voculinux/docs/UPDATE.md

Updating Vocalinux

How to upgrade an existing install, plus release notes for the current series.

Quick update

Vocalinux checks GitHub Releases in the background about every six hours (and shortly after startup). When a newer build is on your selected channel, the tray menu gains an Update Available... entry and Settings -> About shows a green New badge; open that page for release notes and download links. Updates are not installed automatically. Re-run the installer (or your package manager) as below.

Official installer

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/VocaHQ/vocalinux/main/install.sh -o /tmp/vl.sh
bash /tmp/vl.sh

The installer detects a running instance, updates in place, preserves configuration and models, and pulls new dependencies (including neural VAD when available).

Installed from source

cd vocalinux
git fetch origin
git checkout v0.17.0
./install.sh

Latest development tree:

cd vocalinux
git pull origin main
./install.sh

Other install methods

Method	Upgrade
AUR	yay -S vocalinux (or your AUR helper)
AppImage	Download the new file from Releases
Snap	Store: sudo snap refresh vocalinux (--edge until stable is promoted). Until Canonical lists 0.17.0, sideload vocalinux_0.17.0_amd64.snap from the GitHub Release (sudo snap install --dangerous ./vocalinux_0.17.0_amd64.snap), then sudo snap connect vocalinux:uinput. v0.16.2 rev 7 has no such plug.
Flatpak (release bundle)	Install the new .flatpak from Releases; bundles do not auto-update
PyPI	Reinstall in the same venv after system packages are current

Check your version

vocalinux --version
# or
python3 -c "import vocalinux; print(vocalinux.version.__version__)"

Update problems

Clean reinstall (keeps config and models by default):

./uninstall.sh --keep-config --keep-data
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/VocaHQ/vocalinux/main/install.sh -o /tmp/vl.sh
bash /tmp/vl.sh

If an old process is stuck, stop via the tray or the PID in the instance lock file (do not use pkill -f vocalinux; it can kill unrelated processes):

kill "$(tr -d '[:space:]' < "${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}/vocalinux/instance.lock")"
# If you use IBus injection:
kill "$(tr -d '[:space:]' < "${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}/vocalinux-ibus/engine.pid")"
vocalinux

Missing system packages: see INSTALL.md or DISTRO_COMPATIBILITY.md.

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What's New in v0.17.0

0.17.0 is a minor on the stable line. Default engine is still whisper.cpp. This release adds two optional local engines (Faster Whisper and Parakeet), a simpler Speech Model page, Snap packaging with native Wayland typing, and Flatpak bundles built by the release workflow. It also fixes XWayland/layout paste, a KDE xdotool crash, push-to-talk tray redraw, clipped start/stop cues, HDA analog mics that abort when opened below native channel count, native GTK installs that ignored OS dark/light, and English-only models that hid every other language.

0.17 series highlights

Feature	Description
Faster Whisper	Optional CTranslate2 / INT8 Whisper on CPU (--engine=faster_whisper) (#543)
Parakeet	Optional Parakeet TDT 0.6B via sherpa-onnx; default v3-european bundle (--engine=parakeet) (#802)
Speech Model simple setup	Language + speed/accuracy first; engine/size under Advanced (#801)
First-run language	Seeds from keyboard layout / locale; saved choice is left alone (#796)
Searchable open picker	Language list filters while open (#798)
Localized punctuation commands	it/fr/de/es/pt/nl/pl/ru; English phrases still work (#642)
Bare F-keys	F1–F24 are valid push-to-talk shortcuts (#815)
Snap	Store listing, ydotool + uinput for native Wayland; GitHub .snap for sideload while Store review is pending (#519, #823, #822)
Flatpak on the tag	Workflow attaches .flatpak assets and checksums them (#786)

