To install Github Desktop for Ubuntu

github_desktop_ubuntu.md

IMPORTANT

See the following links for further updates to Github Desktop for Ubuntu. These are official instructions. (also mentioned by fetwar on Nov 3, 2023)

• How to Install
• Latest Releases

For the sake of "maintaining the tradition" here is the updated version.

# UPDATE (2024-01-24)

## Direct copy-paste from official instrubtions
## Github Desktop for Ubuntu
## Get the @shiftkey package feed
wget -qO - https://apt.packages.shiftkey.dev/gpg.key | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/shiftkey-packages.gpg > /dev/null
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/shiftkey-packages.gpg] https://apt.packages.shiftkey.dev/ubuntu/ any main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/shiftkey-packages.list'
## Install Github Desktop for Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt install github-desktop

There are other methods mentioned in the comments. Many thanks to their contributions.

• Meliyio commented on Dec 9, 2023
• phanect commented on Nov 19, 2023
• rakkarage commented on Nov 17, 2023

Archive

# UPDATE (2022-11-07): Thanks to Sxvxgee's message, the updated code is as follows

sudo wget https://github.com/shiftkey/desktop/releases/download/release-3.1.1-linux1/GitHubDesktop-linux-3.1.1-linux1.deb
### Uncomment below line if you have not installed gdebi-core before
# sudo apt-get install gdebi-core 
sudo gdebi GitHubDesktop-linux-3.1.1-linux1.deb


# UPDATE (2021-10-18): Thanks to Amin Yahyaabadi's message, the updated code is as follows

#sudo wget https://github.com/shiftkey/desktop/releases/download/release-2.9.3-linux3/GitHubDesktop-linux-2.9.3-linux3.deb
### Uncomment below line if you have not installed gdebi-core before
# sudo apt-get install gdebi-core 
#sudo gdebi GitHubDesktop-linux-2.9.3-linux3.deb

# UPDATE (2021-03-05): Thanks to PaoloRanzi81's comment, the updated code is as follows https://gist.github.com/PaoloRanzi81

#sudo wget https://github.com/shiftkey/desktop/releases/download/release-2.6.3-linux1/GitHubDesktop-linux-2.6.3-linux1.deb
### Uncomment below line if you have not installed gdebi-core before
# sudo apt-get install gdebi-core 
#sudo gdebi GitHubDesktop-linux-2.6.3-linux1.deb

## Initial post
#sudo wget https://github.com/shiftkey/desktop/releases/download/release-2.1.0-linux1/GitHubDesktop-linux-2.1.0-linux1.deb
#sudo gdebi GitHubDesktop-linux-2.1.0-linux1.deb

Thank you! This works really well.

is it safe??

Currently I get for this the hint for an invalid certificate. Tried to check it

echo | openssl s_client \
  -connect apt.packages.shiftkey.dev:443 \
  -servername apt.packages.shiftkey.dev 2>/dev/null \
| openssl x509 -noout -subject -issuer -ext subjectAltName

and here the result

subject=C=US, ST=WA, L=Redmond, O=Microsoft Corporation, CN=*.azureedge.net
issuer=C=US, O=Microsoft Corporation, CN=Microsoft Azure ECC TLS Issuing CA 04
X509v3 Subject Alternative Name: 
    DNS:*.azureedge.net

Guess the hint for not matching CN seems to be right.

Currently I get for this the hint for an invalid certificate. Tried to check it

echo | openssl s_client \
  -connect apt.packages.shiftkey.dev:443 \
  -servername apt.packages.shiftkey.dev 2>/dev/null \
| openssl x509 -noout -subject -issuer -ext subjectAltName

and here the result

subject=C=US, ST=WA, L=Redmond, O=Microsoft Corporation, CN=*.azureedge.net
issuer=C=US, O=Microsoft Corporation, CN=Microsoft Azure ECC TLS Issuing CA 04
X509v3 Subject Alternative Name: 
    DNS:*.azureedge.net

I hope this helps:

Remove broken repo

sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/shiftkey-packages.list
sudo rm /usr/share/keyrings/shiftkey-packages.gpg

Add working mirror (officially documented in shiftkey/desktop README)

wget -qO - https://mirror.mwt.me/shiftkey-desktop/gpgkey | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/mwt-desktop.gpg > /dev/null

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/mwt-desktop.gpg] https://mirror.mwt.me/shiftkey-desktop/deb/ any main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mwt-desktop.list'

sudo apt update

yeah this is looking good thanks all.

