ProtonVPN Linux GUI

Linux GUI for ProtonVPN, written in Python. Layout designed in Glade.

Development Status: Beta

The linux-gui works on top of linux-cli, making it a dependency. All local configurations are managed by the GUI (such as updating protocol, split tunneling, manage killswitch) while the connections are managed by the CLI. This way, you will be able to use the latest version of the CLI, while also being able to use the GUI.

Disclaimer: The ProtonVPN GUI is currently still an experimental interface. It requires escalated privileges and might be somehow unstable. In the near future we plan to refactor the ProtonVPN CLI and GUI so that the part of the client that really requires being executed as root user is kept to a minimum.

Table of Contents

• Installing and Updating
  • Dependencies
    • Python dependencies
    • ProtonVPN GUI dependencies
    • ProtonVPN Tray dependencies
      • Known Issues
        • dbus-launch
  • Installing ProtonVPN GUI
    • Distribution based
    • PIP based
      • How to Update
  • Uninstalling ProtonVPN GUI
  • Manual installation
  • Virtual environment
• How to use
  • ProtonVPN GUI
  • ProtonVPN Tray
• Enhancements
  • Create .desktop file
    • ProtonVPN GUI
    • ProtonVPN Tray
  • Sudo/PolKit
• GUI Layout

Installing and Updating

Dependencies

Python dependencies

• python >= 3.5
• linux-cli >= 2.2.2
• requests >= 2.23.0
• configparse >= 4.0.2
• pip for python3 (pip3)
• setuptools for python3 (python3-setuptools)

ProtonVPN GUI dependencies

Distro	Command
Fedora/CentOS/RHEL	sudo dnf install -y python3-gobject gtk3
Ubuntu/Linux Mint/Debian and derivatives	sudo apt install -y python3-gi python3-gi-cairo gir1.2-gtk-3.0
OpenSUSE/SLES	sudo zypper install python3-gobject python3-gobject-Gdk typelib-1_0-Gtk-3_0 libgtk-3-0
Arch Linux/Manjaro	sudo pacman -S python-gobject gtk3

ProtonVPN Tray dependencies

Distro	Command
Fedora/CentOS/RHEL	sudo dnf install -y libappindicator-gtk3 libnotify
Ubuntu/Linux Mint/Debian and derivatives	sudo apt install -y gir1.2-appindicator3 libnotify-bin
OpenSUSE/SLES	sudo zypper install libappindicator-gtk3 libnotify
Arch Linux/Manjaro	sudo pacman -S libappindicator-gtk3 libnotify

NOTE: Gnome users will need to install an additional extension for this to work: KStatusNotifierItem/AppIndicator Support

Tray Known issues:

dbus-launch

There is a known issue when user attempts to start the systray/appindicator. This might throw an error that is similar to this one: (<app-name>:<pid>) LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Unable to get session bus: Failed to execute child process "dbus-launch" (No such file or directory) if a user does not have a specific package installed. If you are unable to use the systray/appindicator and have a similar error, then a solution is provided below.

Solution: Install dbus-x11 package for your distribution, more information can be found on this stackoverflow post.

PolKit

If you would like to use pkexec instead of the terminal (or alter visudo), then you will also need to install the following packages (unsure ? Look here):

Distro	Command
Fedora/CentOS/RHEL	sudo dnf install -y polkit
Ubuntu/Linux Mint/Debian and derivatives	sudo apt install -y libpolkit-agent-1-0
OpenSUSE/SLES	sudo zypper install polkit
Arch Linux/Manjaro	sudo pacman -S polkit

Installing ProtonVPN Linux GUI

Distribution based

• Fedora/CentOS/RHEL: To-do
• Ubuntu derivatives: To-do
• OpenSUSE/SLES: To-do
• Arch Linux/Manjaro: Available at AUR

PIP based

Note: Make sure to run pip with sudo

sudo pip3 install protonvpn-gui

To update to a new version

sudo pip3 install protonvpn-gui --upgrade

Manual Installation

Note: Before installing the GUI, make sure that you have previously installed the CLI, otherwise an error will be thrown.

1. Clone this repository

   git clone https://github.com/ProtonVPN/linux-gui

2. Step into the directory

   cd linux-gui

3. Install

   sudo pip3 install -e .

Uninstalling ProtonVPN Linux GUI

If you have installed the GUI via PIP or by cloning this repo, then to uninstall it type in the following command:

sudo pip3 uninstall protonvpn-gui

Virtual environment

If you would like to run the the GUI within a virtual environment (for either development purposes or other), then you can easily do that with the help of pipenv. Make sure to install pipenv and additional packages before. Note: PolKit does not work within virtual environments.

