ProtonMail Bridge for Linux
I don't have a Windows or OSX machine, so ProtonMail Bridge doesn't appear to be an option for me. Is there any way Bridge for Linux could happen? The site says it's coming soon, but when is soon?
We are happy to announce that ProtonMail Bridge for Linux is now available in closed Beta for all paid users. Please email us at bridge@protonmail.ch for an invite.
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Eat Dirt commented
Long term user of protonmail and protonVPN, I wanted to give a try to use the Bridge under Linux. Obviously, the rpm built for fedora or so has Requires not necessarily compatible with other rpm-based distro, contrary to what is claimed. That should not be a problem if the srpm would have been provided, a little edition of the spec file would allow building on really all rpm-based distro.
But, wait, where is the source code? Am I reading well on the website that protonTM is very secured , and that, part of it, means they have nothing to hide? They do embrass OpenSource?
Then, if that bridge is really secure, put the source code on github and give us srpm please!!!
Cheers,
Chris. -
jeff stern commented
Agreed: Beta is not completion. And agreed: There are also clearly still bugs.
Also, it's been 6 days since I emailed bridge@protonmail.ch requesting a beta copy, and I still have received no response. Is that any way to run a "completed" feature?
For now, until I get an email response from PM, I also tried running the flatpak on flathub (https://www.flathub.org/apps/details/ch.protonmail.protonmail-bridge) but it just crashes magnificently.
#Yay.
Folks might claim that the PM/Bridge/Linux development is proceeding more slowly because it's just an issue of raw numbers. That features used by simply more people (e.g. the Win/Mac users ) get the dev-love (Win/Mac bridge).
But any smart company does quite the opposite:
Any half-decent marketer will always tell you that sheer numbers are never the way to start. They are only the way to END. At the beginning, you want to identify your "central" people, the "movers" and "shakers" in any industry. The people that the other people listen to.
For instance, in pharmaceuticals, they target not just all doctors, but respected, well-published doctors in their particular narrow field, that all the other doctors know and respect. There will only be a handful. And it will be easy to find them. They publish in this specific subject/disease. They are attending physicians (teaching doctors) in the most respected university medical schools. Start with *them*. (Not that I agree with the ethics of this for drugs, but it IS how these companies work. And it ESPECIALLY includes these doctors in on the initial testing phases. I have a friend in the field.)
Parallel: Targeting Linux users is an easy way to slice off a good chunk of the "smart" people or developers. And devs who are *used* to being part of beta tests and giving feedback and of figuring out things for themselves -- as part of their very life/work styles.
And these very same people -- Linux users and devs -- are the people whom OTHER people ask by word of mouth for advice on computers and apps. By this reasoning, you'd want to a) START with Linux users, b) treat them very well (fast fix cycles, etc.), c) get the product up and running and SOLID, and then finally d) port it to Win/Mac and work on those secondarily.
All my Win/Mac friends around me who are not computer savvy but are concerned with privacy ask me from time to time for advice on things like Skype alternatives, email providers, chat programs, anti-virus, hardware purchases, etc.
I'll recommend PM to them for email more emphatically (or at all) if PM has supported me well as a Linux user, and has provided features to me and other Linux users *first*, and done it *well*.
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mattia commented
I don't consider this as a completed task. I've been using Bridge for Linux for the past year under Fedora and had a terrible experience. Some fonts are unreadable, multiple replies to threads in message lists are not sorted correctly and after the latest update I get it crashing after few minutes. Also even it should be open source code, it's not available anywhere. I've sent several reports to the bridge team without any reply. I would not recommend anyone to pay for this feature and I will not renew for sure!
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David Lemler commented
It's a paid feature for all operating systems. You can download the bridge for Win/Mac for free, but it will refuse to work unless you have a paid account. The only difference between the Win/Mac versions and the Linux version is that the Linux version is a beta.
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ChameleonScales commented
Wait, that's not a completed task, it's a beta feature only available for paid users.
Why would it be considered completed when windows and mac users have it ready for free? -
Anonymous commented
What i would like to have is a standalone commandline interface / daemon that does not require the gazillion of qt and other graphical libraries as dependencies. That kind of bridge would work almost anywhere, reduce the attack surface of the code etc. Why did you chose to have the commandline interface the same executable as the GUI version?
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David Lemler commented
In the emails with the download links, there is an attached file with instructions on how to extract the required files from the .deb package for installation on any system, even if it doesn't support .deb packages. Once Protonmail (including the bridge and mobile apps) becomes fully open source, I'm sure others could make Snap/Flatpak/AppImage versions of the bridge that would be cross-distribution.
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Anonymous commented
Linux flatpak, snap or app-image would be great, or is it only deb and rpm?
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L commented
Please provide a web interface that goes to the local bridge server.
1. Without changing away from the standard ProtonMail web interface, we can take advantage of message body search.
2. Without changing away from the standard ProtonMail web interface, we can be using signed code and be protected from intrusions of ProtonMail servers.
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Joe commented
It would be nice to have the bridge as a flatpak. That would let it work easily on nearly all distros.
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BonusWavePilot commented
A more recent .deb can be found here:
https://protonmail.com/download/protonmail-bridge_1.1.0-1_amd64.deb -
Mar commented
In response to Jim C.
Because ProtonMail sends the email to the client encrypted. And Thunderbird / Enigmail doesn't know how to handle it, so they need a bridge which get the email, decrypt it and handle it to the final client.
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Jim C. commented
I'm on Linux. So what I don't understand is that I have ProtonVPN and I have Thunderbird / Enigmail. What's the problem with accessing Protonmail? I don't understand... why do I need a bridge?
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Anonimowy commented
When it will be available in stable channel? This is one of two reasons why I am holding back with buying paid plan.
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Colin commented
Here is a .deb that works very well, from the beta program:
https://protonmail.com/download/protonmail-bridge_1.0.6-1_amd64.deb -
I want to dump gmail commented
Is it going to be available for free users as well or it'll stay as the paid option only?
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Alain@Proteomis commented
Protonmail Bridge for Linux is available but still in beta. I have been using it intensively since one month and it is working without problem.
Have a look at
https://protonmail.com/support/knowledge-base/bridge-for-linux/
Regards -
Anonymous commented
Ugggg.....it was my understanding i would be able to manage my ProtonMail with Thunderbird if i was a paid user... So I just upgraded.....Now it appears the Linux bridge is not yet available. Thats not too honest....
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bcwmeh commented
Another bump for a Linux-Thunder-Proton bridge! Long overdue, and much needed.
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NM commented
You need to send a message to the team at bridge@protonmail.ch to get the Invite.
Only paid ProtonMail users can access the Bridge Linux version at this time.