Try this...
wget -qO - https://mirror.mwt.me/shiftkey-desktop/gpgkey | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/mwt-desktop.gpg > /dev/null
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/mwt-desktop.gpg] https://mirror.mwt.me/shiftkey-desktop/deb/ any main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mwt-desktop.list'

Reference

Works for me, thanks

All of my repos are not visible in the desktop application

obie@ubuntutop:/windows$ ls
Dockerfile assets compose.yml docs kubernetes.yml license.md readme.md src
obie@ubuntutop:/windows$ docker
Usage: docker [OPTIONS] COMMAND

A self-sufficient runtime for containers

Common Commands:
run Create and run a new container from an image
exec Execute a command in a running container
ps List containers
build Build an image from a Dockerfile
pull Download an image from a registry
push Upload an image to a registry
images List images
login Authenticate to a registry
logout Log out from a registry
search Search Docker Hub for images
version Show the Docker version information
info Display system-wide information

Management Commands:
builder Manage builds
checkpoint Manage checkpoints
container Manage containers
context Manage contexts
image Manage images
manifest Manage Docker image manifests and manifest lists
network Manage networks
plugin Manage plugins
system Manage Docker
trust* Manage trust on Docker images
volume Manage volumes

Swarm Commands:
config Manage Swarm configs
node Manage Swarm nodes
secret Manage Swarm secrets
service Manage Swarm services
stack Manage Swarm stacks
swarm Manage Swarm

Commands:
attach Attach local standard input, output, and error streams to a running container
commit Create a new image from a container's changes
cp Copy files/folders between a container and the local filesystem
create Create a new container
diff Inspect changes to files or directories on a container's filesystem
events Get real time events from the server
export Export a container's filesystem as a tar archive
history Show the history of an image
import Import the contents from a tarball to create a filesystem image
inspect Return low-level information on Docker objects
kill Kill one or more running containers
load Load an image from a tar archive or STDIN
logs Fetch the logs of a container
pause Pause all processes within one or more containers
port List port mappings or a specific mapping for the container
rename Rename a container
restart Restart one or more containers
rm Remove one or more containers
rmi Remove one or more images
save Save one or more images to a tar archive (streamed to STDOUT by default)
start Start one or more stopped containers
stats Display a live stream of container(s) resource usage statistics
stop Stop one or more running containers
tag Create a tag TARGET_IMAGE that refers to SOURCE_IMAGE
top Display the running processes of a container
unpause Unpause all processes within one or more containers
update Update configuration of one or more containers
wait Block until one or more containers stop, then print their exit codes

Global Options:
--config string Location of client config files (default "/home/obie/.docker")
-c, --context string Name of the context to use to connect to the daemon (overrides DOCKER_HOST env var and
default context set with "docker context use")
-D, --debug Enable debug mode
-H, --host string Daemon socket to connect to
-l, --log-level string Set the logging level ("debug", "info", "warn", "error", "fatal") (default "info")
--tls Use TLS; implied by --tlsverify
--tlscacert string Trust certs signed only by this CA (default "/home/obie/.docker/ca.pem")
--tlscert string Path to TLS certificate file (default "/home/obie/.docker/cert.pem")
--tlskey string Path to TLS key file (default "/home/obie/.docker/key.pem")
--tlsverify Use TLS and verify the remote
-v, --version Print version information and quit

Run 'docker COMMAND --help' for more information on a command.

For more help on how to use Docker, head to https://docs.docker.com/go/guides/
obie@ubuntutop:~/windows$ docker build Dockerfile
DEPRECATED: The legacy builder is deprecated and will be removed in a future release.
Install the buildx component to build images with BuildKit:
https://docs.docker.com/go/buildx/

unable to prepare context: context must be a directory: /home/obie/windows/Dockerfile
obie@ubuntutop:/windows$ cd Dockerfile
bash: cd: Dockerfile: Not a directory
obie@ubuntutop:/windows$ nano Dockerfile
obie@ubuntutop:/windows$ cd
obie@ubuntutop:$ docker build windows
DEPRECATED: The legacy builder is deprecated and will be removed in a future release.
Install the buildx component to build images with BuildKit:
https://docs.docker.com/go/buildx/

time="2026-08-11T09:38:49-04:00" level=error msg="Can't add file /home/obie/windows/.dockerignore to tar: io: read/write on closed pipe"
time="2026-08-11T09:38:49-04:00" level=error msg="Can't close tar writer: io: read/write on closed pipe"
permission denied while trying to connect to the docker API at unix:///var/run/docker.sock
obie@ubuntutop:$ cd windows
obie@ubuntutop:/windows$ # UPDATE (2024-01-24)