Also in v0.17.0

• Recommended model is a button that sets size and specialization together, and will not ignore a suitable file already on disk (#797)
• XWayland xdotool fallback pastes via clipboard so missing-layout characters are not garbled (#680)
• Clipboard paste uses the key that types v on the current layout (#788)
• Timed-out ydotool paste releases Ctrl (#675)
• Read WM_CLASS with xprop instead of crashing xdotool getwindowclassname on KDE Plasma Wayland (#807)
• Applying an already-downloaded model no longer freezes Settings (#790)
• Selected language picks the whisper.cpp variant (English → .en). Picking another language, or auto-detect, switches off .en / .en-q* instead of hiding the rest of the list (#795, #780, #826)
• Speech Model labels are nouns (Language, Other languages, Speed vs accuracy). Unused downloads is a sibling expander of Advanced, not nested inside it (#826)
• About family grid includes VocaWin (#826)
• Push-to-talk tray icon turns red on every hold (#809)
• Sink-wake no longer clips start/stop cues (#804)
• Open 3-8 channel HDA analog mics at native layout instead of forcing 2ch/48kHz, so PortAudio no longer aborts after read() (free(): corrupted unsorted chunks); capture is downmixed to mono for engines (#829, fixes #813)
• Native GTK installs (AUR / install.sh) follow OS dark/light via the appearance portal then gsettings; skipped when GTK_THEME is set so AppImage and user overrides stay in charge (#830, fixes #816)
• Parakeet keeps recognizing after a decode error (#803)
• Flatpak/AUR deps derived from uv.lock (#819)
• Hash-pinned exports for VOSK, Parakeet, and Faster Whisper extras so install.sh no longer installs those unpinned; extras are version-capped (#828)
• just verify-release checks the published GitHub Release (#791)
• Distro matrix runs install.sh (#810)
• install.sh Faster Whisper box is CPU CTranslate2 / INT8, not NVIDIA CUDA. The whisper.cpp GPU step does not install the CUDA toolkit; Vulkan is first, CUDA only if a toolkit is already on the machine (#826)

AppImage and Flatpak remain whisper.cpp only. Snap ships whisper.cpp plus VOSK. Faster Whisper and Parakeet are optional extras on install.sh / source installs.

See the full changelog.

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What's New in v0.16.2

0.16.2 is a stability patch on the 0.16 series. The feature set is the same as 0.16.x. This release fixes KDE leftover IBus so dictation types into real apps, Wayland and IBus keyboard shortcuts through wtype/ydotool, real BackSpace for "delete that", Fedora/Arch installer glslc packages, nightly version stamping, and release integrity pins. CI now gates AUR PKGBUILD builds and the distros the docs promise.

0.16 series highlights

Feature	Description
Update checker	Settings → About checks stable/nightly; tray shows Update Available for newer GitHub releases (#631, #645)
Right Alt PTT default	New installs default to hold Right Alt (push-to-talk); existing configs keep their shortcut (#648)
Searchable languages	Type to filter the Speech Model language list (#672)
Delete unused models	Remove leftover downloaded speech models from Settings (#671)
AGPL-3.0	License aligned with other VocaHQ projects (#660)
Family mic icons	App icon, tray states, and site favicons use the shared Voca family mic (#704)
Tone picker	Settings → Audio: Lift, Flick, Ember, Step, Voca, Soft, Chirp, Scale, Drop, Glass, Off, plus Preview. New installs default to Voca. Catalog uses family preview WAVs (#707, #708)
Installer	Justfile, uv lockfiles, distro python3-gi required (no pip sdist of PyGObject). Epic #701 still open (#700, #705, #706)

Bug fixes in v0.16.2

• KDE inject: skip leftover IBus when it is not the session IM so dictation types into Kate, browsers, and terminals (#753 by @jatinkrmalik, fixes #752 by @justTravis)
• Wayland shortcuts: wtype and ydotool deliver real chords instead of refusing or silently doing nothing (#715 by @eiseleb47)
• IBus shortcuts: route X11_IBUS through xdotool and WAYLAND_IBUS through wtype/ydotool (#716 by @eiseleb47)
• Delete that: send real BackSpace key events instead of U+0008 text (#714 by @eiseleb47)
• Installer: Fedora and Arch need glslc/shaderc packages, not glslang (#763 by @jatinkrmalik, see #604)
• Nightly: stamp version.py before python -m build so wheel metadata matches the filename (#762 by @sesav)
• Release integrity: checksums, signatures, and pinned builders for release artifacts (#759 by @sesav, epic #701 phase 5)
• CI: gate AUR PKGBUILD builds on every PR (#772 by @sesav)
• CI / docs: test the distros the docs promise and fix docs drift (#773 by @sesav)
• Site: VocaGateway family card is Beta; README logo, badges, and privacy copy (#765 by @jatinkrmalik, #764)
• Snap: v0.16.2 latest/edge (rev 7) has no uinput plug. sudo snap connect vocalinux:uinput errors with snap "vocalinux" has no plug named "uinput". Dictation only reaches XWayland apps. A later store snap ships ydotool and the plug; then snap refresh and snap connect vocalinux:uinput (#823)

See the full changelog.

