Installing Driftleaf

Stable releases are recommended for everyday use. Beta releases are available for testing from the GitHub Releases page.

Linux

Debian, Ubuntu, and Raspberry Pi OS

Stable APT repository (recommended)

The signed stable repository supports amd64 and arm64, including 64-bit Raspberry Pi OS. It does not support 32-bit armhf. Stable releases may take up to 12 hours to appear. Beta releases are available directly from GitHub; there is no beta APT channel.

Before continuing after gpg --show-keys, confirm the signing-key fingerprint is 32B72F22E77E21F510B31849A7B44812A39EEB9C. Both applications use this key.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install ca-certificates curl gnupg
sudo install -d -m 0755 /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://apt.aetherassembly.org/before-its-gone/apt-repo-public.asc -o /tmp/aetherassembly-apt-public.asc
gpg --show-keys --with-fingerprint /tmp/aetherassembly-apt-public.asc

# Confirm the fingerprint below before continuing.
sudo install -m 0644 /tmp/aetherassembly-apt-public.asc /etc/apt/keyrings/aetherassembly.asc
echo "deb [arch=amd64,arm64 signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/aetherassembly.asc] https://apt.aetherassembly.org/driftleaf stable main" \
  | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/driftleaf.list >/dev/null
rm /tmp/aetherassembly-apt-public.asc
sudo apt update
sudo apt install driftleaf

Update later with:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install --only-upgrade driftleaf

If you configured the old repository, remove its obsolete source entry and any beta entry before adding this source. Keep other applications’ source entries.

Manual Debian package

sudo apt install ./driftleaf-<version>-amd64.deb

For ARM64 systems, use the release asset ending in arm64.deb.

Fedora, RHEL, CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, and AlmaLinux

Enable the Driftleaf COPR repository and install the package:

sudo dnf copr enable aster1630/driftleaf
sudo dnf install driftleaf

Alternatively, install the matching release package with sudo dnf install ./driftleaf-<version>-x86_64.rpm. For ARM64, use the asset ending in aarch64.rpm.

openSUSE

With the Driftleaf OBS repository configured, refresh package metadata and install:

sudo zypper addrepo https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:aster1630/openSUSE_Tumbleweed/home:aster1630.repo
sudo zypper refresh
sudo zypper install driftleaf

AppImage

Download the AppImage for your architecture. Use x86_64.AppImage for x64 or arm64.AppImage for ARM64, then make it executable and launch it:

chmod +x driftleaf-<version>-x86_64.AppImage
./driftleaf-<version>-x86_64.AppImage

The AppImage is also available for Arch Linux.

Verify a download

Release notes include a SHA256 checksum for each uploaded artifact. From the directory containing the download, run:

sha256sum driftleaf-<version>-x86_64.AppImage

Compare the result with the checksum shown in the release notes.

macOS

Download the DMG from the release page, open it, and drag Driftleaf to Applications. The app is unsigned and not notarized, so macOS may block it. If needed, remove its quarantine flag:

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/Driftleaf.app"

Windows

• Installer: download and run the setup.exe asset.
• Portable: download and run the portable.exe asset from any folder.

Windows SmartScreen may warn because the application is not code-signed. If you trust the download, select More info, then Run anyway.

Beta releases

Beta releases are marked as prereleases on GitHub and use separate beta package names on Linux. They contain in-progress changes and are intended for evaluation before a stable release. Stable releases remain available from the latest release.

Software Updates

The installed version and update status appear in Settings → Updates and Settings → About. A new release can also appear as a banner, including on the vault unlock screen. Automatic checks can be disabled in Settings; Check for updates remains available on demand.

• Windows installer: choose Download update to download an available update, then confirm with Restart to install. The portable Windows version links to the installer for manual updating.
• Linux: Driftleaf reports newer releases and links to them; installation uses the package or AppImage process for the current version.
• macOS: unsigned builds report releases and link to the DMG for manual installation.

Stable builds check stable releases. Beta builds use the beta release channel; stable builds do not offer beta releases as updates.

Update checks request public release information from GitHub, not vault contents, note titles, passphrases, or account identifiers. Update downloads begin only after you choose to download or open the release link. Manual checks remain available when automatic checks are disabled. See Architecture for privacy and local-storage details.