https://protonvpn.com/support/linux-openvpn/

to be honest, i dont think that VPN is helping so much with avoiding spying, but it helped me to access content that would be otherwise concealed to me due to companies geo-blocking some of their content.

@andyprough i have a account with protonvpn,
there i login, and go to "downloads" where it lets me choose to download or the apps or the .openvpn config files ; after downloaded the proper one, can add it to network manager;
is not so elegant, as it would not let me choose another country or another channel if the server is full, but for my needs it is enough.

Nice! I live in a country with some of the world's worst privacy laws and government spying on citizens, so the ability to access a foreign server is pretty crucial. But it's good to know about the option. Thanks!

just ran into the same problem,

but i resorted a different path,

and downloaded the .openvpn config files for the free servers in US and JP

and just added those to create "VPN Connections" in the Network Manager; is quite elegant, i think, works beautifully and easy in XFCE4

Write down the steps you took to do this please. I'd like to try it myself, but I don't completely follow what you are saying you did. For example, where did you find those .openvpn config files for those servers? And how did you get signed into the service? And how do you control the kill switch?

but i resorted a different path,

and downloaded the .openvpn config files for the free servers in US and JP

and just added those to create "VPN Connections" in the Network Manager; is quite elegant, i think, works beautifully and easy in XFCE4

Hello,

I cleaned out anything that might be a config file and purged the debs from the protonvpn site.

And it worked.

All the dependencies were installed and pip3 install just worked.

Thank you for your help.

Best,

Colby

Excellent, I think you will be pleased. It's quite a good program.

You may find that the commands are a bit long to be writing out all the time, in which case you can set up some aliases in .bashrc like so (I use mousepad as my text editor - your preference may be a different editor):

$ mousepad ~/.bashrc

Look for the lines in your .bashrc file that start with "alias...". Add one line for each of the different protonvpn commands you would commonly give. Here are some of mine:
#To go into the protonvpn configuration menu:
alias protonco='sudo protonvpn configure'
#To find the fastest local protonvpn server:
alias protonc='sudo protonvpn c -f'
#To disconnect from protonvpn:
alias protond='sudo protonvpn d'
#To check the status for protonvpn:
alias protons='sudo protonvpn s'
#To connect to the fastest server in a different country code - for example, Canada:
alias protonca='sudo protonvpn c --cc CA'
#To connect to a specific server in your state (if you are in the US) - for example, Florida:
alias protonfl12='sudo protonvpn c US-FL#12'

You could also go with shorter aliases. For example, instead of "protonco" for the protonvpn configuration menu, you could use the alias "pvc", then "pvs" for protonvpn status, "pvd" for disconnect, "pvf" for the fastest local server. Just pick something that's not already in use on your system.

Then save and exit mousepad and exit your terminal emulator and restart it, and your alias commands should be working.

I cleaned out anything that might be a config file and purged the debs from the protonvpn site.

And it worked.

All the dependencies were installed and pip3 install just worked.

Thank you for your help.

Best,

Colby

When you have a moment, please reply to this message and build and install the community version of protonvpn-cli again. In your reply, please list the step by step commands you have used to build and install it.

I think you are making this harder than it needs to be. Just do:
$ sudo apt install openvpn dialog python3-pip python3-setuptools
and
$ sudo pip3 install protonvpn-cli

Fix any dependency problems that pop up in error messages. That's it. Instructions on initializing and running protonvpn-cli are on the github page.

If you want to keep up to date, then sign up for a free github account, and subscribe to the project by clicking on the "Watch" or "Notifications" button at the top of the page. When you get future emails about a new release version being available, upgrade to it with:
$ sudo pip3 install protonvpn-cli --upgrade

Leave me any problems you have with these installation steps by replying here. I'll upgrade from Devuan 3 to Devuan 4 soon and try it and see if there's any trouble, but I don't expect any trouble at all.

Good luck! I think it's really the best vpn out there, well worth taking the time to get it running well on your system.

Thank you for your reply.

The python on my system is whatever it is that comes as stock on Devuan 4, which was freshly installed as a full disk encrypted system installation. I do not use python and so am unable to know if my installation is complete or missing anything.

I assume you are actually running protonvpm-cli on your system. I am curious if you have tried to install protonvpn according to the version 2 installation instructions on the protonvpn site for debian. The protonvpn  versions at the site are for both the gui and cli versions and are available  in both stable and beta form .

Both the gui and cli versions installed and failed to run on my system.

If I am missing any files on my system that would allow the git version 2 community protonvpn-cli to run on my system I would be only to happy to make whatever changes need to be made so when I build the git version of protonvpn-cli it will run cleanly.

When you have a moment, please reply to this message and build and install the community version of protonvpn-cli again. In your reply, please list the step by step commands you have used to build and install it.

If you have updated the version of python on your system or installed additional modules that you think have contributed to your successful installation, please list them so I can update my system as required; and what version of Devuan are you running.

Please, when you have the time,  try and install and run protonvpn, gui and cli versions, both beta and stable, on your system following the instructions on the protonvpn site. If they install and run cleanly and you are not using version 4 of devuan, then this is a problem that needs to be reported and fixed on version 4.

In my original post, when protonvpn, the gui version, failed to start, the runtime error message issued  ended with the following statement:

You have said that has nothing to do with systemd.

What does that statement refer to.

Best,

Colby

PS: You are quite correct, the bash script version is well past end of life. I first used it when it first came out for Linux and that was some years ago. For the moment however it has the virtue of being the only version that works, on my system.

Thanks, but that doesn't work.

The community, production and beta versions as referenced on the protonvpn site and at the git are all the new, version 2,  python, systemd dependent versions.

Yeah, that's not true. It may not run because of your python setup (or lack thereof), but it has nothing to do with systemd.

The one you are running is past its end of life. The one I linked to is under continual development.

Anyway, do as you please.

The community, production and beta versions as referenced on the protonvpn site and at the git are all the new, version 2,  python, systemd dependent versions.

I found the original bash script version of protonvpn-cli referenced in the git community version documentation. I downloaded it and it still works. The script can be found at:

https://github.com/ProtonVPN/protonvpn- … vpn-cli.sh

A few notes.

In order to use the script you need an account at protonmail/protonvpn. This is because the script will ask for openvpn credentials found at your protonvpn/protonmail account when the script is first  initialized. A free account works fine. Credentials can be found after logging in to your account and navigating to dashboard->account. Scroll down a bit and copy the username and password displayed when prompted for them.

Before using the script create an account.

Then do the following commands:

First, install the protonvpn-cli command.

sudo "name of your downloaded script" --install

Next, initialize the protonvpn-cli environment. You will be asked for your openvpn credentials found on your protonvpn/protonmail account and a few other things.

sudo protonvpn-cli --init

After that it should be smooth sailing. All the protonvpn-cli options can be found by:

protonvpn-cli --help

I use

protonvpn-cli -f to connect to the fastest server.

Hope this helps anyone trying to use a VPN on Devuan.

CLI version of protonvpn is here: https://github.com/Rafficer/linux-cli-community

Just installed Devuan 4. When attempting to use protonvpn after uneventful  installation, I got the following trace back that relates to systemd. I expect there is something more I need to do, but no idea what. My presumption is there is a tool which turns systemd systemctl dependencies to init scripts.

However, if my optimism is unjustified, if anyone is successfully running a vpn on devuan 4, I would be grateful for the name and the version.

Thanks