Asking why something is the way it is makes you more of a “Linux user” than many.

You make a valid criticism; there’s definitely a learning curve to installing software if you choose to do it that way (since it’s not similar to other OSs), and it’s not automatically explained to new users by using the OS.

Here’s the understanding of it I’ve come to, if you’re interested:

Like others have said, the .deb file would be the equivalent of an .exe file on Windows. Like many .exe files, unless they include an auto-updater, they won’t automatically update.

A key difference I would like to point out is that Linux package managers often update and manage parts of the OS in addition to extra software. Windows and macOS both update their OS separately.

“Ubuntu Software Center” is similar to the “Microsoft Store” on Windows and the “App Store” on macOS. Like those, it’s user friendly and provides automatic updates, but it also doesn’t have every app. You can ensure those apps are safe because the company behind the OS verifies them.

“apt-get” is the default package manager for Ubuntu. That is the tool doing the heavy lifting underneath, and what those commands Mullvad gave are for.

Mullvad could have provided a script to download and run that executes those commands for you, but then you wouldn’t know what it’s doing, especially with it needing admin permission. With how security-oriented Mullvad’s brand is, I think that’s one potential reason they explain the steps and have the user do it instead.

If you go to: https://mullvad.net/en/download/vpn/linux

And click the "download .deb" button (It says underneath "Works on Ubuntu 20.04+, Debian 11+ (64bit only)". As long as your Ubuntu is up-to-date, this will work fine)

you get a file ("MullvadVPN-2023.6_amd64.deb") you can run just like on Windows (similar to MullvadVPN-2023.6.exe)

opening the file should open a GUI for installing the file

Keep in mind, to update Mullvad VPN, you would need to download a newer .deb file (after an update is released). It shows the latest version above the download buttons, below the "Mullvad VPN for Linux text" This is the same as how it is on Windows

Edit: This is not intended as good advice, just a simple way to install Mullvad VPN. The smartest solution would be to add the repo.

2nd Edit: While this is how Mullvad provides their software, it is never ideal to install random .deb packages or add third party repos without being sure that the ones who provided the package/repo is trustworthy.

You can just install wireguard from your distros built in repository. Then use the mullvad wireguard conf downloader.

One time setup, and your wireguard gets updated by your distro update. No need to add a new repository.

Many, perhaps even most, installation guides for software use commands because the graphical alternatives can vary wildly between desktops and distributions. So using commands in guides is usually the more likely to work.

That said, what Mullvad does is stupid. The downloadable deb and rpm files should just initialize the update repository. That is what Google does with their Chrome download. Basically download the file, double click on it, confirm installation. That's it. Users don't need to do that manually for Chrome.

Luckily, there are only a few cases remain for this type of installation. Most regular things should be either in your distribution's regular repository or on Flathub.

Normally you'd just run sudo apt install ... but in this case you are adding a new repository so you have to follow the extra steps of adding the signing key and so on first.

Download the .deb from their downloads page and run it, just like you would either a .exe on Windows. Their instructions list that as an option further down on the page. Should be higher up imo

You can achieve this through graphical utilities.

Self-updating apps aren't a big thing on Linux, so the Windows way isn't an option...

The signing key is important for security reasons, so you definitely need to add that. After adding the repo you can just use Synaptic or whatever app store thingy Ubuntu uses.

Most of the time you shouldn't need to fiddle with the command line and the apps you will need are available through the Software Centre and the entire process will work like on Windows.

For me, Linux was the first operating system I used that had an app store or software centre and I was pretty glad to not need to...

• open a browser,
• navigate to a site,
• (hope it is the right site...)
• download a binary executable,
• open a file explorer,
• launch the binary,
• click through a list of options and agreements,
• and finally delete the binary.

What distro are you running? I think you should be able to just find the app in the app store.

If not the webside includes the download link literally in the first paragraph: https://mullvad.net/en/download/vpn/linux

Just download and double click the package, that should bring up your app store, and then click install you will be fine.

Can’t I just download a file and install it?

Yes, there are instructions on the page for that, the section is titled 'Installing the app without the Mullvad repository'