The main credit for this article goes – Signal Desktop on FreeBSD Using Linux Binary Compatibility – here. I used linux-browser-installer all this time on FreeBSD with Ubuntu system at /compat/ubuntu … but when I tried to install Signal Desktop there it said that its too old version of Ubuntu – because it was focal. The mentioned guide opened my eyes that I can use something more recent like trixie for example.When I first got Signal Desktop working in this Debian system I really hated how ugly the fonts look – kinda like XKCD:1015 curse.So with some tinkering I was able to fix that.One may also joke that this type of article title will convert into a series as FreeBSD Cope with WiFi Fuckup already happened in the past Lets start the configuration.DebianEnable and start Linux Binary Compatibility mode on FreeBSD.freebsd # service enable linuxfreebsd # service linux startWe need debootstrap(8) to install Debian system in /compat/debian dir.freebsd # pkg install debootstrapThe default path for Linux Compatibility Layer on FreeBSD is /compat/linux so to not interfere with that as its RHEL clone based – we will use /compat/debian instead.freebsd # echo compat.linux.emul_path=/compat/debian >> /etc/sysctl.confWe need something more recent then focal that is used with linux-browser-installer project – and as shown in the mentioned article the trixie is proven to work. Lets populate /compat/debian with it.freebsd # debootstrap trixie /compat/debianIt will take some time – on my 2018 ThinkPad T480 laptop and 30Mbps network connection it took less then 5 minutes.As we will want to run X11 apps some additional dirs needs to be mounted with /etc/fstab config – that is on the FreeBSD host side – not inside the Linux /compat/debian dir.freebsd # cat > /etc/fstab# DEBIAN linprocfs /compat/debian/proc linprocfs rw,failok,late 0 0 linsysfs /compat/debian/sys linsysfs rw,failok,late 0 0 devfs /compat/debian/dev devfs rw,failok,late 0 0 fdescfs /compat/debian/dev/fd fdescfs rw,failok,late,linrdlnk 0 0 tmpfs /compat/debian/dev/shm tmpfs rw,failok,late,size=1g,mode=1777 0 0 /tmp /compat/debian/tmp nullfs rw,failok,late 0 0 /var/run/dbus /compat/debian/run/dbusFSTABI added failok option so if anything ‘bad’ happens FreeBSD system will just ignore it and boot normally.Now create dirs that does not already exist and mount these filesystems.freebsd # mkdir -p /compat/debian/run/dbusfreebsd # mount -vallinsysfs on /compat/debian/sys (linsysfs, local, fsid 1eff008a8a000000, vnodes: count 2 )devfs on /compat/debian/dev (devfs, fsid 1fff007171000000, vnodes: count 2 )fdescfs on /compat/debian/dev/fd (fdescfs, fsid 20ff005959000000, vnodes: count 2 )tmpfs on /compat/debian/dev/shm (tmpfs, local, fsid 21ff008787000000, vnodes: count 2 )/tmp on /compat/debian/tmp (nullfs, local, fsid 22ff002929000000, vnodes: count 2 )/var/run/dbus on /compat/debian/run/dbus (nullfs, local, fsid 23ff002929000000, vnodes: count 2 )We also need to make sure of proper permissions for some of them.freebsd # chmod 1777 /compat/debian/dev/shmWe will now update and upgrade our Debian system.freebsd # chroot /compat/debian apt updatefreebsd # chroot /compat/debian apt upgradeSummary: Upgrading: 0, Installing: 0, Removing: 0, Not Upgrading: 0We will also need some libraries for GPU stuff – along with their deps.freebsd # chroot /compat/debian apt install -y libgl1 \ libegl1 \ libgl1-mesa-dri \ libglx-mesa0 \ libgbm1 \ libvulkan1We will also need to add messagebus group for DBus … and (re)configuration about it.freebsd # chroot /compat/debian groupadd --system messagebusfreebsd # chroot /compat/debian getent group messagebusfreebsd # chroot /compat/debian dpkg --configure dbusfreebsd # chroot /compat/debian dpkg --configure -aSignal DesktopNow lets try to install Signal Desktop … the official instructions use too much sudo(8) so we will simplify them. Simplified steps below.freebsd # chroot /compat/debian bashfreebsd # fetch -o - https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt/keys.asc \ | gpg --dearmor > /compat/debian/usr/share/keyrings/signal-desktop-keyring.gpgfreebsd # fetch -o /compat/debian/etc/apt/sources.list.d/signal-desktop.sources \ https://updates.signal.org/static/desktop/apt/signal-desktop.sourcesNow we can update the repos and install signal-desktop package.freebsd # chroot /compat/debian apt updateGet:1 https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt xenial InRelease [5963 B]Hit:2 https://deb.debian.org/debian trixie InRelease Get:3 https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt xenial/main amd64 Packages [101 kB]Fetched 107 kB in 0s (362 kB/s)All packages are up to date. freebsd # chroot /compat/debian apt install -y signal-desktopNext we need to prepare the Signal Desktop start script. Most of it is taken from the linux-browser-installer project. I will also notify its maintainer that newer trixie seems to work correctly – maybe he will move to it from older focal release.freebsd # cat /usr/local/bin/linux-signal-desktop#!