Hello!
I am using the Signal Messenger Desktop Application.
(https://manjaro.grena.ge/stable/community/x86_64/signal-desktop-1.36.2-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst)
The one in the repositories recently outdated (1.36.2), so it’s not possible to connect the desktop app to the smartphone anymore. It works with 1.36.3 (which I now have installed from AUR) and there already is a version 1.37.1
So this urgently needs an update.
Thank you!
But arch has 1.36.3-1 which still is working.
In Manjaro I only get 1.36.2-1 which doesn’t work anymore.
Not entirely correct.
Manjaro Stable branch has 1.36.2.
Manjaro unstable/testing branch has 1.36.3, just like Arch does.
Ah, OK.
Does unstable branch mean switching to unstable Kernel or how is it done?
It means switching to using more up to date packages and updates come in more often. That’s all packages, including kernels.
I am asking, because I recently switched from the “default” kernel to the stable kernel using the Manjaro-Settings-kernel tool and I am wondering if this also means having older other packages.
Edit:
OK, I have found this. Switching Branches - Manjaro
Well, in this case the unstable branch would have made for a more stable user experience, but probably that’s just for new connections, while existing connections continued to function.
Thank you.
I have the same issue.
I am using the stable branch of Manjaro.
Signal app can not connect the Signal Desktop 1.36.2 because it is outdated.
How can I only install Signal desktop 1.37.1 from unstable branch of Manjaro?
I do not need to switch to unstable branch with all packages upgrades
I do not want to install Signal Desktop Beta from AUR.
Sorry for my bad English
I’ll try to be of help for once even though I am not certain it’s the proper way to go -
yaourt signal-desktop
1 community/signal-desktop 1.36.2-1
Signal Private Messenger for Linux
2 aur/signal-desktop-beta 1.37.1beta1-1 (1) (0,86)
Signal Private Messenger for Linux
3 aur/signal-desktop-beta-bin 1.37.1beta.2-1 (16) (3,28)
Private messaging from your desktop
Is that what you are looking for?
If you can afford some waiting time 1.37.1 will be in stable soon. By now it is in testing. You can check yourself here Manjaro - Branch Compare and search for signal-desktop. Else you’d have to change branches or use the AUR which in my opinion would not be so smart for software which is available in the official repos, and in this case only has beta versions available.
Before switching to testing or to AUR packages, have a look at the flatpak version on flathub
It’s currently on v. 1.37.1
Is flatpak more recommandable than AUR?
I am running the AUR version from kpycrd since. It’s running good so far, but of course I want to switch back to main repository ASAP 
Not necessarily, but flatpak apps run inside an sandbox which very limited access to the system itself. So in case of an malicious or destructive applikation, flatpak is “safer”. It comes with a lot of overhead, but AUR packages can break your whole system, intended or by accident.
To use the AUR safely, you need to “know” the mantainer of the AUR packages (is he trustworthy) and you need to be able to read and understand the buildscripts for the packages if it’s doing something strange.
Well, Arch Linux - signal-desktop 1.37.2-1 (x86_64) now indicates its version is 1.37.2, which is the latest release (published 6 days ago - Releases · signalapp/Signal-Desktop · GitHub) but Manjaro still has version 1.36.2.
I don’t mind having slightly older versions, but this particular release (1.36.2) has a bug which doesn’t allow to link phone with desktop (Signal Desktop 1.36.2 throws an "Update Signal on this device to link your phone." during linking process · Issue #4536 · signalapp/Signal-Desktop · GitHub) so hopefully we will receive update on Manjaro soon because Signal is completely broken now. In other words, if you got a new phone and want to link it to desktop, you can’t do so on Manjaro.
I was on testing branch for a long time, but two weaks ago, things have broken some way, because my laptop just freezed randomly while working. Therefore I reinstalled Manjaro with the stable branch and the problems are gone. But I couldn’t link with Signal anymore! I won’t recommend changing the branch to testing for production machines! But there has to be a solution, because the post is 18 days old and there is no update yet.
I have read the recommendation of the Flatpak version, but I can’t trust it, because it’s not official. I do trust the Arch and Manjaro teams.
Is there a way for the Manjaro team to push Signal updates separately like browsers (Firefox and Brave)?
Thanks
I think what you’re asking for would require a person to manually curate some packages and confirm they work and don’t break anything.
Back when I used to have to build it from git, signal was (is) picky about the libraries it depends upon being the exact versions it was built against. Therefore those packages in your system also need to be there, curated and stable, this affects other packages and so on and so forth.
From the complaints I’ve seen the manjaro team make… this is workload they currently can’t manage.
Someone please correct me if I am mistaken on any of the information above.
Having said that, I am sad that some programs like Signal don’t update themselves naturally like they do on Windows.
Well, Manjaro announced another testing update yesterday, so hopefully they will push new release (with new Signal) later this week.
No idea whether this is considered good practice, but I just downloaded the signal-desktop-1.37.2-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst from a manjaro mirror and installed it with pamac. No errors and it works nicely. And if I understand it correctly, as soon as there is a more up-to-date version in stable, it will automatically update.
The only thing is that in the meantime, pamac throws a warning that the signal package is newer than the one in the repo…
It’s not: it’s a partial update and unsupported.
Sometimes it does and most times it doesn’t - especially if there are some library version updates in between stable and testing and/or unstable branches.
Yes, it will.