Advice Request Manjaro & vpn

[simmerskool]

Mullvad vpn app has been solid in MX-Linux, so running Manjaro I looked for mullvad in Manjaro's official repo and did not find it (I understand it is or maybe available in AUR repo). I decided to use networkmanager and wireguard and get linux conf from mullvad and connect with shell. I ran sudo quick-up ... and the indication from terminal was a connection with mullvad, I don't have the exact output in front of me but it looked like it had a good ip address. BUT firefox acted unconnected. I do have a strong hardware firewall and have only used ufw so far, and I think I saw some iptable info in terminal too, but I have not played with iptables yet. I thought I had followed the mullvad instructions for this wg setup 100%, but I think there is some local routing misconfiguration (compliments of the user). Can the wg conf files be edited to fix this? If so, please advise your thoughts.
sidenote: how does user confirm a package from AUR is safe BEFORE installing and breaking something

 

[Bot]

Yes, the WireGuard configuration files can be edited to fix potential routing issues. You could try adding DNS settings manually to the WireGuard configuration file.

As for the AUR, while it's generally safe, it's not officially supported by Manjaro. You should always check the comments and votes on the AUR package page, and inspect the PKGBUILD and .install files before installing. This way, you can ensure the package does not contain anything malicious or harmful.

 

[simmerskool]

Yes, the WireGuard configuration files can be edited to fix potential routing issues. You could try adding DNS settings manually to the WireGuard configuration file.

As for the AUR, while it's generally safe, it's not officially supported by Manjaro. You should always check the comments and votes on the AUR package page, and inspect the PKGBUILD and .install files before installing. This way, you can ensure the package does not contain anything malicious or harmful.

I have not used AUR yet so its good to know AUR has feedback from users. Most likely I would not know what to be looking for in the PKGBUILD and .install files in order to make a determination. Perhaps a scan with clamav would reveal malware...?

 

[Bot]

I have not used AUR yet so its good to know AUR has feedback from users. Most likely I would not know what to be looking for in the PKGBUILD and .install files in order to make a determination. Perhaps a scan with clamav would reveal malware...?

While scanning with ClamAV can help, it's not a foolproof method as it might not catch everything. The best practice is to understand what the PKGBUILD and .install files are doing. If you're unsure, you can always ask for help in the Manjaro community or other Linux forums. Always exercise caution when installing from unofficial sources.

 

[TuxTalk]

AUR are user builds, most probably from Deb files. Manjaro has AUR disabled by default for a reason, they can break your system.
That does not mean they will break your system. Thats why i use Flatpak with openSUSE and installed Surfshark VPN, in Flatpak its available for all Distro.

Manjaro has Flatpak option by default in the software center.

You can also check here :

Flathub - Apps for Linux

Find and install hundreds of apps and games for Linux. Enjoy Firefox, Telegram, RetroArch, GIMP and many more!

flathub.org

Install Surfshark on Linux | Flathub

Connect to secure, private web!

flathub.org

 

[SeriousHoax]

You can use AUR packages on Manjaro. Using AUR packages on Manjaro doesn't mean it will break your system, it's just a possibility that there could be dependency issues. Most of the times there probably won't be any issue.
You need a AUR helper to install packages from AUR. Maybe doesn't come with a AUR helper. yay and paru are two of the most popular ones. I used yay before but nowadays using Paru since it's apparently slightly faster at building due to being built on Rust and the creator of paru is a maintainer of Arch's package manager pacman. Install paru from here:

GitHub - Morganamilo/paru: Feature packed AUR helper

Feature packed AUR helper. Contribute to Morganamilo/paru development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

The run, paru AUR_package_name to install something from AUR.

 

[TuxTalk]

You can use AUR packages on Manjaro. Using AUR packages on Manjaro doesn't mean it will break your system, it's just a possibility that there could be dependency issues. Most of the times there probably won't be any issue.
You need a AUR helper to install packages from AUR. Maybe doesn't come with a AUR helper. yay and paru are two of the most popular ones. I used yay before but nowadays using Paru since it's apparently slightly faster at building due to being built on Rust and the creator of paru is a maintainer of Arch's package manager pacman. Install paru from here:

GitHub - Morganamilo/paru: Feature packed AUR helper

Feature packed AUR helper. Contribute to Morganamilo/paru development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

The run, paru AUR_package_name to install something from AUR.

Thanks, exactly what i meant. Let @simmerskool check and then install the Mullvad client through AUR.

 

[simmerskool]

AUR are user builds, most probably from Deb files. Manjaro has AUR disabled by default for a reason, they can break your system.
That does not mean they will break your system. Thats why i use Flatpak with openSUSE and installed Surfshark VPN, in Flatpak its available for all Distro.

Manjaro has Flatpak option by default in the software center.

You can also check here :

Flathub - Apps for Linux

Find and install hundreds of apps and games for Linux. Enjoy Firefox, Telegram, RetroArch, GIMP and many more!

flathub.org

Install Surfshark on Linux | Flathub

Connect to secure, private web!

flathub.org

yes I'm aware Manjaro has Flatpak option, have not used it yet. Proceeding slowly, or slow enough so that if & when I break something, I have some idea what I did. I'm semi confident I know what is wrong with Mullvad .conf for wireguard, I think routing issue with my hardware router firewall. chatGPT also "thinks" this is the issue, that can fixed with an edit to .conf. I may get to that later today, but I've installed Debian with Gnome and getting use to it. Smooth installation!!

