How to browse Reddit from the Linux desktop with Giara

If you like Reddit but prefer to browse from an app, Giara may be for you. It is a Linux app that allows users to consume Reddit content from the desktop. In this guide, we’ll show you how to install it and use it on your system.

Note: You must have a Reddit account to make use of the Giara application on Linux. To create a new Reddit account, head over to Reddit and click on the new “sign up” button.

Installing Giara on Linux

The Giara app is available for all Linux users via the Flathub app store as a Flatpak. In addition, users can install the Giara app through the Arch Linux User Repository and compile the source code by hand.

To start the installation of Giara on your Linux computer, open up a terminal window on the Linux desktop. You can open up a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard. Or, open up the app menu and search for “Terminal” to launch it.

With the terminal window open and ready to go, the installation of Giara can begin. Using the installation instructions down below, get the Giara app working.

Flatpak

Giara’s primary distribution method on Linux is the Flathub app store. If you want to install the program through the Flathub app store, you need to install the Flatpak runtime on your computer.

Setting up the Flatpak runtime on Linux is relatively easy. To do it, install the “flatpak” package using your package manager. If you’re having issues setting up the runtime, please follow our guide on the subject.

With the runtime configured on your system, it is time to enable the Flathub app store. Using the flatpak remote-add command, add Flathub to your Flatpak app sources.

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

When you’ve added the Flathub app store to your computer, the installation of Giara can begin. Using the flatpak install command down below, set up the program.

flatpak install flatpak install flathub org.gabmus.giara

Arch Linux

Giara is available for Arch Linux users, as well as Manjaro users through the Arch Linux User Repository. This repo is a community resource that users can use to upload apps for others to install.

To get your hands on the Giara app from the AUR, you’ll first need to install the Trizen AUR helper. This program automates the installation of AUR apps. Using the commands below, set up the Trizen app.

sudo pacman -S git base-devel

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/trizen.git

cd trizen/

makepkg -sri

With the Trizen application set up, the installation of Giara can be performed using the trizen -S command down below.

trizen -S giara

Source-code

If you’d like to install the Giara app on your computer by building it from the source code, you can. To get your hands on the code, head over to the official Giara Gitlab page and follow the compilation instructions.

How to use Giara on Linux

To use Giara on Linux, follow the step-by-step instructions down below.

Step 1: Open up the Giara application on your Linux computer by searching for it in the app menu. Once it is open, there will be a blue login button. Select this button to log into your Reddit account.

Step 2: After the login button is selected, a Reddit “Connect” window will open in your default browser. From here, read the Reddit disclaimer. Then, go to the bottom of the page and click on the button to authorize Giara to interact with your Reddit account.

Step 3: When you’ve connected your Reddit account to the Giara app, it will load up your Reddit news feed. By default, it will show posts from all of your subscriptions in the “Best” section.

To choose a different display type for Giara in your app, click on the drop-down button next to the rocket icon. Upon selecting this button, a menu will appear. In this menu, there are several feed choices to choose from. Select the option that works best for you.

Step 4: After selecting your feed choice, click on the refresh button. This button will load up new items in your Reddit feed.

Posting

Giara not only lets users view their Reddit feed on the Linux desktop. With the app, it is also to post to any subreddit. To create a post, find the plus sign icon and click on it with the mouse.

After you’ve selected the plus sign, a pop-up window will appear. In this window, you’ll see “text,” “link,” and “Media.” Choose the type of post you wish to make with the mouse. Then, select your Subreddit in the UI, and write out your post.

When you’ve finished writing out your post, select the “Send” button to post it to Reddit via Giara.