Building from source

September 4, 2026 ยท View on GitHub

Option 1 (The easy way - Debian/Ubuntu only):

sudo apt install devscripts equivs
git clone https://github.com/linuxmint/xreader.git
cd xreader

# install dependencies (you need to confirm the installation)
sudo mk-build-deps -ir

# build
dpkg-buildpackage

# install
sudo dpkg -i ../*.deb

Option 2 (Everywhere else):

The following options can be enabled during build:

  • GConf Support
  • GTK+ Unix Print
  • Keyring Support
  • DBUS Support
  • SM client support
  • Thumbnailer
  • Previewer
  • Gtk-Doc Support
  • Debug mode
  • GObject Introspection
Install dependencies (these are subject to change - check the first section ofdebian/control if you seem to be missing anything):
apt install git dpkg-dev
apt install gobject-introspection libdjvulibre-dev libgail-3-dev          \
            libgirepository1.0-dev libgtk-3-dev libgxps-dev               \
            libkpathsea-dev libpoppler-glib-dev libsecret-1-dev           \
            libspectre-dev libtiff-dev libxapp-dev  \
            mate-common meson xsltproc yelp-tools
Download the source-code to your machine:
git clone https://github.com/linuxmint/xreader.git
cd xreader
Configure the build with Meson:
# The following configuration installs all binaries,
# libraries, and shared files into /usr/local, and
# enables all available options:

meson builddir \
  --prefix=/usr/local \
  --buildtype=plain \
  -D deprecated_warnings=false \
  -D djvu=true \
  -D dvi=true \
  -D t1lib=true \
  -D pixbuf=true \
  -D comics=true \
  -D introspection=true
Build and install (sudo or root is needed for install):
ninja -C builddir
sudo ninja -C builddir install
Run:
/usr/local/bin/xreader

# If you want to test the daemon
usr/local/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/xreaderd

You can enable debugging with the G_MESSAGES_DEBUG environmental     \
variable.
Uninstall:
ninja -C debian/build uninstall
Tests:
ninja test -C debian/build/