How to install and use Facebook Messenger on Linux

This app has stopped working since Facebook bought WhatsApp. Since the beginning of March 2014 it stopped working, as I said after WhatsApp changed ownership. When trying to use this application they will get an SSL error. May well use some service XMPP to chat with your friends or directly use WhatsApp

I want to start this post by saying that personally I am not a fan of Facebook (after Instagram and WhatsApp less), not at all ... I think that Facebook can be useful on certain occasions (whether we like it or not it is the most popular social network), despite spending 2 or 6 hours on this site ... it just doesn't go with me, I prefer to spend my time on something more productive.

Like many, I also have a Facebook account, an account that I use 99% to chat with some friends or acquaintances of mine who ... far from discovering the benefits of GTalk or another open XMPP (jabber.org, etc), they only know how to use Facebook . "Thank you" to these friends of mine is that I currently have a Facebook account, I imagine that many of you will be in a similar situation, or not?

The point is that I hardly ever open the Facebook.com site as such, I prefer to use Pidgin and chat with my contacts from Jabber.org, GTalk, Facebook and some other IM all together in the same application. And this is where it kicks in Facebook Messenger.

Although there was already a version for Windows, now Linux users have ours as well:

fbmessenger-login

But hey, let's move on to download, installation and start-up 🙂

1. First of all, we must install some dependencies that we will need to run it, I remember that the application is Python + Qt4 + Phonon, so they must install libraries related to these. In Debian, Ubuntu or derivatives it would be:

sudo apt-get install python-setuptools python3-setuptools python-qt4-phonon python-qt4-phonon python3-pyqt4.phonon

2. Now we must download Facebook Messenger:

Download FacebookMessenger

3. When we download it (a few kbs) we will see that it is called master.zip, we unzip it and a folder called linuxmessenger-master . Inside the folder will be this:

fbmessenger-files

4. We open a terminal in that same folder and in it we write:

./fbmessenger

And the application will open

fbmessenger-loading

Once opened Facebook Messenger we enter our login details of Facebook (email & password) and we access our account through the application:

fbmessenger-1

Up there I show you the screen or window that appears at the beginning, as you can see in the upper left corner are the well-known buttons of Friends, Notifications y Chat Let's look at an example of notifications (shown in real time):

fbmessenger-not

And here is a screenshot of what the chat with someone looks like:

fbmessenger-talking

In case you want to install it, you just have to run:

./setup.py install

Or use one of the . Sh that resembles your distro 😉

Although it does not do something extraordinary yet (it simply allows us to use Facebook services and options), it must be said that it is still version 0.1.0, we must give it some time to surprise us 😉

Anyway, there is no longer only Facebook Messenger for Windows, now we also have it for Linux.

I hope you have found it interesting.

regards


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  1.   giskard said

    I tried it and the truth is I stay with Pidgin. Many more options, dozens of plugins, etc. Also with Pidgin I can simultaneously connect to Facebook and my Hotmail account (in which I only have one contact and it is for work). And if I wanted I would connect to GMail as well.

    1.    KZKG ^ Gaara said

      I still stick with Pidgin, but I don't deny that I think it's great that there is already a version of this for Linux 🙂

      1.    giskard said

        Ah yes! And it seems to me that he is a Facebook developer and all.
        De ñapa is in Python and one can look at the code and learn 😀

  2.   kike said

    Very useful, really.

  3.   Rolo said

    can you use the webcam to chat with facebook ???

  4.   Rolo said

    The problem with pidgin is that it does not encrypt passwords. therefore, whoever gains access to your user account, access the pidgin configuration and gets all your passwords.

    also pidgin does not offer the possibility of making webcam chats on facebook

    1.    KZKG ^ Gaara said

      In fact, Pidgin can store passwords in KWallet: https://blog.desdelinux.net/pidgin-con-kwallet/

      1.    Rolo said

        Gaara I don't use kde but the info comes to me, thank you 😀

        i found one for gnome and it works perfect http://code.google.com/p/pidgin-gnome-keyring/

        1.    KZKG ^ Gaara said

          Perfect 😀

    2.    giskard said

      But if you go into the FB account configuration and go to Security you can generate a key to be used by a third party application and thus not use your normal FB key. That's what I do with Pidgin. In any case there is a plugin in Pidgin to save the encrypted passwords.
      Also, who trusts a machine to store the key anyway? I trust my memory and that's it. To get it out they will have to use sodium pentothal.

    3.    Juan Pablo said

      Cheers! I just wanted to clarify something:

      With this program you have almost the same problem with pidgin, after logging in the program does not ask for username and password again, this is because in the file «~ / .fbmessenger / settings.json» the necessary cookies are saved to re-login when we open the program again, the cookie I am talking about is: "xs" added to our user id "c_user".

      If someone obtains that file and makes an injection of both fields as cookies (I do it through the OWASP ZAP proxy) they will be logged into facebook with the account in question.

      In conclusion, it would be the same problem (which can be corrected in the second instance as some have commented) with pidgin that stores the keys in the file "~ / .purple / accounts.xml" in plain text.

  5.   Snock said

    I use kopete and so richly

  6.   TyaGo said

    I'm testing it, it seems that it simply opens the facebook side menu in a separate window and then manages the chats in separate windows as well. By the way, my webcam does not appear on facebook. On Skype I use it without problems. I tried to enable it to always allow in the flash options but nothing ..

