How to install Espanso on Debian 13 trixie

Espanso is a cross-platform text expander written in Rust. It “detects when you type a keyword and replaces it while you’re typing“.

Follow these instructions to install Espanso 2.3.0 for Wayland on your Debian system.

Step 1

Download Espanso v2.3.0.

$ wget -P ~/Downloads/ --show-progress https://github.com/espanso/espanso/releases/download/v2.3.0/espanso-debian-wayland-amd64.deb

Step 2

Install the required dependencies from the Debian repository.

$ sudo apt-get install --yes libwxgtk3.2-1t64 wl-clipboard

Step 3

Install espanso from the package you downloaded in Step 1.

$ sudo dpkg -i ~/Downloads/espanso-debian-wayland-amd64.deb

Step 4

Give espanso the permissions required for its operation.

$ sudo setcap "cap_dac_override+p" $(which espanso)

Check to see if the espanso binary was installed successfuly.

$ espanso --version

Step 5

Register espanso as a systemd service.

$ espanso service register

Launch espanso.

$ espanso start && espanso status

Step 6

GNOME desktop only: remove the conflicting default shortcut for activating the window menu.

Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > View and Customize Shortcuts > Windows > Activate the window menu > [Backspace]

Use [Alt + Space] to open Espanso’s Search bar.

All Done!

Experimental support for Wayland

Espanso has some known limitations under Wayland. Most notably, “there is currently no support for App-specific configurations”.

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Install Syncthing for continuous file synchronisation on Debian or Ubuntu

Syncthing is an open source tool that synchronises data across multiple devices. It transfers your files peer-to-peer, without uploading your data to the cloud. Packages are available for Android, Windows, macOS and Linux (including Synology DSM).

The usefulness of this project cannot be overstated.

Running the Syncthing stable channel

Syncthing is included in the Debian and Ubuntu repositories, respectively. These instructions are targeting the latest release of the Syncthing stable channel. It is therefore necessary to add the Syncthing repository to your list of APT sources.

In the following example, bookworm is the local username.

Step 1

Add the Syncthing release key for validation of packages downloaded from the Syncthing repository.

$ sudo curl -o /usr/share/keyrings/syncthing-archive-keyring.gpg https://syncthing.net/release-key.gpg

Step 2

Add the Syncthing repository.

$ echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/syncthing-archive-keyring.gpg] https://apt.syncthing.net/ syncthing stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/syncthing.list

Step 3

Install Syncthing on your system.

$ sudo -- bash -c 'apt update && apt install --yes syncthing apt-transport-https'

Step 4

Enable Syncthing for the local user bookworm.

$ sudo -- bash -c 'systemctl enable syncthing@bookworm.service && systemctl start syncthing@bookworm.service && systemctl status syncthing@bookworm.service'

Step 5

You may need to edit your firewall settings to open ports for incoming and outgoing traffic.

If you are using ufw as a host-based firewall

Configure ufw to allow connections to Syncthing.

$ sudo ufw limit syncthing

If you are using firewalld as a host-based firewall

Configure firewalld to allow connections to Syncthing.

$ sudo -- bash -c 'firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-service=syncthing --permanent && firewall-cmd --reload && firewall-cmd --info-zone=public'

Step 6

Access the Syncthing configuration page by using your browser to navigate to the following address:

http://localhost:8384

Step 7

Complete your setup by referring to the Syncthing documentation.

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