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What's New in v0.16.1

0.16.1 is a stability patch on the 0.16 series. The feature set is the same as 0.16.x. This release fixes wrong-model startup, leftover tray state after toggle stop, paste into terminals, GNOME XWayland layout after inject, and AppImages that needed a glibc newer than Debian 12. The installer now requires Python 3.11 and verifies model downloads.

0.16 series highlights

Feature	Description
Update checker	Settings → About checks stable/nightly; tray shows Update Available for newer GitHub releases (#631, #645)
Right Alt PTT default	New installs default to hold Right Alt (push-to-talk); existing configs keep their shortcut (#648)
Searchable languages	Type to filter the Speech Model language list (#672)
Delete unused models	Remove leftover downloaded speech models from Settings (#671)
AGPL-3.0	License aligned with other VocaHQ projects (#660)
Family mic icons	App icon, tray states, and site favicons use the shared Voca family mic (#704)
Tone picker	Settings → Audio: Lift, Flick, Ember, Step, Voca, Soft, Chirp, Scale, Drop, Glass, Off, plus Preview. New installs default to Voca. Catalog uses family preview WAVs (#707, #708)
Installer	Justfile, uv lockfiles, distro python3-gi required (no pip sdist of PyGObject). Epic #701 still open (#700, #705, #706)

Bug fixes in v0.16.1

• Startup: resolve model size per engine instead of the leftover generic model_size key, so a VOSK save does not make whisper.cpp look for a missing medium model (#684 by @kacperpaczos, fixes #681)
• Settings: save the model only after the engine loaded it, so a cancelled or failed download does not leave config pointing at a file that is not on disk (#685 by @kacperpaczos)
• Settings: unused downloads list sized to its real rows so leftover models are not clipped (#686 by @kacperpaczos, fixes #683)
• Config: one ConfigManager for the process so Settings writes are not overwritten by a stale cache (#691 by @kacperpaczos, fixes #689)
• Tray: stay idle after leftover transcription on toggle stop (#741)
• Tray: the missing-model notification can download the recommended model (#687 by @kacperpaczos)
• Injection: Ctrl+Shift+V when pasting into terminals, so Ctrl+V is not treated as verbatim insert (#734)
• IBus: sync the XWayland layout from GNOME after scoped inject (#742)
• Installer: survive a release without a checksum manifest; stop inventing GPUs (#736 by @sesav)
• Installer: leftover engine repair, just --no-sync, ggml verify from #713 (#732)
• AppImage: build against a glibc floor Debian 12 can run; boot tests on six distros (#743, #744 by @sesav)
• Installer: Python 3.11 floor, uv tooling, verified model downloads (epic #701 phases 2.5 and 5) (#713 by @sesav)
• Settings / About: even dropdowns, quieter About, family platform marks (#754)
• AUR: python -m build --no-isolation works with Arch extra setuptools 84 (was capped at <82, AUR comment by simona). Skip context_params on AUR pywhispercpp 1.4.x so startup no longer dies with whisper_full_params (AUR comments by avocadoboat, Masalababa; GitHub #625)
• Docs: canonical VocaHQ Discord invite; VocaWin is unsigned beta; screenshots page says v0.16; README family/on-device copy (#749, #733, #735, #737)

See the full changelog.

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What's New in v0.16.0

0.16.0 is a minor release on the stable line. It adds an in-app update checker with tray notifications, defaults new installs to hold Right Alt push-to-talk, makes the language picker searchable, lets you delete unused downloaded models, and adds a family dictation tone picker. The license is AGPL-3.0. The installer is hardened (Justfile, uv lockfiles, distro python3-gi). The app icon, tray states, and site favicons use the shared Voca family mic.

