Newb trying to install a program available in Linux yet not found in Muon

[2muchcoffeeman]

My system info can be found in the PC Specs section of my profile.

My objective is to install RSS Owl, which is an industrial-strength RSS reader. I like Akregator, but RSS owl has search and filtering capabilities, among many other features, that Akregator does not.

So. My mission is to install RSS Owl. At the RSS Owl GitHub repository, there is a 32-bit Linux version available. I could download it, but . . .

. . . reading through the Forums/Documentation/How To's/Top 20 Kubuntu FAQs & Answers post, I find this stern admonition:

First of all, if you are not experienced in manually installing software on GNU/Linux, DO NOT TRY TO INSTALL SOFWARE DOWNLOADED FROM THE INTERNET AND EXPECT ANTHING BUT A MESS. Make use of the 50,000+ packages already in the official *buntu repositories first.

Okay then.

So it's over to Muon, where I search on "RSS." RSS Owl is not among the search results. I am aware that Muon search is not dependable -- something that I have found to be discussed widely on the forums, yet the solution to which remains a mystery as far as I can determine. Given RSS Owl's devotion to open-source culture, I have reason to suspect that there is an RSS Owl package in the Kubuntu repository, because . . that's the way RSS Owl would want it. But I need a way to verify this suspicion.

Is there a way, outside of Muon, I can verify whether RSS Owl is available in the Kubuntu repository? And if it is available, is there a way I can force Muon to find it and download it?

[Snowhog]

You can download the file then open/view it with Ark. See if there is a Readme file you can review for install information.

[2muchcoffeeman]

Negative. Several readmes, but each is concerned with Mozilla issues, not with installation of RSS Owl specifically.

There is ample online documentation, but none of it addresses my installation issues, as far as I can tell.

[claydoh]

The download on the rss owl page home page is a self contained, pre-compiled environment, you simply double click the rssowl file you find in the extracted folder. There is no installation needed. However, one does need to install a java runtime - the package default-jre will work for this if you don't already have it installed - the rss reader will show an error splash if you don't

Not all software created is gong to be available in every distro's repos, especially something not very common, or difficult to compile, such as this one, which has seen no updates since 2013, apparently.

The warnings on that kfn page are geared toward newbies attempting to compile software from source code, which is frustrating at best, so looking for things already available is a good place to start

[2muchcoffeeman]

Indeed, I extracted the .zip in the downloads folder, and when I double-click the RSSOwl folder, the application begins to run. Thank you!

Now, my task is to move the application into a different directory than the downloads folder.

[GreyGeek]

Aside from what the others have said there is this notice on the link you supplied: "released this on Dec 30, 2013"
That's three years ago. It appears to have been abandon. Remember that if you have trouble or an update breaks current compatibility.

[2muchcoffeeman]

The Windows version of RSS Owl that I run on my Win10 system is regularly updated. The developer is very much active with the project; It may be that the Linux version never took off and has been put on warm standby.

[GreyGeek]

You're probably right. I did find this page:
https://www.linuxbabe.com/feed-reade...tu-16-40-linux

[2muchcoffeeman]

Hey, thanks for that link. Looks interesting.

So here is another New Guy question: Which instructions should I follow:

A. Install RSSOwl on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS via GetDeb Repo
OR
B. Install RSSOwl on any Linux Distribution

?

My installation is Kubutnu 16.04, so I suspect I would follow A, but I never know when the distinction between Kubuntu and Ubuntu must be minded, and when it is irrelevant.

[GreyGeek]

Hey, thanks for that link. Looks interesting.

So here is another New Guy question: Which instructions should I follow:

A. Install RSSOwl on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS via GetDeb Repo
OR
B. Install RSSOwl on any Linux Distribution

?

My installation is Kubutnu 16.04, so I suspect I would follow A, but I never know when the distinction between Kubuntu and Ubuntu must be minded, and when it is irrelevant.

I like to minimize java web connections (not to confuse with javascript) so if it were me I'd opt for choice B.

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list Scroll down to the bottom of the file. Then paste the following line which will enable GetDeb repo.
deb http://archive.getdeb.net/ubuntu xenial-getdeb apps Press Ctrl+O to save then file. Ctrl+X to close the file. And then run the following command to import GetDeb GPG key to your Ubuntu 16.04 system so that APT can verify the package integrity.
wget -q -O- http://archive.getdeb.net/getdeb-archive.key | sudo apt-key add - Now update local package index and install RSSOwl.
sudo apt update

sudo apt install rssowl

Couldn't be simpler, and the repository is secured, as opposed to downloading and directly running a java program, which is something I'd never do, unless it came from a well known and secure website, like Minecraft, or Steam, etc... Off some random website? Never!

Another advantage is that when the rssowl package is updated to fix bugs or patch security holes you'll get an automatic notification, just like you do with the other repositories in your sources.list file.

Wait! There's more!
When you run "apt install rssowl" if there are required dependencies they'll get installed too, IF they are in the repository. If there are conflicts or attempts to downgrade you will get warnings about that or the install will abort.

[acheron]

Is there a way, outside of Muon, I can verify whether RSS Owl is available in the Kubuntu repository?

Once you gave the getdeb repo enabled, you can do:

~ $ apt search rssowl
Sorting... Done
Full Text Search... Done
rssowl/now 2.2.1-1~getdeb1 amd64 [installed,local]
  Newsreader for RSS, RDF and Atom Newsfeeds

[2muchcoffeeman]

Appreciate the wisdom re avoiding java programs of uncertain origin . . . that's something that I simply would not have discerned on my own. The word "java" appears nowhere on that entire page! So, thanks.

A point of confusion, however: The extended quote following your advice to choose Option B actually contains the instructions for Option A.

[2muchcoffeeman]

Once you gave the getdeb repo enabled, you can do:

~ $ apt search rssowl
Sorting... Done
Full Text Search... Done
rssowl/now 2.2.1-1~getdeb1 amd64 [installed,local]
  Newsreader for RSS, RDF and Atom Newsfeeds

I follow, thanks. Appreciate the guidance.

[NickStone]

FYI rssowl is available through AUR but you need to use Arch or a Arch based distro that has access to AUR.

[dequire]

I still can't believe the "fixed" version of Muon has apparently regressed again to the point of being pretty useless. Search used to be hit or miss, but now appears non-exsistant. Not that using Konsole (or even installing Synaptic) is particularly hard, it's just that I want the default app shipped with my favorite distro to just work, at least in the most basic sense.

There are a few relevant bugs reported recently over @ BKO. Let's hope for a quick fix.