The solstone app on linux takes in what you share with it on a GNOME Wayland session; all of it goes into your journal, which lives on a device you own.

Note: Activity detection uses screen-lock and power-save signals to notice when you step away. Coverage varies by desktop: GNOME provides both signals; KDE (Wayland) provides screen lock only; any X11 session also provides DPMS power save; other Wayland desktops provide screen lock where the compositor exposes it. Where neither signal is available, the solstone app on linux still takes in what you share and that material goes into your journal, but activity-based segment boundaries will not trigger.

System dependencies #

Fedora:

sudo dnf install pulseaudio-libs gstreamer1 gstreamer1-plugins-base gstreamer1-plugins-good pipewire-gstreamer pipewire-pulseaudio xdg-desktop-portal xdg-utils

Debian / Ubuntu:

sudo apt install libpulse0 libgstreamer1.0-0 gstreamer1.0-plugins-base gstreamer1.0-plugins-good gstreamer1.0-pipewire gstreamer1.0-x pipewire-pulse xdg-desktop-portal xdg-utils

Arch:

sudo pacman -S libpulse gstreamer gst-plugins-base gst-plugins-good gst-plugin-pipewire pipewire-pulse xdg-desktop-portal xdg-utils

openSUSE:

sudo zypper install libpulse0 gstreamer gstreamer-plugins-base gstreamer-plugins-good gstreamer-plugin-pipewire pipewire-pulseaudio xdg-desktop-portal xdg-utils

Install #

Your journal must already be available. If it is not, start with the solstone install. In your journal, create a pair link for this device and save it as pair-link.txt.

Install a native Debian or RPM package from updates.solstone.app. Read https://updates.solstone.app/solstone-linux/release/latest for the current version, then download and verify the package before installing it; INSTALL.md carries the exact commands and filenames. From a matching source checkout, the portable archive installer is:

scripts/install.sh solstone-linux-<VERSION>-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
solstone-linux install-service
systemctl --user stop solstone-linux
solstone-linux setup < pair-link.txt
systemctl --user start solstone-linux

The installer is distributed in the source repository, not inside the tarball. If you downloaded only the tarball, obtain scripts/install.sh from the matching release source, or extract it and manually copy bin/solstone-linux to a directory on PATH and share/icons/hicolor beneath the same prefix.

The archive includes packaging/INSTALL-NOTES, the canonical runtime-dependency list, and RUST_DEPENDENCY_NOTICES.txt, reproducing third-party crate license texts. See INSTALL.md for package installation, tray notes, and troubleshooting.

Pairing is the only setup path. The pair link comes from your journal. A journal on the same machine connects through the same private network path as any other journal; There is no URL, key, local Python installation, or direct fallback to configure. The solstone app can continue taking in what you share while unpaired or offline. Setup asks you to confirm your journal's mark, or takes --mark when there is no terminal. Nothing goes into your journal until you confirm. solstone-linux confirm confirms a mark while the solstone app is running. Setup still needs the app stopped, because setup takes the private-state lock.

Developers building from source #

git clone https://github.com/solpbc/solstone-linux.git
cd solstone-linux
make install-service
systemctl --user stop solstone-linux
solstone-linux setup < pair-link.txt
systemctl --user start solstone-linux

Setup #

solstone-linux setup < pair-link.txt

solstone-linux setup --mark "word word" < pair-link.txt

Setup and runtime deliberately share one private-state lock. Confirm changes pairing state while the solstone app is running, and setup still needs the app stopped because it takes the lock. If the solstone app is running, setup exits before consuming the pair link and leaves intake state, configuration, and private state unchanged.

For an upgrade that needs a new pair link:

systemctl --user stop solstone-linux
solstone-linux setup < pair-link.txt
systemctl --user start solstone-linux

Run #

# Foreground
solstone-linux run

Status #

solstone-linux status

Protocol contract #

The journal's observer-client contract is frozen here as a byte-exact, language-neutral bundle at vendor/observer-client-contract/. contracts/observer-client-import.json records its authority revision and bundle version; make check-observer-contract verifies the frozen bundle without a network connection.

The vendored manifest.json declares observer protocol version 3. That version is separate from the bundle and solstone-linux application-release versions. When the app and authority disagree, resolve the incompatibility at the journal authority first; do not rewrite the vendored contract or weaken consumer conformance.

See contracts/README.md for the verified import ritual and public provenance record.

Clone this repository

solstone-linux #