How To Install Slack On Linux
Slack is perhaps the largest collaborative, team-based instant messaging tool out there, and millions of people use it every day to communicate with co-workers, colleges, and teammates. Slack has support on many different platforms, like Windows, macOS, Android, iOS and even Linux. The support for Linux that Slack offers is better than most, but out of the box the client is only officially available for Debian and Redhat Linux distributions, as well as those capable of running Snaps. That’s why in this article, we’ll be covering all of the ways you can install Slack on Linux .
SPOILER ALERT: Scroll down and watch the video tutorial at the end of this article.
Ubuntu/Debian instructions
Getting the Slack client on Ubuntu is pretty easy, and it starts out by downloading a package file. This is required, as Ubuntu doesn’t carry the Slack client directly. To download the latest version of the Slack client, go to the website and select the button on the download page that says “DOWNLOAD DEB (64-BIT)”. Then, open up a terminal window and use the CD command to move the terminal to the ~/Downloads folder.
cd ~/Downloads
When the Slack package finishes downloading, the installation can start. Using the dpkg tool, load Slack into the system.
sudo dpkg -i slack-desktop-*.deb
After using the dpkg tool to load up the latest Slack DEB file, you’ll need to correct the dependencies. This is required, otherwise Slack won’t run correctly. Use apt install -f to fix it.
sudo apt install -f
From here, Slack should run fine on Ubuntu (or Debian). Keep in mind that you may need to go out and grab this package each time there is an update!
Arch Linux Instructions
Start out by using the git tool to clone the latest version of the AUR package:
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/slack-desktop.git
Enter the cloned Slack directory using the CD command.
cd slack-desktop
Use the makepkg tool to generate a new, installable Slack client package for Arch. Keep in mind that this tool will not build if dependencies are not met. If the terminal tells you that a program is missing, you’ll need to install it. For example: if Arch says that Slack won’t build because it’s missing “gnome-keyring”, you’d satisfy it with pacman -S gnome-keyring, and etc.
makepkg
When the build finishes, install the Slack client on your system with:
sudo pacman -U *.pkg.tar.xz
Fedora Instructions
Head over to the Slack download page, and click on the button that says “DOWNLOAD RPM (64-BIT)”. This will start a download for the latest RPM packaged version of Slack for Redhat based Linux distributions. To install it, open up a terminal and use the CD command to enter ~/Downloads on your Fedora PC.
cd ~/Downloads
When the RPM completes the downloading process, it’s safe to use the DNF package management tool to load up the RPM onto the system.
sudo dnf install slack-*.fc21.x86_64.rpm
The DNF tool will go out, grab all dependencies required and install the Slack client on your PC. Soon after, you’ll be able to run it by going to the “Internet” section of your desktop environment.
SUSE Instructions
Want to use Slack on OpenSUSE? Good news! Slack for Linux has an RPM available. This means that any Linux distribution (not just Fedora) that uses RPMs as their package format can install it. To install the client, first go over to the Download page and click on “DOWNLOAD RPM (64-BIT)”. Then open up a terminal and CD into the ~/Downloads directory.
cd ~/Downloads
From here, use the Zypper package management tool to get the Slack desktop client for Linux working.
sudo zypper install slack-*.fc21.x86_64.rpm
If for some reason the RPM doesn’t play well with your Open SUSE installation and refuses to launch, it may be because you’re missing libXss1, a critical package. Grab the latest version of libXss1 from the SUSE OBS, and Slack should work just fine!
Snap Instructions
Need to get Slack running on Linux but not using a distribution that uses DEB or RPM packages? Not to worry! Slack is now on the Snap store. To install Slack on Linux via the Snap store, ensure that your Linux distribution has support for Snapd. Follow our guide to learn how to get Snapd working on your Linux distribution.
Once you’ve got Snapd up and running, open up a terminal window and install Slack on Linux with this command:
sudo snap install slack
FlatPak Instructions
One of the best ways to deliver software to Linux distributions that don’t ever get support from mainstream application developers is to package it up as a Flatpak. Nearly every Linux user has access to Flatpak technology. Basically, if your Linux operating system can install Gnome, you have access to this package format.
Not sure how to get Flatpak working? Follow our guide here to get it going!
Once you’ve got Flatpak, install the latest version of the Slack client:
sudo flatpak install --from https://flathub.org/repo/appstream/com.slack.Slack.flatpakref