Distro	Command
Fedora/CentOS/RHEL	sudo dnf install cairo-devel cairo-gobject-devel gobject-introspection-devel pkg-config
Ubuntu/Linux Mint/Debian and derivatives	sudo apt install libcairo2-dev libgirepository1.0-dev pkg-config
OpenSUSE/SLES	sudo zypper install cairo-devel gobject-introspection-devel python3-cairo-devel pkg-config
Arch Linux/Manjaro	sudo pacman -S cairo base-devel gobject-introspection pkgconf

1. git clone https://github.com/ProtonVPN/linux-gui
2. cd linux-gui
3. pipenv install installs the virtual environment and all necessary dependencies from Pipfile.
4. pipenv shell enters the virtual environment.
5. sudo pip install -e . installs the GUI in your virtual environment.
6. protonvpn-gui starts the GUI from within the virtual environment.

How to use

ProtonVPN GUI

protonvpn-gui

ProtonVPN Tray

protonvpn-tray

Enhancements

Create .desktop file

ProtonVPN GUI

To create at desktop launcher with a .desktop file, follow the instructions below.

1. Find the path to the package with pip3 show protonvpn-gui

   You should get something like Location: /usr/local/lib/<YOUR_PYTHON_VERSION>/dist-packages , this is where your Python packages reside. Note: Based on your distro, your Location path may not look exactly like this one, so make sure to use your own and Location path.

2. Based on previous information, the path to your icon should be <PATH_DISPLAYED_IN_STEP_1>/linux_gui/resources/img/logo/protonvpn_logo.png

3. Create a protonvpn-gui.desktop file in .local/share/applications/, and paste in the following code. Remember to change the Icon path to your own path.

   [Desktop Entry]
   Name=ProtonVPN
   GenericName=ProtonVPN GUI
   Exec=protonvpn-gui
   Icon=<YOUR_ICON_PATH>
   Type=Application
   Terminal=False
   Categories=Utility;GUI;Network;VPN
   

ProtonVPN Tray

To create at tray icon launcher with a .desktop file, follow the instructions below.

1. Find the path to the package with pip3 show protonvpn-gui

   You should get something like Location: /usr/local/lib/<YOUR_PYTHON_VERSION>/dist-packages , this is where your Python packages reside. Note: Based on your distro, your Location path may not look exactly like this one, so make sure to use your own and Location path.

2. Based on previous information, the path to your icon should be <PATH_DISPLAYED_IN_STEP_1>/linux_gui/resources/img/logo/protonvpn_logo.png

3. Create a protonvpn-tray.desktop file in .local/share/applications/, and paste in the following code. Remember to change the Icon path to your own path.

   [Desktop Entry]
   Name=ProtonVPN Tray
   GenericName=ProtonVPN Tray
   Exec=protonvpn-tray
   Icon=<YOUR_ICON_PATH>
   Type=Application
   Terminal=False
   Categories=Utility;GUI;Network;VPN
   

Sudo/PolKit

At the moment, since the CLI protects certain files using sudo and also manages killswitch and split tunneling, the GUI will also need to have access to these sudo protected files. Thus, as it is at the moment, the GUI needs to have certain root privileges. This though is subject to change. Nonetheless, if you would like to launch the GUI without having to type in your sudo password everytime, then you could add the executable file to visudo.
Another alternative is enable PolKit Support from within the settings (pkexec command). This displays a window for the user to type the sudo password, this way, a user won't have to type the password into the terminal. Whenever you want to connect/disconnect or make some important changes to files, a window prompt will appear for you to enter the sudo password.
Note: This feature needs to be enabled from within the GUI settings for it to be able to work. If you have not installed the necessary packages, then the this feature will not work.

Visudo

The instructions for seting up visudo are described below.

1. First you will need the path to the GUI. This can be found by typing which protonvpn-gui. You should get something like this: /usr/bin/protonvpn-gui. Save it since you will need it later. Note: As previously mentioned, the path may look different for you, based on your distro.
2. Identify your username by typing whoami. Save it (or memorize it).
3. In another terminal, type in sudo visudo, and a window should pop-up, scroll to the very bottom of it.
4. Once you are at the botton, type: <YOUR_USERNAME_FROM_STEP2> ALL = (root) NOPASSWD: <YOUR_PATH_FROM_STEP1>
5. Exit and save! Have fun :)

GUI Layout