How to install the WordPress desktop app on Linux
Do you have a WordPress.com blog, and use Linux? Are you interested in posting to your WordPress.com blog right from the Linux desktop? If so, follow along with this guide as we demonstrate how to install the WordPress Desktop app on Linux.
Note: you must have a WordPress.com account to use this software. To create one, click here.
WordPress – Debian/Ubuntu
The WordPress.com website has a DEB package available for download. So, if you’re a Debian or Ubuntu user, you’ll have zero issues getting the WordPress Desktop application up and running.
To start the installation of the WordPress Desktop app on your Debian or Ubuntu Linux PC, launch a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T on the keyboard. Then, with the terminal window open, follow this link here to download the latest DEB package of WordPress Desktop.
Once the WordPress Desktop DEB package finishes downloading to your Debian or Ubuntu Linux PC, the file will be saved in the “Downloads” directory. Using the CD command in the terminal window, move into the “Downloads” folder.
cd ~/Downloads
Inside of the “Downloads” folder, run one of the commands below to start the installation of the DEB package.
Debian
sudo dpkg -i wordpress.com-linux-deb-*.deb
Following the dpkg command’s installation of the WordPress DEB package, you may need to run the apt-install -f command to correct any dependencies that may not have been installed.
sudo apt-get install -f
When the apt-get install -f command runs its course, WordPress should install fine on Debian. However, if you still have dependency issues, please follow our guide on how to correct them in Debian.
Ubuntu
On Ubuntu, you can install the DEB package right with the Apt package manager, which will take care of any dependencies, and prevent errors from occurring.
Note: if dependency issues still arise, follow our guide on how to fix them on Ubuntu.
sudo apt install ./wordpress.com-linux-deb-4.6.0.deb
WordPress – Snap package
The WordPress Desktop application is available in the Snap store. So, if you’re not using Debian or Ubuntu, this may be the only way to install the WordPress Desktop tool easily.
To get started installing the WordPress Desktop app from the Snap package store, you must be running a Linux operating system that is compatible with Snapd. You must also enable the Snapd runtime. To enable Snapd, and to learn if your distribution is compatible, follow this guide here.
After enabling the Snapd runtime on your Linux PC, open up a terminal window. To do that, press Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T on the keyboard. Then, with the terminal window open, use the snap install command below to load up the latest Snap release of WordPress Desktop.
sudo snap install wordpress-desktop
WordPress – Arch Linux AUR
WordPress Desktop releases a TarGZ archive of the desktop app for generic Linux distributions. One such Linux OS to take advantage of the TarGZ release is Arch Linux. They’ve taken it and turned it into an easy to install AUR package. Here’s how to install it.
The first step in installing the WordPress Desktop AUR package is to open up a terminal window. To launch a terminal, press Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T on the keyboard. Then, with the terminal open, use the Pacman package manager to install the “Git” and “Base-devel” packages.
sudo pacman -S base-devel git
Following the installation of the “Git” and “Base-devel” packages, we must install the Trizen AUR helper, as it will make getting the WordPress Desktop AUR package much easier.
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/trizen.git cd trizen makepkg -sri
Once the Trizen AUR helper is installed, use it to load up the latest release of the WordPress Desktop AUR package.
trizen -S wp-desktop
WordPress – Generic Linux
For those not using Arch Linux, unable to install DEB packages, and on Linux distributions with no Snap package support, you’ll be happy to know that there’s a generic TarGZ release of the WordPress Desktop app. Here’s how to get it working.
First, head over to the download page on WordPress.com. Then, once there, click on the “Linux (.TAR.GZ)” button to start the download. It’s not a large file so the download won’t take very long.
When the TarGZ WordPress Desktop file has downloaded to your Linux PC, open up a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T on the keyboard. Then, use the CD command to move into the “Downloads” folder.
cd ~/Downloads
Extract the contents of the TarGZ archive, use the tar command.
tar xvf wordpress.com-linux-x64-*.tar_.gz
Once the files are extracted, you can move into the “WordPressDesktop” directory using CD.
cd WordPressDesktop-*
Launch the WordPress Desktop app on your Linux PC with:
./wpcom
