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"

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!!