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Arthur T Knackerbracket [soylentnews.org] writes:

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Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story [techradar.com]:

A new look is coming, but command line users get the goods today

Proton VPN has announced a significant push to modernize its Linux offerings.

The Swiss-based company has confirmed that a complete interface overhaul is in the works, while simultaneously dropping a massive feature update for command-line users.

For those relying on the best VPN [techradar.com] for privacy, this is a welcome signal that the Linux ecosystem remains a top priority. While the provider has spent the last year bringing its Windows and Mac apps to new heights, the Linux VPN [techradar.com] client is now getting the "speedrun" treatment to close the gap.

David Peterson, General Manager at Proton VPN [techradar.com], took to social media to confirm that the company has heard the community's feedback loud and clear.

"With the speedrun of additional features added to the ProtonVPN Linux (GUI) client in recent roadmap cycles, most requests are now for a (overdue) GUI refresh," Peterson stated [x.com]. "Work has been progressing on this behind the scenes, with the first milestone hit last week."

With the speedrun of additional features added to the @ProtonVPN Linux (GUI) client in recent roadmap cycles, most requests are now for a (overdue) GUI refresh.Work has been progressing on this behind the scenes, with the first milestone hit last week.

That "first milestone" has been identified in the official release notes as a major under-the-hood update for the Linux GUI beta (version 4.14.0).

The app has officially been updated to GTK4, a modern toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces. While the release notes clarify that "the visual appearance remains unchanged" for now, this architectural shift is critical.

It "refreshes the underlying framework and paves the way for future UI enhancements," effectively building the foundation upon which the new, modern look will sit.

While the graphical update is setting the stage for the future, the immediate value for power users lies in the Command Line Interface (CLI).

"For non-GUI-enjoyers, we are also rapidly fleshing out the features for the Proton VPN Linux CLI that we relaunched last year," Peterson added.

According to the >latest release notes, these updates are split between the stable and beta channels, addressing some of the biggest pain points for terminal users:

This dual-pronged approach, modernizing the GUI framework for general users while supercharging the CLI for sysadmins, reinforces Proton’s standing in the open-source community.

Unlike competitors that often treat Linux as an afterthought, Proton has consistently pushed forLinux apps are officially supported on more distros.

For current users, the instruction is simple: if you are a CLI user, update your package via your terminal to pull the latest feature set. If you prefer the graphical app, you can test the new GTK4 framework via the beta repos, though the visual facelift is still to come.

Original Submission