 

[simmerskool]

Thanks, exactly what i meant. Let @simmerskool check and then install the Mullvad client through AUR.

don't rely on me to do this correctly.

 

[TuxTalk]

yes I'm aware Manjaro has Flatpak option, have not used it yet. Proceeding slowly, or slow enough so that if & when I break something, I have some idea what I did. I'm semi confident I know what is wrong with Mullvad .conf for wireguard, I think routing issue with my hardware router firewall. chatGPT also "thinks" this is the issue, that can fixed with an edit to .conf. I may get to that later today, but I've installed Debian with Gnome and getting use to it. Smooth installation!!

Debian is nice, stable.
Like openSUSE.

This is YaST, the control room from openSUSE : If you have time try openSUSE @simmerskool

 

[simmerskool]

Debian is nice, stable.
Like openSUSE.

This is YaST, the control room from openSUSE : If you have time try openSUSE @simmerskool

One negative comment re Debian, audio here is awful, files & streaming. This surprises me given how long Debian has been around and its stability. On MX the audio was ok or least working, did not use audio on Manjaro very much, but so far Debian is worst. I don't know yet about Ubuntu audio. chatgpt has listed some things to try but maybe tomorrow.

 

[lokamoka820]

One negative comment re Debian, audio here is awful, files & streaming. This surprises me given how long Debian has been around and its stability. On MX the audio was ok or least working, did not use audio on Manjaro very much, but so far Debian is worst. I don't know yet about Ubuntu audio. chatgpt has listed some things to try but maybe tomorrow.

What is the problem with the audio?

 

[simmerskool]

What is the problem with the audio?

Debian: total distortion. perhaps wrong player used? Tonight I'm running Ubuntu and installed VLC snap and it played .mpga ok, although the first 5 seconds are distorted. I don't recall which player I used in Debian earlier today. Tonight is the first time I've spent any time with Ubuntu gnome wayland. starting to get to use to it, starting to like it the more I understand it.

 

[TuxTalk]

In openSUSE, Youtube all over the screen there are lines, very annoying. Went back to Manjaro Gnome.

 

[lokamoka820]

In openSUSE, Youtube all over the screen there are lines, very annoying. Went back to Manjaro Gnome.

What is your GPU (NVIDIA / intel)? I think this is screen tearing, you can face it in any distro.

 

[lokamoka820]

Debian: total distortion. perhaps wrong player used? Tonight I'm running Ubuntu and installed VLC snap and it played .mpga ok, although the first 5 seconds are distorted. I don't recall which player I used in Debian earlier today. Tonight is the first time I've spent any time with Ubuntu gnome wayland. starting to get to use to it, starting to like it the more I understand it.

Did you use the live image to install Debian? In Debian and openSUSE live image just for testing, you need to use the online installer to have a clean installation, this is the first point.

The second point is that Debian need codecs and components to be installed to act like ready to use distros, it is not a plug and play distro.

In case you liked to try Debian again in the future, I recommend trying SpiralLinux it is just a pure Debian preconfigured for end user without adding anything else from the developer.

 

[simmerskool]

In openSUSE, Youtube all over the screen there are lines, very annoying. Went back to Manjaro Gnome.

so now openSUSE is off my short list. I currently have 5 nix vm, and I think I can make room Fedora next. I have Ubuntu Gnome installed and was not sure about it, but played with enough yesterday to end up liking it. Today I got around to tweaking FreeBSD xfce to be nicely usable for how I use it.

 

[simmerskool]

Did you use the live image to install Debian? In Debian and openSUSE live image just for testing, you need to use the online installer to have a clean installation, this is the first point.

The second point is that Debian need codecs and components to be installed to act like ready to use distros, it is not a plug and play distro.

In case you liked to try Debian again in the future, I recommend trying SpiralLinux it is just a pure Debian preconfigured for end user without adding anything else from the developer.

I like Debian, have it installed in VMware -- no planes to delete it. I assumed it was a codecs issue but I got involved in something else and didn't get back to it. And yes, I used the online installer. The installation process was one of the better ones. I'll look at SpiralLinux but will probably install Fedora next.

 

[SeriousHoax]

In openSUSE, Youtube all over the screen there are lines, very annoying. Went back to Manjaro Gnome.

Probably driver/codec related issue as eluded by @lokamoka820. I never had such issue in my main PC or VM. openSUSE is a distro that is almost ready out of the box except codecs similar to Fedora for example.
You need to do this for codecs in openSUSE,

sudo zypper in opi
opi codecs

 

[TuxTalk]

Probably driver/codec related issue as eluded by @lokamoka820. I never had such issue in my main PC or VM. openSUSE is a distro that is almost ready out of the box except codecs similar to Fedora for example.
You need to do this for codecs in openSUSE,

Not codec related but a known issue. And to be honest, i always miss Manjaro because its the only distro thats stable and runs smooth for me