a (very old) standalone program that no longer works, and also required WhatsApp to be running simultaneously on a phone? https://github.com/tgalal/wazapp
a current python library “that enables you to build applications which use the WhatsApp service” https://github.com/tgalal/yowsup
To be clear, I’m looking for messaging on a linux desktop without requiring a phone.
WhatsApp now uses end to end encryption. The only way to get connected is to use a supported application that they offer. I believe it also may require a mobile number to register but I haven’t use the app recently so I’m not sure. The searches on Windows support for the app in Wine do not seem promising.
Imho Your best bet may be to get it running on an android emulator. I’ve seen posts of it working on emulators like Blue Stacks. I’m not as familiar with linux, maybe someone else could make an alternative recomendation to Blue Stacks.
Does end to end encryption preclude third party (linux) programs? I’ve never used WhatsApp, so I’m rather naive on this topic. web.whatsapp.com requires a phone, so that’s a no go.
An android emulator! I guess that could be interesting for proof of concept but impractical for day to day messaging.
Does end to end encryption preclude third party (linux) programs? I’ve never used WhatsApp, so I’m rather naive on this topic. web.whatsapp.com requires a phone, so that’s a no go.
Yes, their app would be required unless they released another method to connect. It looks like other apps being developed in the past received DCMA take downs so everything seems to be abandoned.
An android emulator! I guess that could be interesting for proof of concept but impractical for day to day messaging.
It looks like even standalone tablet versions may require a phone number. I’m not sure you will get around this.
Is Google Voice a good alternative? They will give you a number, let you get texts, voicemails and make calls from that number via google hangouts.
If Google Voice doesn’t work for you then what is your use case?
What problem are you trying to solve?
My use case is simply to message people who unfortunately seem to prefer using WhatsApp. Even if I find an alternative protocol that works better, chances are they are tied to it due to their friends.
I’ve typically used pidgin and its plugins to message on different platforms/protocols over the years. eg. msn, gchat/hangouts, fb messenger, irc, etc. I guess WhatsApp won’t be one of them. I really like having one program for all messaging.
And thanks, I do have Google Voice and it has come in handy at times.
I guess an alternative solution would be to suggest they switch to a similar but different messaging system. Suggestions?
A quick search for cross-platform solutions brings up Telegram, Matrix/Riot, Signal, etc
Telegram has a pidgin plugin: https://github.com/majn/telegram-purple
This article might help. You get an “app” with an icon searchable within the menu of your desktop environment. It will load just that site in a barebones browser and you’ll be able to alt-tab to it.
But it reeks of basic, it just doesn’t make the cut for me.
It seems rather sluggish compared to, say, Firefox, and sometimes a notification sound just keeps on playing repeatedly, must a bug.
There is a Snap for an unofficial app for Whatsapp. I’ve used it before and it was ok. Not sure of the code, since I am a noob. But maybe you want to check this out.
I know next to nothing about SELinux as well. I’m inclined to uninstall snap to avoid making a mess of things. One thing I like is how the commands are similar to dnf. install, remove, info, etc
Will dnf remove snapd also remove installed snaps? Or should they manually be removed before removing snapd?
Removing snapd won’t remove the snaps so you should remove the packages individually to free up space.
But if you want to play around with snaps, just set selinux into permissive mode with ‘setenforce 0’
Generally bad advice if you’d want to take a correct approach but you don’t need to worry too much if messing around playing with some stuff.
Yeah if you haven’t touched selinux configs you, and your subprocesses (snap) run in an unconfined domain meaning no selinux protection. Tho there’s stuff like domain transitions that might occur and hence some warnings but I guess you’d need to understand selinux first to know what’s going on.
Edit: If you’re keen on how it works, Dave Quigley has the best presentation on yt imo.
Other than that, there’s the rhel selinux manual and selinux cookbook.
There was a yt video I had watched about SELinux but I’ve forgotten everything.
I removed the snaps, and I always enjoy using sudo dnf history undo ### where ### is the transaction number (from sudo dnf history) where in this case snapd was installed. It’s nice not to have to hunt for the packages that were installed along with it.