How to install Popcorn Time movie player on Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial Xerus 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 Ubuntu 16.04 Linux.

Requirements

Privileged access to your Ubuntu 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

In this step we will 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

Now, that Popcorn Time binaries are in place, we will create a symbolic link of /opt/popcorn-time/Popcorn-Time binary to /usr/bin/popcorn-time. This 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

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

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

Insert 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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