installing Electrum on linux

[Sniper44]

i am new to linux and although i have done it once before a long time ago, it seems that i am currently stuck installing it again.

i have downloaded the tar.gz file and verified the signature by googling half an hour about how to do it

but now i am stuck on how to open the tar.gz file using terminal (using Ubuntu) and then installing electrum from.

i have gone as far as switching to the directory it is saved in but forgot what the commands were to open the file.

and i assume when i open it i should do the following:

Code:

python electrum

right?

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[HCP]

1. Download and untar Electrum-2.8.2.tar.gz
2. In the electrum directory, run: 'python electrum'
3. To install it on your system, run: 'sudo python setup.py install'

Guessing you're getting stuck at the secondpart of #1, where you need to untar the Electrum archive. Usually you can extract stuff from tar.gz archives using something like:

Code:

tar -xvzf Electrum-2.8.2.tar.gz

Good luck!

[Sniper44]

Thanks the following was what i was looking for.

Code:

tar -xvzf Electrum-2.8.2.tar.gz

but for running electrum i simply used "python electrum" and everything was fine.

however the 'sudo python setup.py install' gives me an error:
Traceback (most recent call last):

Code:

File "setup.py", line 5, in <module>
    from setuptools import setup
ImportError: No module named setuptools

am i doing something wrong?

[HCP]

however the 'sudo python setup.py install' gives me an error:
Traceback (most recent call last):

Code:

File "setup.py", line 5, in <module>
    from setuptools import setup
ImportError: No module named setuptools

am i doing something wrong?

It would appear that you do not have setuptools installed correctly... no biggie... try:

Code:

sudo apt-get install python-setuptools

or if you have Python3

Code:

sudo apt-get install python3-setuptools

Hopefully that works

[Sniper44]

sorry i couldn't answer yesterday, forum was out of reach!

i am a bit of linux newbie so here are the questions
i did the python Electrum thing from that folder and then tied the Electrum icon to my sidebar, now every time i just click on it and it opens easily and i have no problem using the wallet.

here is what i don't understand, what was the 'sudo python setup.py install' for? and what is the difference between that and what i am already doing?

and also while we are at it, what is the "setuptools" that i am missing? is that a python language related thing that my Ubuntu doesn't have?

[Abdussamad]

i am new to linux and although i have done it once before a long time ago, it seems that i am currently stuck installing it again.

i have downloaded the tar.gz file and verified the signature by googling half an hour about how to do it

but now i am stuck on how to open the tar.gz file using terminal (using Ubuntu) and then installing electrum from.

i have gone as far as switching to the directory it is saved in but forgot what the commands were to open the file.

and i assume when i open it i should do the following:

Code:

python electrum

right?

The instructions for ubuntu are right there on the download page. Why don't you just follow them? You don't need to untar the tarball. Just install the dependencies and use pip2 to do the install for you:

Code:

sudo apt-get install python-qt4 python-pip
sudo pip2 Electrum-tarball.tar.gz

[Sniper44]

thanks for the answer but i am trying to install Electrum on an offline computer which means i can not use the "apt-get" to just download it directly.
i have to move the tar file to that system with a USB or something like that.

[Abdussamad]

thanks for the answer but i am trying to install Electrum on an offline computer which means i can not use the "apt-get" to just download it directly.
i have to move the tar file to that system with a USB or something like that.

apt doesn't install tar files.

what you should do is go online, install the dependencies, grab the tarball and signature or copy it from the removable drive. verify the tarball if you haven't done so already. do the install. then disconnect and never go online again.

pip2 will also install some dependencies from the net when you do the install so trying to do it all offline is just going to be a pita. You only need to stay offline once the wallet has been created. Until then you can go online.

[Sniper44]

my other main question is that "why do i need to do all this since the way i did it (simple "python electrum" from the extracted tarball) is working and i have a working wallet that i can sign transactions with offline?

you know, i want to understand what the difference is, and what is really happening then do it. sorry if it is a strange question but i am not only looking for a solution.

[Abdussamad]

my other main question is that "why do i need to do all this since the way i did it (simple "python electrum" from the extracted tarball) is working and i have a working wallet that i can sign transactions with offline?

you know, i want to understand what the difference is, and what is really happening then do it. sorry if it is a strange question but i am not only looking for a solution.

Well if it's working for you then there is no need to try anything else. Did you run setup.py? Did it download the aes and other required python modules?

Going through pip2 actually installs shortcuts and it puts the electrum binary in /usr/bin. It basically does a system wide installation so that's why we recommend it.

[Sniper44]

i tried to run setup.py but got that error above and since i was offline i have not yet tried anything else. as i said being a cold storage and all.

i am still in learning and experimenting phase, so i think i will install a full linux on my Virtual Machine to have access to internet and also be able to read stuff in case i got stuck in linux and didn't know what to do (like getting out of the GUI with ctrl+alt+f1 and not being able to google it and come up with ctrl+alt+f7 lol)
and then try more things.

[Abdussamad]

i tried to run setup.py but got that error above and since i was offline i have not yet tried anything else. as i said being a cold storage and all.

I find it odd that it's working without you install the necessary python modules.

i am still in learning and experimenting phase, so i think i will install a full linux on my Virtual Machine to have access to internet and also be able to read stuff in case i got stuck in linux and didn't know what to do (like getting out of the GUI with ctrl+alt+f1 and not being able to google it and come up with ctrl+alt+f7 lol)
and then try more things.

You can run a terminal app in your gui itself. Look in the menus for a shortcut related to that.

[BitcoinUser1337]

I just reformatted my computer with a fresh install of Linux Mint 18.1 32-bit and was having the same issue. It was giving me the same "No module named setuptools" error even though everything I typed from guides to install setuptools told me it was already installed/latest version.

From the HOME directory: sudo pip install Downloads/Electrum-2.8.2.tar.gz

[BuySomeBitcoins]

just follow this tutorial : http://bitzuma.com/posts/a-beginners-guide-to-the-electrum-bitcoin-wallet/

Replace the version to install by browsing this URL https://download.electrum.org/