Bitmask
Encrypted communication for mere mortals 
 (superheroes welcome, too)

Bitmask for Linux

Bitmask is now RiseupVPN

We’ve deprecated Bitmask for all desktop clients. We’ve rewritten the clients and offer provider branded versions. You can try the new client by installing RiseupVPN.

Requirements

RiseupVPN is officially distributed as a snap package. Knowing that not everybody likes snap, we produce deb packages as well and we do our best to keep them up to date. Currently we don’t have the capacities to offer packages for other Linux distributions and need community support for it! You can get in contact with us, if you want to help with packaging! RiseupVPN is currently tested on Ubuntu LTS (18.04) and Debian Stable. If you have a different release, it may or may not work.

Snap Installation

If you use Ubuntu, snap is already installed. Otherwise, run:

sudo apt install snapd gnome-software-plugin-snap

Then, search for RiseupVPN in the Software Center or click on this link:

Open RiseupVPN in Software Center

If the link above does not work for you, you can also install via the command line:

sudo snap install --classic riseup-vpn

If you get an error stating that “python” is missing from /usr/bin/env, you need to install python. This is the case for instance in Lubuntu, at least since version 19.04.

Package Installation

Run the following commands in a terminal to install the Debian Stable package.

   sudo apt install leap-archive-keyring
   echo "deb http://deb.leap.se/client release buster" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/leap.list
   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install riseup-vpn

Download other versions

You can browse all releases for old or experimental downloads.

You should install the latest stable release. Downloads tagged with “RC” are “Release Candidates” and receive frequent experimental updates that may break the application.

Troubleshooting

Bug Reports and Feature Requests

RiseupVPN is built using a free software program called bitmask-vpn.

Step 1: Search to see if the bug has already been reported.

Step 2: Register an account with 0xacab.org and log in.

Step 3: Create a new bug report or feature request.

Please include the following information in your bug report:

  • Steps to reproduce the bug
  • What is the expected behaviour and what do you see
  • A screenshot if it is something visual
  • Your linux distribution and its version
  • The log of the program

Get the logs

The log of RiseupVPN is located in your home folder:

~/.config/leap/systray.log

When reporting a bug it is very useful to include the log file.

Force quit

If anything stops working, run these commands and then try again:

sudo pkill -e -f riseup-vpn

Won’t start

If the launcher icon does not work, you can run RiseupVPN from the command line in order to identify the problem:

/snap/bin/riseup-vpn.launcher

Any problem starting will be displayed on the terminal.

Test a pre-release version

If you want to help us test a development, pre-release version of RiseupVPN, you can install it using this command:

sudo snap install --classic --beta riseup-vpn

Remove PID file

Sometimes RiseupVPN will fail to start if it thinks another version is already running.

If you get this error, run these commands:

sudo pkill -e -f riseup-vpn
test -f ~/.config/leap/systray.pid && rm -v ~/.config/leap/systray.pid

Source code

The code for the Linux client can be found here.