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@SanderTheDragon
Last active February 15, 2024 07:27
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A shellscript to create a Postman .deb file, for simple installation on Debian-based Linux distro's. Also creates a .desktop file.

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

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
#!/bin/sh
# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2017-2022 SanderTheDragon <sanderthedragon@zoho.com>
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
curlExists=$(command -v curl)
echo "Testing Postman version"
dateString=""
if [ -z $curlExists ]; then
dateString=$(wget -S --spider "https://dl.pstmn.io/download/latest/linux64" 2>&1 | grep "Date" | awk -F ':' '{ print $2 }')
else
dateString=$(curl -sI "https://dl.pstmn.io/download/latest/linux64" 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 "https://dl.pstmn.io/download/latest/linux64" -O $targetName
else
curl -# "https://dl.pstmn.io/download/latest/linux64" -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: $version\nSection: devel\nPriority: optional\nArchitecture: amd64\nDepends: gconf2, libgtk2.0-0, desktop-file-utils\nSuggests: libcanberra-gtk-module\nMaintainer: You\nDescription: Postman\n API something" > "postman_$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"
@SanderTheDragon
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Author

@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.

@MBM1607
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MBM1607 commented Sep 17, 2022

Thanks a lot @SanderTheDragon !

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

@dxdns
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dxdns commented Jan 12, 2023

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

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

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