Installing and updating

Signal Lab is released on GitHub: every release has the desktop app for Windows and Linux, the signallab command line on its own, and a list of checksums. To run it on a server and use it from a browser instead, see The server.

What to download

Open the latest release and pick the file for your system. <version> is the release's version, such as 1.0.0.

File	For
Signal.Lab_<version>_x64-setup.exe	Windows 10 and 11, x64 — the setup most people want
Signal.Lab_<version>_x64_en-US.msi	Windows, deployment by IT (Intune, Group Policy): installs for every user
Signal.Lab_<version>_amd64.deb	Linux x86_64: Debian, Ubuntu and their relatives
Signal.Lab-<version>-1.x86_64.rpm	Linux x86_64: Fedora, RHEL, openSUSE and their relatives
Signal.Lab_<version>_amd64.AppImage	Linux x86_64, any distribution, without installing
signallab-<version>-windows-x64.zip	the command line alone, for Windows
signallab-<version>-linux-x64.tar.gz	the command line alone, for Linux
SHA256SUMS.txt	the SHA-256 checksum of every file above

The .sig files and latest.json next to them are for the app's own updater; you do not need them.

Windows

Signal Lab runs on Windows 10 and 11, x64. It uses the WebView2 runtime, which is part of both.

Installing with the setup

1. Run Signal.Lab_<version>_x64-setup.exe.
2. If Windows SmartScreen says it protected your PC, choose More info, then Run anyway (see SmartScreen below).
3. Pick the setup's language. It offers the same 11 languages as the app.
4. Choose who it is for:
   • Just for you: it installs into %LOCALAPPDATA%\Signal Lab and needs no administrator rights.
   • For everyone using this computer: it installs into C:\Program Files\Signal Lab and asks for administrator rights.
5. Confirm the folder and install.
6. The last page offers to start Signal Lab right away and to create a desktop shortcut.

Running the setup of a newer version over an installed one upgrades it in place.

What the setup adds

Besides the app, the setup puts two things in place, and the uninstaller removes both:

• The command line. signallab.exe goes next to the app and its folder onto PATH — your own PATH for an install just for you, the computer's for an install for everyone — so signallab works in every terminal you open afterwards. See The command line.
• A firewall rule, for an install for everyone only. Windows Defender Firewall lets other machines reach a program only when a rule allows it, and asks the person at the screen the first time the program listens; a Cancel there silently drops whatever other machines send. An install for everyone, which has administrator rights, adds an inbound allow rule for signal-lab.exe (the app) and one for signallab.exe (the command line), on private and domain networks. An install just for you cannot change the firewall: the app offers to, with Windows' own administrator prompt, the first time something listens — see the firewall notice.

Traffic on this computer itself (127.0.0.1) is never filtered, so everything you do on loopback works without any rule.

Unattended installs

The setup takes these switches on its command line:

Switch	What it does
/S	Installs silently, asking nothing.
/P	Installs with a progress bar and no questions.
/ALLUSERS	Installs for everyone (needs an elevated prompt).
/CURRENTUSER	Installs just for the current user.
/NS	Creates no shortcuts.
/D=C:\Tools\Signal Lab	Installs into this folder. It must come last and is not quoted.
/NOPATH	Leaves PATH alone: signallab is installed but not on PATH.
/NOFIREWALL	Adds no firewall rules.

For example, a silent install for everyone without firewall rules, from an elevated prompt:

.\Signal.Lab_1.0.0_x64-setup.exe /S /ALLUSERS /NOFIREWALL

The MSI

Signal.Lab_<version>_x64_en-US.msi is for deployment by IT. It installs for every user and puts signallab.exe next to the app and that folder on the computer's PATH, but adds no firewall rule: that is left to whoever deploys it (Group Policy, for example). The app still offers the rule when it first listens. To install it silently:

msiexec /i "Signal.Lab_1.0.0_x64_en-US.msi" /qn

SmartScreen

The installers are not code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen does not know their publisher and may stop the setup with a warning. Choose More info, check that the file is the one you downloaded from the releases page, then choose Run anyway. To be sure the file is unchanged, check it against SHA256SUMS.txt first.

The app's own updates are signed and checked separately; see Updates.

Checking a download

SHA256SUMS.txt lists the SHA-256 checksum of every file of the release, one per line, followed by the file's name. Download it next to the file and compare.

On Windows, in PowerShell:

Get-FileHash .\Signal.Lab_1.0.0_x64-setup.exe -Algorithm SHA256
Select-String "Signal.Lab_1.0.0_x64-setup.exe" .\SHA256SUMS.txt

The two hashes must be the same (Get-FileHash prints it in capitals; the case does not matter).

