Stremio Debian Packages

Modern Debian packaging for the complete Stremio media center ecosystem.

Hosted on GitHub Pages | Zero server costs | Automatic builds | ARM64 support for Raspberry Pi

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Important: Qt5 End-of-Life Notice

Qt5 has reached End-of-Life and is being removed from Debian. The original stremio client uses Qt5/QtWebEngine, but QtWebEngine is not available for Qt6, making the Qt5 client unmaintainable going forward.

What This Means

Client	Status	Recommendation
stremio (Qt5)	Legacy - Qt5 EOL	Use on bookworm/trixie while available
stremio-gtk (GTK4/CEF)	Active Development	Recommended for Debian sid

stremio-gtk is the successor client developed by Stremio using GTK4/Adwaita with CEF (Chromium Embedded Framework). It is the future-proof option that will continue to work as Qt5 is phased out.

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Quick Installation

For Debian sid (Recommended: stremio-gtk)

# Add GPG key
wget -qO - https://debian.vejeta.com/key.gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/stremio-debian.gpg

# Add repository
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/stremio-debian.gpg] https://debian.vejeta.com sid main non-free" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/stremio.list

# Install stremio-gtk (modern GTK4/CEF client)
sudo apt update
sudo apt install stremio-gtk stremio-server

For Debian bookworm/trixie (Legacy Qt5 client)

# Add GPG key
wget -qO - https://debian.vejeta.com/key.gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/stremio-debian.gpg

# Add repository (choose your distribution)
# For Debian testing (rolling):
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/stremio-debian.gpg] https://debian.vejeta.com testing main non-free" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/stremio.list

# OR for Debian 13 (trixie):
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/stremio-debian.gpg] https://debian.vejeta.com trixie main non-free" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/stremio.list

# OR for Debian 12 (bookworm):
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/stremio-debian.gpg] https://debian.vejeta.com bookworm main non-free" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/stremio.list

# Install Qt5 client
sudo apt update
sudo apt install stremio stremio-server

Supported Distributions:

• Debian sid (unstable) - stremio-gtk (recommended) + Qt5 client
• Debian testing - Qt5 client only
• Debian 13 (trixie) - Qt5 client only
• Debian 12 (bookworm) - Qt5 client only

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Package Components

stremio-gtk (main) - Recommended for Debian sid

Property	Value
License	GPL-3.0-only
Architecture	amd64
Distribution	Debian sid only
Upstream	github.com/Stremio/stremio-linux-shell
Packaging	salsa.debian.org/mendezr/stremio-gtk

Why stremio-gtk?

• Modern GTK4/Adwaita interface following GNOME HIG
• Uses CEF (Chromium Embedded Framework) - actively maintained
• Native Wayland support
• Future-proof: continues to work as Qt5 is removed from Debian

Dependencies (installed automatically):

• libcef144 - CEF runtime library
• cef-resources - CEF locales and resources
• stremio-server - Streaming server

stremio (main) - Legacy Qt5 Client

Property	Value
License	GPL-3.0-or-later
Architecture	amd64, arm64
Distribution	All (bookworm, trixie, testing, sid)
Status	Legacy - Qt5 EOL
Upstream	github.com/Stremio/stremio-shell
Packaging	salsa.debian.org/mendezr/stremio

Note: The Qt5 client will continue to work on existing distributions but will not receive updates once Qt5 is removed from Debian.

stremio-server (non-free)

Property	Value
License	Proprietary
Architecture	all (Node.js)
Distribution	All
Upstream	dl.strem.io/server
Packaging	salsa.debian.org/mendezr/stremio-server

Required for BitTorrent streaming, HLS transcoding, and casting support.

CEF Packages (main) - Debian sid only

Package	Description
libcef144	CEF runtime library
libcef-dev	Development headers
cef-resources	Locales, PAK files, runtime resources

CEF packages are required by stremio-gtk and are installed automatically as dependencies.

