How to install Popcorn Time movie player on Debian 9 Stretch Linux

Objective

Popcorn Time streams movies and TV shows from torrents directly into your screen. The objective is to install Popcorn Time movie streamer on Debian 9 Stretch Linux.

Requirements

For a system wide Popcorn Time privileged access to your Debian Stretch Linux system as root or via sudo command is required.

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

Instructions

Download Popcorn Time binaries

Frist, we need to download and extract Popcorn Time binaries into /opt/popcorn-time directory:

$ sudo mkdir /opt/popcorn-time
FOR 32-BIT SYSTEM EXECUTE:
$ sudo wget -qO- https://get.popcorntime.sh/build/Popcorn-Time-0.3.10-Linux-32.tar.xz | sudo tar Jx -C /opt/popcorn-time
FOR 64-BIT SYSTEM EXECUTE:
$ sudo wget -qO- https://get.popcorntime.sh/build/Popcorn-Time-0.3.10-Linux-64.tar.xz | sudo tar Jx -C /opt/popcorn-time

Create executable link

Once the Popcorn Time binaries are in place, we will create a new symbolic link of /opt/popcorn-time/Popcorn-Time binary to /usr/bin/popcorn-time, which will allow non-privileged users to start Popcorn Time via terminal without any additional configuration:

$  sudo ln -sf /opt/popcorn-time/Popcorn-Time /usr/bin/popcorn-time

Create Desktop Launcher

Depending on your Desktop Manager the following Desktop Launcher can be used to start Popcorn-Time client.

Use your favorite text editor eg. vim and create launcher shortcut. The below command uses vim editor to create a new /usr/share/applications/popcorntime.desktop desktop entry:

$ sudo vi /usr/share/applications/popcorntime.desktop

Paste the following content into the above created file:

[Desktop Entry]
Version = 1.0
Type = Application
Terminal = false
Name = Popcorn Time
Exec = /usr/bin/popcorn-time
Icon = /opt/popcorn-time/popcorntime.png
Categories = Application;

Lastly, download Popcorn Time’s icon:

$ sudo wget -q -O /opt/popcorn-time/popcorntime.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Popcorn_Time_logo.png

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Popcorn-time Launch

To launch popcorn time, navigate to your start menu and find the Popcorn time icon. In most cases it will be located under the Other menu. In case that you are not able to find Popcorn time’s icon, simply launch it from the terminal by executing Popcorn time’s binary directly:

$ popcorn-time