

echo "Writing files"
echo $e "[Desktop Entry]\nType=Application\nName=Postman\nGenericName=Postman API Tester\nIcon=postman\nExec=postman\nPath=/opt/postman\nCategories=Development;" > "postman_$version/opt/postman/Postman.desktop"
echo $e "Package: Postman\nVersion: $version\nSection: devel\nPriority: optional\nArchitecture: $arch\nDepends: libgtk-3-0, desktop-file-utils\nMaintainer: You\nDescription: Postman\n API something" > "postman_$version/DEBIAN/control"
echo $e "if [ -f \"/usr/bin/postman\" ]; then\n\tsudo rm -f \"/usr/bin/postman\"\nfi\n\nsudo ln -s \"/opt/postman/Postman\" \"/usr/bin/postman\"\n\ndesktop-file-install \"/opt/postman/Postman.desktop\"" > "postman_$version/DEBIAN/postinst"
echo $e "if [ -f \"/usr/bin/postman\" ]; then\n\tsudo rm -f \"/usr/bin/postman\"\nfi" > "postman_$version/DEBIAN/prerm"

echo "Setting modes"

chmod 0775 "postman_$version/usr/share/applications/Postman.desktop"

chmod 0775 "postman_$version/DEBIAN/control"
chmod 0775 "postman_$version/DEBIAN/postinst"
chmod 0775 "postman_$version/DEBIAN/prerm"

echo "Validating modes"
nc=""
if [ $(stat -c "%a" "postman_$version/DEBIAN/control") != "775" ]; then
	echo "File modes are invalid, calling 'dpkg-deb' with '--nocheck'"
	nc="--nocheck"
else
	echo "File modes are valid"
fi

echo "Building 'postman_$version.deb'"
dpkg-deb $nc -b "postman_$version" > /dev/null

if [ $? -gt 0 ]; then
	echo "Failed to build 'postman_$version.deb'"
	exit
fi

mv "postman_$version.deb" "$originalPWD"
cd "$originalPWD"

echo "Cleaning up"
rm -rf "$targetPWD"

while true; do
	read -p "Do you want to install 'postman_$version.deb' [Y/n] " yn

	if [ -z $yn ]; then
		yn="y"
	fi

	case $yn in
		[Yy]* ) break;;
		[Nn]* ) exit;;
	esac
done

echo "Installing"
sudo apt install -y "./postman_$version.deb"

if [ $? -gt 0 ]; then
	echo "Failed to install 'postman_$version.deb'"
	exit
fi

echo "Removing 'postman_$version.deb'"
rm -f "postman_$version.deb"

@fakhamatia I don't get that message on my system (Debian Testing), but it looks like it is caused by the fact that the download and build is done by your current user instead of the _apt user. And in my opinion the build should be done by the current user.

I could add a check to see if the _apt user exists and chown the package if it does. But since the install succeeds and the loglevel is notice, I think the best way for now is to just ignore it.

Thanks a lot @SanderTheDragon !

Thanks a lot @SanderTheDragon this script really helpful, it works on pop os 22.04, should work on ubuntu and linux mint version too!

At the end this message appears:
N: Download is performed unsandboxed as root as file '/Postman/Downloader/postman_22.223-09.deb' couldn't be accessed by user '_apt'. - pkgAcquire::Run (13: Permission denied)
Removing 'postman_22.223-09.deb'

But it worked on linux mint. Thanks

Thank you @SanderTheDragon. I'm find postman fix cursor very long until I found it this repo.

I added a check so that it downloads the right version depending on the architecture. I also removed gconf2 as a dependency, and it seemed to work just fine.

https://gist.github.com/0xjams/d8ca3c2448e97bfae1cf1812d6e7f9ee

@0xjams Thanks for these improvements!

I moved the architecture check to the top, so the date/version is checked for the correct architecture (I would expect that they are the same, but just to be sure).
I also checked the dependencies, and it seems like it now depends on GTK 3 instead of GTK 2, so gconf2 is not needed anymore.

Thanks for it!!