Install¶

Download¶

The packages of each version are on the releases page, built by GitHub from that version's sources:

Each comes with the command line, sioul. These first packages were built and tested by GitHub, but few people have run them yet: a word in GitHub issues helps.

Resources needed¶

Measured on a Linux computer with 8 cores, with Sioul and every process it starts counted together (memory as PSS: each shared page counted once), on 6 October 2026, and on 9 October for Sioul alone's memory:

• What is not open costs nothing. Each page of the window, each form and menu is made the first time you open it, the engine that shows websites starts with the first site you open, and what lists cameras and microphones with the first call. On 4 October, before this, Sioul alone took 280 MB, and 1.9 GB in daily use (its own process 0.7 GB).
• The sites are the heavy part. The engine that shows them takes about 75 MB in Sioul's own process, once, whatever their number. Each one kept open costs what a tab of a web browser costs, 150 to 350 MB, and the processor its page uses: a chat that keeps itself up to date is the busiest.
• Disk: a few megabytes read and written in a few minutes.
• With the window closed, the reminder watcher (Settings ▸ Reminders) takes 10 MB and almost no processor.
• On a phone (Android, a 2019 phone): about 200 MB while Sioul is on the screen and 140 MB once it is put away, with almost no processor then; each page opens in 0.1 to 0.5 s the first time, and at once after.
• What to plan for: 4 GB of memory for Sioul and a few sites beside your other programs, 8 GB to keep many sites open; without sites, Sioul needs very little. Any processor of the last ten years.

The measure can be made again on any computer: tools/measure-load.py and tools/measure-memory.py in the sources (building.md).

Or build it from its sources¶

The rest of this page builds Sioul from its sources: for Linux distributions without packages yet, and to follow the newest changes.

What it needs¶

• Rust 1.89 or newer, with Cargo.
• A C++ compiler: the window is partly written in C++.
• D-Bus development files, on Linux: for the system keyring, where passwords go, and for notifications.
• Qt 6.9 or newer (Sioul is built and used with Qt 6.11), with these modules: Qt Declarative (QML and Qt Quick), Qt WebEngine with Qt WebChannel and Qt PDF, Qt Multimedia, Qt Positioning, Qt Location and Qt Image Formats.

Optional, and installable later:

• ClamAV, to have attachments checked before they open. Without it, Sioul tells you a file will not be checked, and asks before opening it.
• Tesseract and Poppler, to read the paper letters you scan. Without them, the scans wait, unread. See Papers and letters.

On Linux¶

The packages¶

sudo dnf install git rust cargo gcc-c++ dbus-devel \
    qt6-qtbase-devel qt6-qtdeclarative-devel qt6-qtwebengine-devel \
    qt6-qtwebchannel-devel qt6-qtpdf-devel qt6-qtpositioning-devel \
    qt6-qtmultimedia qt6-qtlocation qt6-qtimageformats

sudo dnf install clamav clamav-update
sudo freshclam
sudo systemctl enable --now clamav-freshclam

sudo dnf install tesseract tesseract-langpack-fra poppler-utils

Sioul is developed on Fedora: other systems have not been tried. If a module is missing, the build stops, or the window does not open and Qt names the missing module in its messages (QT_FORCE_STDERR_LOGGING=1 sioul-app shows them in the terminal). A word in GitHub issues then helps the next person.

Building¶

git clone https://github.com/aurelienpierre/sioul.git
cd sioul
cargo build --release
cargo build --release -p sioul-app

The first cargo build makes sioul, the command line; the second makes sioul-app, the window. The first build downloads and compiles a few hundred libraries: it takes a while, and a few gigabytes of disk.

Into your application menu¶

install -Dm755 target/release/sioul-app ~/.local/bin/sioul-app
install -Dm755 target/release/sioul ~/.local/bin/sioul
install -Dm644 data/com.aurelienpierre.Sioul.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/com.aurelienpierre.Sioul.desktop
install -Dm644 data/com.aurelienpierre.Sioul.metainfo.xml ~/.local/share/metainfo/com.aurelienpierre.Sioul.metainfo.xml
mkdir -p ~/.local/share/icons && cp -r data/icons/hicolor ~/.local/share/icons/

Sioul then shows in your application menu as "Sioul". The command line sioul is worth installing too: reminders use it when the window is closed (Settings).

Install right after building. If you run Sioul's tests (cargo test) in between, they leave programs built for testing in target/release/, which keep no password: build again before installing. tools/install.sh does the builds and the installs in one go, and refuses a program built for testing.

Updating¶

In the sioul folder: git pull, then the two cargo build lines and the three install lines again, or tools/install.sh. Your settings and data are kept apart from the program, in your own folders: they stay as they are.

Trying it on invented mail first¶

From the sioul folder, the command line can show the Porch on a few invented messages, without any account:

cargo run -q -- --config examples/demo.toml porch

On Windows¶

Not tried yet. The steps, for those who want to:

1. Rust, through rustup, with Microsoft's build tools (MSVC).
2. Qt 6.9 or newer from Qt's online installer, for MSVC 2022 64-bit, with the modules above, and Qt's bin folder in your PATH.
3. cargo build --release -p sioul-app.
4. windeployqt --release --qmldir crates\sioul-app\qml target\release\sioul-app.exe gathers Qt beside the program. packaging\windows\sioul.iss makes an installer with Inno Setup.

On Windows, attachments are checked by Microsoft Defender, through the Antimalware Scan Interface. Reminders come only while the window is open. Tesseract, to read scanned letters, is found where its installer puts it (Program Files, or your own AppData when installed for you alone), even when it is not added to the PATH.

On macOS¶

Not tried yet. The steps are in packaging/macos/README.md: Qt 6.9 or newer from Qt's online installer, Rust from rustup, then cargo build --release -p sioul-app -p sioul-cli and a bundle made with macdeployqt; the build workflow on GitHub can make the same .dmg when started by hand. ClamAV from Homebrew (brew install clamav) checks attachments when it is there. The bundle is not signed yet: macOS asks you to confirm the first opening (right click, Open).

On Android¶

For 64-bit phones with Android 9 or later. Sioul is not in a store: its APK, Sioul-<version>-android-arm64.apk, is on the releases page.

1. On the phone, open the releases page and download the APK.
2. Open it. Android asks whether your browser (or your file manager) may install apps: allow it, then Install. Play Protect, where the phone has it, may say it does not know the app.
3. Each version is signed with the same key, Sioul's: the next one installs over it, your data kept.
4. Restricted settings: Android 13 and later keep some settings from an app installed from a file: notification access, and from Android 15 the texts' permissions. The first time Sioul asks for them, Android may answer "Restricted setting"; only then does Sioul's app info offer, under ⋮ (at the top), Allow restricted settings, confirmed with your PIN; then ask again in Sioul. Sioul says these steps, in their order, where it asks for them, in the join's result and on the Porch, with Sioul's app info.

What Sioul then asks for, and what changes in use: On a phone. How the APK is built, by GitHub or by hand, and what differs on Android: the notes on Android.

Next¶

First steps: adding your mail, your calendars and contacts, Google, and the sites you check.