/bin/shget_pa_sock_path(){ PA_SOCK_PATH=$( sockstat \ | awk -v me=$(whoami) -F'[ \t]+' ' $1 == me && $2 == "pulseaudio" && $6 ~ /native/ { print $6; exit 0 }' )}get_pa_sock_pathif [ ! -S "${PA_SOCK_PATH}" ]then while killall pulseaudio do sleep 0.5 done pulseaudio --start get_pa_sock_pathfi[ -S "${PA_SOCK_PATH}" ] && export PULSE_SERVER=unix:${PA_SOCK_PATH}/compat/debian/opt/Signal/signal-desktop --no-sandbox \ --disable-gpu \ --no-zygote \ --in-process-gpu \ --use-tray-icon \ --disable-font-subpixel-positioning \ --disable-lcd-text \ --font-render-hinting=noneNow the Signal Desktop should run – but fonts look like shit on my system. To fix that we need to install some stuff and configure it also.freebsd # chroot /compat/debian apt install fontconfigNext we need to create simple and working font rendering config because the default one makes things only worse.freebsd # ls /compat/debian/etc/fonts/conf.d10-hinting-slight.conf 50-user.conf10-scale-bitmap-fonts.conf 51-local.conf10-sub-pixel-none.conf 57-dejavu-sans-mono.conf10-yes-antialias.conf 57-dejavu-sans.conf11-lcdfilter-default.conf 57-dejavu-serif.conf20-unhint-small-dejavu-lgc-sans-mono.conf 58-dejavu-lgc-sans-mono.conf20-unhint-small-dejavu-lgc-sans.conf 58-dejavu-lgc-sans.conf20-unhint-small-dejavu-lgc-serif.conf 58-dejavu-lgc-serif.conf20-unhint-small-dejavu-sans-mono.conf 60-generic.conf20-unhint-small-dejavu-sans.conf 60-latin.conf20-unhint-small-dejavu-serif.conf 65-fonts-persian.conf20-unhint-small-vera.conf 65-nonlatin.conf30-metric-aliases.conf 69-unifont.conf40-nonlatin.conf 70-no-bitmaps-except-emoji.conf45-generic.conf 80-delicious.conf45-latin.conf 90-synthetic.conf48-spacing.conf README49-sansserif.confYep … way too much – lets fix that.freebsd # cd /compat/debian/etc/fontsfreebsd # pwd/compat/debian/etc/fontsfreebsd # mv conf.d conf.d.OFFfreebsd # mkdir conf.dfreebsd # cp /compat/debian/usr/share/fontconfig/conf.avail/10-hinting-none.conf conf.d/freebsd # cp /compat/debian/usr/share/fontconfig/conf.avail/10-sub-pixel-none.conf conf.d/freebsd # cp /compat/debian/usr/share/fontconfig/conf.avail/10-unhinted.conf conf.d/freebsd # cp /compat/debian/usr/share/fontconfig/conf.avail/10-yes-antialias.conf conf.d/freebsd # cp /compat/debian/usr/share/fontconfig/conf.avail/11-lcdfilter-none.conf conf.d/freebsd # chroot /compat/debian fc-cache -fsvfreebsd # chroot /compat/debian fc-cache -fvLets check how NOW the Signal Desktop font rendering looks like. Yep … much better.Google ChromeNow … I was using the linux-browser-installer project to use Google Chrome – the one with ugly DRM stuff like Widevine just to watch paid F1 TV stream … I know that its possible to watch Widevine stuff on Chromium on FreeBSD with compiled www/linux-widevine-cdm port … and it works – but its slower in full screen mode – like not even able to play it without hiccups.… but my Google Chrome install is in the /compat/ubuntu and now Signal Desktop is in the /compat/debian … and I do not want to start playing with FreeBSD Linux Jails for such simple things as ‘desktop’ to provide two different Jails for just two apps … so I will just add Google Chrome inside that new /compat/debian place.First keys and repos.freebsd # fetch -o - https://dl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub \ | gpg --dearmor -o /compat/debian/usr/share/keyrings/linux_signing_key.gpgfreebsd # echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/linux_signing_key.gpg] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main" \ > /compat/debian/etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.listfreebsd # chroot /compat/debian apt updatefreebsd # chroot /compat/debian apt install -y google-chrome-stableNext the Google Chrome start script – also based on the same script.freebsd # cat /usr/local/bin/linux-google-chrome#!/bin/shget_pa_sock_path(){ PA_SOCK_PATH=$( sockstat \ | awk -v me=$(whoami) -F'[ \t]+' ' $1 == me && $2 == "pulseaudio" && $6 ~ /native/ { print $6; exit 0 }' )}get_pa_sock_pathif [ ! -S "${PA_SOCK_PATH}" ]then while killall pulseaudio do sleep 0.5 done pulseaudio --start get_pa_sock_pathfi[ -S "${PA_SOCK_PATH}" ] && export PULSE_SERVER=unix:${PA_SOCK_PATH}/compat/debian/opt/google/chrome/chrome --no-sandbox \ --test-type \ --no-zygote \ --in-process-gpu \ --disable-dev-shm-usageLets try how it works. Seems to work … and if it works with F1 TV it means it will also work with Spotify and Netflix and other things like that.SummarySo after some frustrations with lack of native recent Signal Desktop on FreeBSD the official Linux version seems to work well in that Debian environment. That also shows how good and mature the FreeBSD implementation of Linux Binary Compatibility feature is. I now run FreeBSD with Linux GPU drivers with some additional Linux KPI (or Yippee Ki-Yay maybe?) interface … same for many WiFi drivers. I now added Linux version of Signal Desktop to the Linux version of Google Chrome that I already run earlier … I do not like where this is going.One could ask … why just not use Linux instead? … and that is a valid question. I use FreeBSD for my reasons described here in Quare FreeBSD? article and I know that FreeBSD project is not ‘big enough’ to do all these things the proper and native way – that is why some ‘shortcuts’ are needed.I wish we all would live in a better world – both FreeBSD and not FreeBSD related … but we have what we have. I remember quite interesting quote about this from J. Robert Oppenheimer which goes like “The Optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds, the Pessimist fears it is true.”Take care.