On Linux, in the folder that holds both files:

sha256sum --check --ignore-missing SHA256SUMS.txt

It prints OK after each file it found. Anything else means the download is not the released file: download it again.

Linux

The Linux app is built for x86_64 (on Ubuntu 22.04) and needs WebKitGTK 4.1, the web view it draws its window with. There is no build for Arm processors; on an Arm machine, run the server instead.

The .deb package

sudo apt install ./Signal.Lab_1.0.0_amd64.deb

apt installs what the package needs along with it. The package also puts the command line in /usr/bin/signallab.

The .rpm package

sudo dnf install ./Signal.Lab-1.0.0-1.x86_64.rpm

On openSUSE, use sudo zypper install with the same file. Like the .deb, the package puts the command line in /usr/bin/signallab.

The AppImage

The AppImage runs without installing:

chmod +x Signal.Lab_1.0.0_amd64.AppImage
./Signal.Lab_1.0.0_amd64.AppImage

It does not include the signallab command line; take it from the command-line archive if you need it.

The firewall on Linux

On Linux the app shows no firewall notice: ufw and firewalld work by port, not by program. If one of them is on and other machines must reach a monitor, a listener, an emulator or a relay, open its port there, for example:

sudo ufw allow 9000/udp

Loopback traffic is not affected.

The command line on its own

The desktop installers bring signallab with them. For a machine without the app — a build agent, a server, a lab PC — each release also has the command line on its own:

• signallab-<version>-windows-x64.zip holds signallab.exe and the license.
• signallab-<version>-linux-x64.tar.gz holds signallab and the license.

Unpack it into a folder on your PATH. On Linux:

tar -xzf signallab-1.0.0-linux-x64.tar.gz signallab
sudo install signallab /usr/local/bin/
signallab version

The server's Docker image contains it too. How to use it: The command line.

Updates

The desktop app

The desktop app updates itself from published releases only, and only when you say so.

• It looks once a day. With Check once a day ticked (it is, by default) the app looks for a newer release soon after it starts when the last look was a day or more ago, and again whenever another day has passed while it runs. Untick it in About to stop looking on its own.
• You can look now. Open About — the ? in the header — and press Check for updates under Updates.
• What the check sends. It asks the studio's update service (hub.proanima.net) which release this install should get, and goes to GitHub's latest release only when that service cannot be reached. The request carries the app's version, the system and processor type, and a random number made for this install, which lets a new release reach a share of installs first. Nothing that names you or this computer is sent.
• When a release is found, the console says so and the header shows an update button that opens About. There, What's new shows the release notes.
• Nothing installs until you click. Press Install and restart (when jobs are running, the button says it will stop them). Signal Lab saves everything still pending, stops every running job, downloads the update and checks its signature against the key built into the app — an update that is not signed by the release process is refused — then installs it and starts again as the new version.

On Windows the update runs the setup without questions and keeps your folder, PATH and firewall rules. On Linux it replaces the AppImage, or installs the new .deb or .rpm package — for a package, the system asks for your password first.

Pre-releases and drafts are never offered. To keep every install of a machine from looking on its own — when IT deploys updates itself, say — set the environment variable SIGNALLAB_NO_UPDATE_CHECK to any value; Check for updates still works when pressed. Development builds never look on their own.

A server

A server, and the page a browser shows from it, updates with its Docker image, never on its own: About says so. How to update one: The server.

Uninstalling

Windows. Open Settings → Apps → Installed apps, find Signal Lab and choose Uninstall. The setup's uninstaller takes signallab.exe off PATH and, when it runs with administrator rights (as an install for everyone does), removes every inbound firewall rule for the app and the command line, including any the Windows prompt made. It offers a box to delete the application data as well: that is the app's own settings — the language, pane sizes, the screen you were on, the values last typed into the screens — not your files. An MSI install is removed the same way; it takes its PATH entry with it and leaves the firewall to whoever deployed it.

Linux. Remove the package with the package manager you installed it with, or delete the AppImage file.

Neither touches your data folder: experiments, the signal and emulator libraries, run reports and exports stay in Documents/SignalLab in your home folder. Delete that folder yourself if you want them gone.

Where your data lives

Everything you make is kept as plain files in one folder, Documents/SignalLab in your home folder, on Windows and Linux alike: the current experiment, the signal library, the emulator library, run reports, exports and Inspector captures. Each file and its format is described in Files and folders.

Running it as a server

To use Signal Lab from a browser — on a lab PC next to the gear, on a Linux box, in Docker — see The server. On a Linux machine with Docker, one command installs and starts it.