Direct copy-paste from official instrubtions

Github Desktop for Ubuntu

Get the @shiftkey package feed

wget -qO - https://apt.packages.shiftkey.dev/gpg.key | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/shiftkey-packages.gpg > /dev/null
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/shiftkey-packages.gpg] https://apt.packages.shiftkey.dev/ubuntu/ any main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/shiftkey-packages.list'

Install Github Desktop for Ubuntu

sudo apt update && sudo apt install github-desktop
gpg: no valid OpenPGP data found.
Hit:1 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu resolute-security InRelease
Ign:2 https://apt.packages.shiftkey.dev/ubuntu any InRelease
Hit:3 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu resolute InRelease
Hit:4 https://cli.github.com/packages stable InRelease
Hit:5 https://dl.google.com/linux/chrome-stable/deb stable InRelease
Hit:6 https://esm.ubuntu.com/apps/ubuntu resolute-apps-security InRelease
Hit:7 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu resolute-updates InRelease
Hit:8 https://esm.ubuntu.com/apps/ubuntu resolute-apps-updates InRelease
Hit:9 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu resolute-backports InRelease
Hit:10 https://esm.ubuntu.com/infra/ubuntu resolute-infra-security InRelease
Hit:11 https://esm.ubuntu.com/infra/ubuntu resolute-infra-updates InRelease
Hit:13 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/mjasnik/ppa/ubuntu resolute InRelease
Get:14 https://archive.anbox-cloud.io/stable resolute InRelease [2,477 B]
Ign:2 https://apt.packages.shiftkey.dev/ubuntu any InRelease
Hit:15 https://repo.waydro.id resolute InRelease
Hit:12 https://packagecloud.io/ookla/speedtest-cli/ubuntu jammy InRelease
Ign:2 https://apt.packages.shiftkey.dev/ubuntu any InRelease
Err:2 https://apt.packages.shiftkey.dev/ubuntu any InRelease
SSL connection failed: error:0A000086:SSL routines::certificate verify failed / Success [IP: 150.171.109.113 443]
Fetched 2,477 B in 8s (299 B/s)
20 packages can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see them.
Notice: Skipping acquire of configured file 'main/binary-i386/Packages' as repository 'https://archive.anbox-cloud.io/stable resolute InRelease' doesn't support architecture 'i386'
Warning: Failed to fetch https://apt.packages.shiftkey.dev/ubuntu/dists/any/InRelease SSL connection failed: error:0A000086:SSL routines::certificate verify failed / Success [IP: 150.171.109.113 443]
Warning: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
Error: Unable to locate package github-desktop
obie@ubuntutop:/windows$ sudo apt update
Hit:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu resolute InRelease
Hit:2 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu resolute-updates InRelease
Hit:3 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu resolute-backports InRelease
Hit:4 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu resolute-security InRelease
Hit:5 https://cli.github.com/packages stable InRelease
Ign:6 https://apt.packages.shiftkey.dev/ubuntu any InRelease
Hit:7 https://dl.google.com/linux/chrome-stable/deb stable InRelease
Hit:9 https://esm.ubuntu.com/apps/ubuntu resolute-apps-security InRelease
Hit:10 https://esm.ubuntu.com/apps/ubuntu resolute-apps-updates InRelease
Hit:11 https://archive.anbox-cloud.io/stable resolute InRelease
Hit:12 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/mjasnik/ppa/ubuntu resolute InRelease
Hit:13 https://esm.ubuntu.com/infra/ubuntu resolute-infra-security InRelease
Hit:14 https://repo.waydro.id resolute InRelease
Hit:15 https://esm.ubuntu.com/infra/ubuntu resolute-infra-updates InRelease
Hit:8 https://packagecloud.io/ookla/speedtest-cli/ubuntu jammy InRelease
Ign:6 https://apt.packages.shiftkey.dev/ubuntu any InRelease
Ign:6 https://apt.packages.shiftkey.dev/ubuntu any InRelease
Err:6 https://apt.packages.shiftkey.dev/ubuntu any InRelease
SSL connection failed: error:0A000086:SSL routines::certificate verify failed / Success [IP: 150.171.109.65 443]
20 packages can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see them.
Notice: Skipping acquire of configured file 'main/binary-i386/Packages' as repository 'https://archive.anbox-cloud.io/stable resolute InRelease' doesn't support architecture 'i386'
Warning: Failed to fetch https://apt.packages.shiftkey.dev/ubuntu/dists/any/InRelease SSL connection failed: error:0A000086:SSL routines::certificate verify failed / Success [IP: 150.171.109.65 443]
Warning: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
obie@ubuntutop:/windows$
ERROR

that's great

@Oboy34 This has been a known issue for a while, there is an alternative way to install the package. Download the .deb release file directly from shiftkey/desktop releases and install it