Deployment
For putting Meow on more than one desk. Packages, silent install, where files land and what each user keeps locally.
Packages
| Format | Target | Install |
|---|---|---|
| .deb | Ubuntu 22.04+, Linux Mint 21+, Debian 12+ | sudo apt install ./meow.deb |
| .rpm | Fedora 36+ | sudo dnf install ./meow.rpm |
| .AppImage | Any supported distribution, no root required | chmod +x meow.AppImage && ./meow.AppImage |
| meow-setup.exe | Windows 10 or later, 64-bit | meow-setup.exe /S |
All four bundle their own Qt and PJSIP, so there is nothing to install first beyond PipeWire on Linux, and no version of Qt on the machine that Meow can conflict with.
Unattended install
Windows
The installer is NSIS and takes the standard switches. It requests elevation, so run it from an already-elevated context.
meow-setup.exe /S meow-setup.exe /S /D=C:\Apps\Meow
/D= must come last on the command line and takes an unquoted path. That is an NSIS rule, not ours.
Linux
Both packages install non-interactively by default and pull in PipeWire if your distribution has not already.
sudo apt install -y ./meow.deb # Debian, Ubuntu, Mint sudo dnf install -y ./meow.rpm # Fedora
The AppImage needs no installation at all, which makes it the simplest option for locked-down machines or a pilot group.
Where things land
| What | Where | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Application (Linux packages) | /opt/meow-sip | Qt, PJSIP and the binary, self-contained |
| Launcher (Linux packages) | /usr/bin/meow-sip | Shell wrapper that sets the library and QML paths |
| Desktop entry | /usr/share/applications/meow-sip.desktop | Menu entry and icon |
| Application (Windows) | C:\Program Files\Meow | Override with /D=, see below |
| Per-user data | ~/.local/share/meow/meow/ | SQLite database, encryption key, recordings |
| Per-user settings | ~/.config/meow/meow.conf | Devices, appearance, privacy choices |
Nothing is shared between users. Each account gets its own database, its own encryption key and its own settings, so a shared machine keeps one person's call history away from another's.
Before you roll out
Verify what you downloaded
Every release publishes SHA-256 checksums. Check them before pushing a binary to a fleet, the same as any other vendor package.
Downloads and checksumsCheck the prerequisites
Linux needs PipeWire 0.3.50 or newer; Meow refuses to start rather than failing confusingly mid-call if it is missing or older. Both platforms want 2 GB of RAM and 250 MB of disk.
Full requirementsLicences across a fleet
A licence key is tied to one machine by a hardware fingerprint, and is activated in the app under Settings → Licence. Moving a machine means deactivating there first, which releases the key.
There is no central management console today, and no Group Policy or MSI transform, so per-seat activation is a manual step. If you are deploying to enough desks that this matters, talk to us before you start and we will work out the licensing with you.
Talk to us about a rollout