Highlights

Feature	Description
Update checker	Settings → About checks stable/nightly; tray shows Update Available for newer GitHub releases (#631, #645)
Right Alt PTT default	New installs default to hold Right Alt (push-to-talk); existing configs keep their shortcut (#648)
Searchable languages	Type to filter the Speech Model language list (#672)
Delete unused models	Remove leftover downloaded speech models from Settings (#671)
AGPL-3.0	License aligned with other VocaHQ projects (#660)
Family mic icons	App icon, tray states, and site favicons use the shared Voca family mic (#704)
Tone picker	Settings → Audio: Lift, Flick, Ember, Step, Voca, Soft, Chirp, Scale, Drop, Glass, Off, plus Preview. New installs default to Voca. Catalog uses family preview WAVs (#707, #708)
Installer	Justfile, uv lockfiles, distro python3-gi required (no pip sdist of PyGObject). Epic #701 still open (#700, #705, #706)

New Features

• In-app update checker: Settings → About with stable/nightly channels (#631)
• Update notifications: Tray menu Update Available entry and About badge when a newer release exists (#645)
• Right Alt push-to-talk default: New installs only; existing configs are unchanged (#648)
• Searchable language combobox: Filter the long language list by name or code (#672, fixes #652)
• Delete unused models: Remove leftover downloaded speech models from Settings (#671, fixes #650)
• Disable missing-tray warning: Settings toggle for desktops that false-positive the tray check (#628, fixes #620)
• Family mic icons: App icon, tray states, and site favicons use the shared Voca family mic instead of the old Linux rounded-rect (#704)
• Family dictation tone picker: Settings → Audio dropdown (Lift, Flick, Ember, Step, Voca, Soft, Chirp, Scale, Drop, Glass, Off) plus Preview. New installs and unknown saved names default to Voca. A saved catalog id, including Off, is left alone. Enable remains the master mute; Off skips start/stop only (#707)
• About page: Settings → About groups this app, VocaHQ family sites, and talk-to-us (GitHub issues, Discord, X, email) (#718)

Bug Fixes

• IBus: Require a restorable engine for scoped injection (#623); restore engine after register_component teardown (#643, fixes #558); restore XKB layout after scoped injection on X11 (#665, fixes #664)
• Injection: Stop typing test during the wtype probe (#627, fixes #622)
• whisper.cpp: Skip unsupported context_params on pywhispercpp 1.4 (#626, fixes #625); use CUDA device 0 when CUDA-backed (#636); honor bundled GPU libs and skip software Vulkan devices (#674)
• Audio: Filter unsafe virtual capture devices (#629, fixes #624); open stereo mics at native channel count (#673, fixes #666); catalog tones are the family preview WAVs, not the synthesized #707 files. generate_sounds.py does not clobber catalog ids (#708)
• Tray / Settings: Prefer Ayatana AppIndicator on KDE (#621); reuse Settings/Logs windows (#669, fixes #653); separate Close from Test Dictation (#670, fixes #651)
• Settings: Test Dictation no longer reports no speech when recognition never started (missing model / auto-pause / live engine out of sync) (#702)
• Clipboard: Restore after ydotool clipboard-paste (#588); text-only reads and safer overlapping restore (#646)
• AppImage: Ship transitive GI typelibs for non-Debian hosts (also hotfixed onto the v0.15.0 AppImages on 2026-08-03) (#637); pin pywhispercpp to the version install.sh declares so a newer PyPI wheel cannot break the Vulkan rebuild (#718)
• Installer: Distro python3-gi is required; pip no longer builds PyGObject from sdist. Unset XDG_SESSION_TYPE / XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP no longer crash under set -u (#706)
• Installer / downloads / tests: Gate util-linux-extra to Ubuntu 24.04+ (#635, fixes #526); report failed model downloads (#690); stop the suite from overwriting real config.json (#694)

Docs / maintenance

• Website screenshot refresh for v0.15 (#630)
• Prefer Ayatana AppIndicator in Fedora/Arch packaging hints (#638)
• CUDA device 0 note for dual NVIDIA (#644)
• Discord and VocaHQ README shields; VocaHQ URL migration; VocaGateway rename (#695, #696, #697)
• Discord invite and X handle point at VocaHQ (#722)
• vocalinux.com restyled to the Voca family workbench; Open Graph card uses the flat Tux (#728, #729)
• Website copy drops the stale 100% offline claim and marks VocaWin as alpha on the site (#717)
• Codeberg mirror tag force-push (#633)
• Installer hardening, Justfile in place of Makefile, and uv lockfiles with pinned build inputs. Epic #701 remains open (#700, #705 by @sesav)

See the full changelog.

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Older releases

Notes for v0.15.0 and earlier live on GitHub Releases:

• v0.15.0
• v0.14.2
• v0.14.1
• v0.14.0-beta

Full history: https://github.com/VocaHQ/vocalinux/releases

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