Installing Roam on Linux

We package Roam as a .deb and a .rpm. Note that due to the wide variety of Linux distributions, we cannot guarantee that the Roam app will work on any particular distribution, but we attempt to support the latest stable releases of common Linux distributions. More details about which releases we explicitly support or do not support can be found on our Technical Requirements page.

We highly encourage users to keep Roam up-to-date (we generally have a new major release every week). We periodically deprecate old versions of Roam, as we add new features and fix issues.

Installing the .deb (for Debian-based distributions)

This should work on Debian, Ubuntu, and derivatives such as Linux Mint.

1. Download this file: Roam.deb
   If you are using an ARM-based computer (less common), download this file instead: Roam.deb
2. Navigate to the folder where you download Roam.deb, right-click on the folder, and select "Open in Terminal."
3. In the terminal that opens, run sudo apt install ./Roam.deb and enter your password when prompted. If you downloaded the file under a different name (e.g. Roam (1).deb), substitute that name (in quotes) instead of Roam.deb; e.g. sudo apt install ./'Roam (1).deb'.
4. If Roam installs successfully, you're done!

You should receive updates to Roam when you install system updates. To ensure that you receive updates promptly, check your system update settings and make sure they are set to check for updates regularly.

Installing the .rpm (for Red Hat-based distributions)

Run the following two commands at the command line (you'll be prompted to enter your password):

printf '[roam]\nname=Roam\nbaseurl=https://download.ro.am/Roam/8a86d88cfc9da3551063102e9a4e2a83/linux/redhat\nenable=1\ngpgcheck=1\ngpgkey=https://download.ro.am/public.key\nmetadata_expire=1h\n' | sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/roam.repo >/dev/null
sudo dnf install -y roam

If you don't see any error messages, you're done! You should now see Roam in the list of installed applications.

Note: If for some reason you need to download the actual .rpm file instead of using dnf, you can find it here: Roam.rpm

Installing from the AUR (for Arch-based distributions)

A PKGBUILD for Roam is available on the AUR as roam. If you're not familiar with the AUR, we suggest you read the Arch Wiki pages on the AUR and AUR helpers. If you use an AUR helper already, you may be able to simply install Roam using your AUR helper, e.g. yay -S roam.

FAQ

Q: How do I update my system?

To update your system, you can use your graphical system update interface or, via your terminal:

• on Debian-based distributions, with sudo apt update followed by sudo apt upgrade
• on Red Hat-based distributions, with sudo dnf update --refresh

Q: Why am I not getting updates to Roam?

First, check your system update settings and make sure they're set to regularly fetch updates.

If they're set up properly, and you installed the .deb, you may need to reinstall Roam. Check your internet connection and follow the instructions to update Roam without updating the rest of the OS.

If you installed the .rpm, try repeating the installation instructions.

Q: Why doesn't screensharing work?

If you're running Wayland (which is increasingly the default on many distributions), screensharing support is limited. You can check whether you are running Wayland by running echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE in your terminal.

On some Wayland desktop environments/compositors, you can share your entire screen or a particular window. On other desktop environments, you can only share your entire screen. Unfortunately, due to Wayland's design, we are unable to support sharing individual windows without proper support from the desktop environment.

If you are using a wlroots-based window manager (e.g. sway, dwl, etc.), you may need to manually install and configure xdg-desktop-portal-wlr. See the Arch Wiki's xdg-desktop-portal troubleshooting section and xdg-desktop-portal-wlr's troubleshooting steps for more information.

Previous versions of Roam allowed switching between two different "modes" when running under Wayland. However, due to changes in upstream Chromium, this is no longer supported.

Q: Why can't I see other people's cursors or annotations when I'm screensharing?

If you are using Wayland screensharing (see the previous FAQ entry), cursors and annotations only work when you are sharing your entire screen, and only in certain configurations. This is due to limitations of the Wayland protocol.

If you are using X11, make sure you have a compositor (e.g. picom) running. If you do not, install and enable one and restart Roam.

Q: Why don't you support X installation method? How about *BSD?

In order to provide a delightful customer experience to the broadest set of Roam Linux users with Roam's finite development resources, we do not currently support installation methods on Linux systems other than those listed here (.deb, .rpm, and the AUR). This includes alternative packaging systems such as Flatpak and Snap. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

We do not support any of the BSD variants due to various considerations, most notably lack of official Electron support.

Advanced

Updating only Roam without performing other updates

We do not recommend this approach for regular usage. Keeping your entire system up-to-date is important for security and compatibility reasons.

If you installed the .deb, open Terminal, type sudo apt remove roam, and enter your password when prompted. Then repeat the installation instructions. Make sure to redownload the .deb instead of using the old file you previously downloaded.

If you installed the .rpm, open Terminal, type sudo dnf update --refresh roam, and enter your password when prompted.