How to Install Slack on Fedora 35

Slack is one of the most popular collaboration communication platforms in the world. From it was initial launch in 2013, it has grown. It is now favored amongst development teams and corporations to integrate many services, run groups, meetings, etc. The way Slack works is to create channels for your teams, topics, customers, or co-workers. Slack also features voice and video calls, file sharing.

In the following tutorial, you will know how to install the Slack communication platform on Fedora 35.

Prerequisites

• Recommended OS: Fedora Linux 35
• User account: A user account with sudo or root access.

Update Operating System

Update your Fedora operating system to make sure all existing packages are up to date:

sudo dnf upgrade --refresh -y

The tutorial will be using the sudo command and assuming you have sudo status.

To verify sudo status on your account:

sudo whoami

Example output showing sudo status:

[joshua@fedora ~]$ sudo whoami
root

To set up an existing or new sudo account, visit our tutorial on Adding a User to Sudoers on Fedora.

To use the root account, use the following command with the root password to log in.

su

Install Dependency Required

Before you proceed with the installation, run the following command to install or check that the package dnf-plugins-core is installed on your Fedora desktop.

sudo dnf install dnf-plugins-core -y

By default, this should be installed.

Method 1. Install Slack Manually with RPM

By default, Slack is not in Fedora’s repositories, so you will need to download the .rpm package for Slack by visiting the Slack downloads page and getting the latest download link, then return to your terminal and download the package.

Example:

wget https://downloads.slack-edge.com/releases/linux/4.20.0/prod/x64/slack-4.20.0-0.1.fc21.x86_64.rpm

Note, getting the link for Slack to download can be sometimes tricky. The worst case is using the above command, replacing the numbers with the current version, downloading it manually, and navigating to your Downloads directory to execute the next task.

Now, use the following command to install Slack that you just downloaded.

sudo dnf localinstall slack-4.20.0-0.1.fc21.x86_64.rpm

Note, make sure you are in the same directory when you execute this command.

Example output:

Type “Y”, then press the “ENTER KEY” to proceed with the installation.

For updates, you will need to download and execute these manually.

To remove Slack after installing using this method, run the stand remove command.

sudo dnf autoremove slack -y

Method 2. Install Slack with Flatpack

The second option is to install Slack with Flatpack that is default installed on your Fedora system. This method is quite popular as well with Fedora users.

First, you need to enable Flatpack for Fedora using the following command in your terminal:

sudo flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

Next, install Slack using Flatpack as follows:

sudo flatpak install flathub com.slack.Slack

Example output:

Type “Y” twice, then press the “ENTER KEY” twice to proceed with the installation.

Updates are handled by Flatpack automatically every time you log into your system. However, if you need to remove the Flatpack version of Slack, run the following command:

sudo flatpak uninstall --delete-data com.slack.Slack

Example output:

Type “Y” twice, then press the “ENTER KEY” twice to proceed with the removal.

Method 3. Install Slack from Snap Package

Slack can be installed through the snap package feature that can be installed on Fedora. This is not as popular as other methods. Still, for users who are using Snaps or are interested in using them on Fedora, you can use the following to install Slack on your desktop.

First, install snapd on your Fedora operating system:

sudo dnf install snapd

Example output:

Type “Y”, then press the “ENTER KEY” to proceed with the installation.

Once Snap is installed, it is highly recommended to log out and back in again or restart your service to ensure snap’s paths are updated correctly.

sudo systemctl restart snapd

After logging out or restarting your system, If you installed Snap for the first time, it is advised to install the core files to avoid conflicting issues:

sudo snap install core

Example output:

core 16-2.52 from Canonical✓ installed

Before you install Slack, you will need to enable classic snap support by creating a symlink.

sudo ln -s /var/lib/snapd/snap /snap

Next, enter the following snap command to install the Slack client:

sudo snap install slack

Example output:

slack 4.20.0 from Slack✓ installed

Snap packages are more significant in size than traditional repositories through the DNF package manager for several reasons. However, the trade-off is more straightforward maintained packages that are often updated to the latest available version.

For the future, to update Slack and any other packages installed by Snap, run the following command:

sudo snap refresh

If you no longer need to have Slack installed, remove it using the Snap remove command.

sudo snap remove slack

Example output:

slack removed

How to Launch Slack

In your terminal, you can open Slack using the following command:

slack

Alternatively, run the slack & command in the background to free up the terminal:

slack &

However, this isn’t practical, and you would use the following path on your Fedora desktop to open with the path: Activities > Show Applications > Slack. If you cannot find it, use the search function in the Show Applications menu if you have many applications installed.

Example:

The first time you open Slack, you will be greeted by the following.

Please create a new account, or use your existing account to sign in, and that is it. Slack has been successfully installed on your Fedora desktop.

Comments and Conclusion

In the tutorial, you have learned to install Slack on Fedora 35 using three different methods. The most recommended is the Flatpak version since it’s natively installed on Fedora. The manual way can be good but often forgotten about updates, and on Ubuntu, Snap isn’t that popular. Fedora users are not going to install it as a first choice.

Overall, Slack is a great program, one of the drawbacks, though, is the cost. Slack charges by the user, so If you get a few hundred to few thousand, it quickly becomes a drawback, hence why you only find corporations that use it and pay for a license. Most small businesses and development teams could not afford to pay for the premium features. However, it can still be used for free with relative ease if you accept missing out on a few things.

For more information, you can investigate and further learn about Slack by visiting the documentation page.