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@ruario
Last active August 9, 2022 09:22
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How to download and install Slack Desktop messaging app on a desktop Linux system without snap support
  • Make an install directory somewhere convenient and switch to it
mkdir -p ~/.local/share/slack-desktop
cd ~/.local/share/slack-desktop
  • Fetch the current Slack Desktop snap
wget "$(wget -qO- --header Snap-Device-Series:\ 16 https://api.snapcraft.io/v2/snaps/info/slack | python -mjson.tool | grep -iom1 'https.*/download/[a-z0-9_]*.snap')"

Triple-click to select the entire line, above.

  • Unpack the snap package
unsquashfs -q -f -d . *.snap usr/lib/slack usr/share/pixmaps meta/gui/slack.desktop
  • Remove the undeeded snap package
rm -v *.snap
  • Correct the paths in desktop file
sed -i "/^Exec=/s,=,=$PWD/usr/lib/slack/,;s,\${SNAP},$PWD," meta/gui/slack.desktop
  • Install the desktop file, so that it is found by the desktop environment
install -Dm755 meta/gui/slack.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/slack.desktop
update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications

You may need to relogin to your desktop environment before Slack Desktop shows up.


To remove just delete ~/.local/share/applications/slack.desktop and the install directory (e.g. ~/.local/share/slack-desktop).

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