    1.    giskard said

      The same happens to me. My Facebook (on the web) does not give me the camera option. So I don't miss it on Pidgin, assuming it couldn't be used (which I doubt as it's all XMPP)

  7.   gives said

    In gnome you can speak on your face with empathy, it also integrates into the shell and chat from the lower panel where the messages are saved

    1.    eliotime3000 said

      Thanks for the suggestion. Also, chat works wonders for me.

      1.    gives said

        the same is a contribution to take into account.

  8.   rainbow_fly said

    I would like to know how to make the facebook chat work in Kopete xD, it is the only service that is comfortable for me

    1.    xykyz said

      See if this is worth it: http://contralasmaquinas.blogspot.com.es/2012/06/entrar-al-chat-de-facebook-con-kopete.html

      I used it for a long time, but now it happened xD

  9.   DanielC said

    I tried it days ago and I was really amazed, but with the amount of memory that this program pulls (over 100 MB), even more than its version of Windows.

    The only advantage that I see is the notifications of the things that happen in FB (within it), because what are the notifications (of when they send messages) nothing at all, for that and multi-networks I prefer empathy.

    1.    eliotime3000 said

      Obviously, if it is made with python, it is unspoken that it was going to be ultra-heavy, in addition to that Ubuntu's Ubiquiti is ultra-heavy thanks to being made in python.

      Is there no other way to convert it from python to C ++ with Assembler, as Chromium / Google Chrome has been programmed?

      1.    giskard said

        Heavy python ??? If they are not more than scripts !!!
        Now that whoever programmed it has misused resources and is loading memory like crazy, that's another matter. But generally things in Python are, on the contrary, light.

        1.    eliotime3000 said

          The software center, which is the product of Cannonical, is at least neat enough to run on obsolete PCs. Also, with a 1st Chips PC mainboard. generation that I have makes applications made in python poorly programmed make them ultra heavy.

        2.    eliotime3000 said

          PS: What distro do you really use? Because I don't know how the hell I can change the Chromium user-agent imported from Launchpad (and I'm using Debian Oldstable).

        3.    Rolo said

          Let's say that python is not the heaviest but not the lightest either, but you believe it, look at this article where different programming languages ​​compare the speed
          http://www.debianhackers.net/c-perl-java-python-php-quien-es-mas-veloz

      2.    DanielC said

        Man, without getting into discussions of python (which by the way, also pidgin is programmed in that language in some parts), you give an example of a devourer of resources like Chromium ... as it does not check your solution example! : /

  10.   numb said

    Good post. To favorites!

  11.   proper said

    excellent tutorial, all very clear, we will have to try

    regards

  12.   liko28 said

    Personally, I don't use Facebook either, however I have an account in which my wife uploads hundreds and hundreds of photos.

    Since Before even the client for windows existed, KDE users have a Plasmoid simply called Facebook, very nice and particularly very similar to the client for android.

    I leave you a shot of my desk with this plasmoid
    http://min.us/lbnGemIbANu82o

  13.   Paul said

    How do I remove this app, by synaptic?

  14.   carlos ferra said

    I downloaded it but that folder does not appear:

  15.   rainerhg said

    It no longer works.
    I installed it recently and it gave me an SSL error. Inspecting in the program I discovered that it was trying to load the address http://www.facebook.com/desktop/client without result. I redirected my browser to that address and as a result I get a notice that this type of service had already been disabled by the company (Facebook) since March 04, 2014.

  16.   carlos ferra said

    It does not work any more

  17.   July said

    I have been trying to install facebook Messenger in Debian 7.7 stable, as you describe it, and I only get a notification from facebook Messenger on the side that literally says that we cannot continue to maintain Facebook Messenger for Windows, so it will stop working on day 3 March 2014. Could someone explain to me if I'm doing something weird? I am new to this Debian world. Receive greetings

  18.   Calismar Droz said

    I Want To Download The Facebook For MY Canaima

  19.   Anonymous said

    it tells me in the terminal the file or directory does not exist

  20.   maykol said

    I want to download facebook on my canaima but it can't be

  21.   moon-valent said

    Hello, good morning, can you tell me where is the facebook messenger installed?

  22.   legs said

    I could not even try three days in this and nothing renounced, I get this tells me in the terminal the file or directory does not exist, then it does not give me to decompress it.

  23.   elizabeth said

    first in the folder that I download those files do not appear… as shown in the image no….

  24.   Alejandro said

    Thanks for sharing this post on the forum! he was very informative and helpful !! All of your posts have highly relevant content and are resourceful! Keep posting! We look forward to your future posts!

  25.   sebastian said

    I will not open a terminal to the folder

  26.   Eleutherium said

    Thanks for the information I got it installed on linux. For the mobile I recommend the latest version because of its speed I share a resource for the download https://actualizar.net/actualizar-facebook/

  27.   Sounds said

    Hello, good morning, can you tell me where is the facebook messenger installed?

  28.   Sounds said

    Hello, good morning, can you tell me where is the facebook messenger installed?

  29.   elvys turtledove said

    I want the download to connect with my friends and businesses etc.