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Release Strategy

This repository uses separate releases for different package groups:

Release Tag	Packages	Distribution
v* (e.g., v5.0.0)	stremio (Qt5), stremio-server	All
gtk-* (e.g., gtk-1.0.0-beta.13.ds-1)	stremio-gtk	sid only
cef-* (e.g., cef-144.0.7)	libcef144, cef-resources, libcef-dev	sid only

For users: The APT repository at debian.vejeta.com combines all packages automatically. Just apt install what you need.

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Debian Submission Status

stremio-gtk - Active ITP

ITP: Bug #1119815

• Target: Debian main archive
• License: GPL-3.0-only (DFSG-compliant)
• Status: Packaging complete, seeking sponsorship
• Dependencies: Requires CEF packages

chromium-embedded-framework (CEF) - Active ITP

ITP: Bug #915400

• Target: Debian main archive
• License: BSD-style (DFSG-compliant)
• Status: Packaging complete, builds available in this repository

stremio (Qt5) - Unlikely to be Sponsored

ITP: Bug #943703

• Status: Qt5 End-of-Life - sponsorship unlikely
• Reason: Qt5/QtWebEngine is being removed from Debian
• Alternative: stremio-gtk is the path forward

The Qt5 client ITP was filed in 2019, but Qt5 reaching EOL means this package cannot be accepted into Debian's main archive. The packaging work has been redirected to stremio-gtk which uses actively maintained technologies.

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Repository Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│     Canonical Sources (Salsa Debian GitLab)             │
│  salsa.debian.org/mendezr/stremio                       │
│  salsa.debian.org/mendezr/stremio-server                │
│  salsa.debian.org/mendezr/stremio-gtk                   │
│  salsa.debian.org/mendezr/chromium-embedded-framework   │
└────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────┘
                     │ Auto-Sync
                     ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│          GitHub Repository (Build System)               │
│      github.com/vejeta/stremio-debian                   │
│                                                         │
│  • GitHub Actions workflows                             │
│  • Automated package builds                             │
│  • GPG signing                                          │
│  • APT repository generation                            │
└────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────┘
                     │
       ┌─────────────┴─────────────┐
       ▼                           ▼
┌──────────────┐          ┌────────────────┐
│GitHub Releases│         │ GitHub Pages   │
│              │          │                │
│ .deb files   │          │ APT Repository │
│ Download stats│         │ debian.vejeta  │
└──────────────┘          │     .com       │
                          └────────────────┘

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Build Status

Component	License	Distribution	Architecture	Status
stremio-gtk	GPL-3.0-only	sid	amd64	Active
stremio (Qt5)	GPL-3.0+	all	amd64, arm64	Legacy
stremio-server	Proprietary	all	all	Active
libcef144	BSD	sid	amd64	Active
cef-resources	BSD	sid	all	Active

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For Developers

Building Locally

# Clone repository
git clone --recursive https://github.com/vejeta/stremio-debian.git
cd stremio-debian

# Build stremio-gtk (requires Debian sid + CEF packages)
cd stremio-gtk
dpkg-buildpackage -us -uc

# Build Qt5 client
cd ../stremio-qt5
QT_DEFAULT_MAJOR_VERSION=5 dpkg-buildpackage -us -uc

# Build stremio-server
cd ../stremio-server
dpkg-buildpackage -us -uc

Contributing

1. Packaging Changes: Submit to Salsa repositories

   • stremio-gtk
   • stremio
   • stremio-server
   • chromium-embedded-framework

2. Build System: Submit to GitHub repository

3. Issues: Report at GitHub Issues

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Support

• Installation Issues: Check debian.vejeta.com
• Build Issues: See GitHub Actions logs
• Bug Reports: GitHub Issues

Community

• Upstream: Stremio
• Debian Salsa: mendezr
• GitHub: vejeta

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Acknowledgments

• Stremio Team: For creating Stremio and developing stremio-linux-shell (stremio-gtk)
• Debian Community: For packaging standards and infrastructure
• GitHub: For free hosting, CI/CD, and unlimited bandwidth
• CEF Project: For Chromium Embedded Framework

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Last updated: 2026-01-25