Objective
Install the popular Lollypop music player on Debian Stretch.
Distributions
Debian Stretch
Requirements
This guide requires a working install of Debian Stretch with root privileges.
Difficulty
Easy
Conventions
# – requires given linux commands to be executed with root privileges either directly as a root user or by use of sudo command
$ – requires given linux commands to be executed as a regular non-privileged user
Introduction
Lollypop is a GTK-based music player that’s gaining in popularity. It features a simple and highly graphical interface that’s visually appealing and integrates well with GTK-based desktop environments.
Since Lollypop is relatively new and is under constant active development, it isn’t available through Debian’s repositories yet. The developers package and host an Ubuntu PPA, but it doesn’t integrate well with Debian. So, the best option for installing and keeping Lollypop up-to-date on Debian is Flatpak.
Install Flatpak
Flatpak is available in the default repositories for Debian Stretch. You can install it easily with apt.
# apt install flatpak
Install The GNOME Repositories
Even though Lollypop will integrate well with any GTK-based desktop, it was built for GNOME. Because of that, you need to enable a couple of GNOME repositories for Flatpak. It’s the only way to satisfy Lollypop’s dependencies.
# flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists gnome https://sdk.gnome.org/gnome.flatpakrepo # flatpak remote-add gnome-apps https://sdk.gnome.org/gnome-apps.flatpakrepo
Install Lollypop
Now, you can install Lollypop. The Flatpak install is available right from the developer’s website https://gnumdk.github.io/lollypop-web/. You can download the Flatpak file and install it locally, or pull it directly from the site.
#flatpak install org.gnome.Lollypop.flatpakref
or
# flatpak install --from https://gnumdk.github.io/lollypop-web/org.gnome.Lollypop.flatpakref
The install will ask you to install org.gnome.Platform/x86_64/3.24. Install it. Don’t worry, you’re not going to get the whole GNOME desktop or anything.
Run Your Music Player
You may or may not need to log out and log back in for Lollypop to be usable. Once you do, you’ll be able to access it from your application launcher like you would any other program. Import your music, and you’ll be ready to go.