Proton VPN & Silverblue

I am a regular desktop user but I loved the immutable nature of F35 Silverblue when I trialled it a few months ago.

I think I would like to install F36 Silverblue when it comes out next week. Sure there are a few gaps in software relying on Flatpaks mostly, but the comfort blanket of immutability and rollback options trump that.

I have one real need, I have to be able to install / use Proton VPN. Can anyone help with instructions to do this?

I’m sure some will say read RTFM, but cognitive issues due to M.E. mean direct help on this one issue would be so very appreciated.

Sorry to sound so needy!!

I installed Protonvpn on Kinoite like this:

  1. install the ProtonVPN repo by rpm-ostree install https://protonvpn.com/download/protonvpn-stable-release-1.0.1-1.noarch.rpm.
  2. Reboot to update system directories. This makes the repo file available as /etc/yum.repos.d/protonvpn-stable.repo.
  3. run sudo rpm-ostree install protonvpn
  4. alternatively, to get a systray indicator you may also run sudo rpm-ostree install libappindicator-gtk3 gnome-tweaks gnome-shell-extension-appindicator

If you want to install the early-access version of Protonvpn (Wireguard when?!) , just replace the stable part of step 1 with beta.

Apart from installation, using the ProtonVPN app should be the same for immutable Linux systems as for mutable ones.

This is the ProtonVPN web page for fedora installations, there’s some useful information there.

I’ve actually been wanting to rebase to Fedora Kinoite 36 for two months now, but unfortunately Protonvpn don’t offer a repo for beta versions of Fedora.
Hope you found this useful.

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That is exactly what I was looking for. Will try out of FSB 36 next week. Thank you so much!

Another way is to download your openvpn config files from your account panel. You could use those without the need of their application.

I have no idea how fast they have a repo ready for Fedora 36. Just something to keep in mind if it would take too long.

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For the Russian Fedora chat, I wrote a little guide on how to install Proton vpn. You can see it here:

I very highly recommend using the built-in OpenVPN tools in your network settings as mentioned by @bobslept earlier in the thread.

ProtonVPN’s client is very prone to cause networking breakages and I’ve even seen it break system updates in multiple distributions. (I saw it very often when doing support for System76). I don’t think it’s worth adding to your base system. You can enable things like ProtonVPN’s Malware/Tracker/Adblock functions via the OpenVPN config stuff, too as noted in their docs for OpenVPN configuration.

Thankfully ProtonVPN does provide their OpenVPN stuff. As a general note, ANY VPN that doesn’t provide manual config information is probably not one worth using in any capacity,

I use this method myself, BTW.

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Instructions worked to perfection. Thank you!

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The original poster’s response worked perfectly, but your advice has been heeded should an issue arise. Can’t wait for final F36 release.

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