Installation

mkv2cast can be installed through several methods depending on your needs.

Prerequisites

mkv2cast requires:

Python 3.8+ - The interpreter
ffmpeg - For video processing and encoding
ffprobe - For media analysis (usually included with ffmpeg)

Optional dependencies:

rich - For beautiful progress UI (pip install rich)
tomli - For TOML config support on Python < 3.11
plyer - For desktop notifications fallback
libnotify - For notify-send desktop notifications

PyPI (Recommended)

The simplest way to install mkv2cast:

# Basic installation
pip install mkv2cast

# With all optional features
pip install "mkv2cast[full]"

# With just the rich UI
pip install "mkv2cast[rich]"

Arch Linux (AUR)

For Arch Linux users:

# Using yay
yay -S mkv2cast

# Using paru
paru -S mkv2cast

# Manual PKGBUILD
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/mkv2cast.git
cd mkv2cast
makepkg -si

The AUR package ships the man page, bash/zsh completions, and both user + system cleanup timers automatically.

Debian/Ubuntu

APT Repository (Recommended)

Add the official APT repository for automatic updates:

# Download and add GPG public key
curl -fsSL https://voldardard.github.io/mkv2cast/apt/public-key.gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/mkv2cast.gpg

# Add the repository with GPG verification
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/mkv2cast.gpg] https://voldardard.github.io/mkv2cast/apt stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mkv2cast.list

# Update and install
sudo apt update
sudo apt install mkv2cast

The repository is GPG signed for security. The public key is available at public-key.gpg. You can verify the key fingerprint before adding it to your system.

Manual Installation

Download the .deb package from GitHub Releases:

wget https://github.com/voldardard/mkv2cast/releases/download/v1.2.5/mkv2cast_1.2.5-1_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i mkv2cast_1.2.5-1_all.deb
sudo apt-get install -f  # Install dependencies

Debian packages install the man page, bash/zsh completions, the user cleanup timer, and the optional system-wide cleanup timer. The watch mode service and timer are also available as user units.

Script Installation

For a quick install without package managers:

# Install to ~/.local
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/voldardard/mkv2cast/main/install.sh | bash

# System-wide installation (requires sudo)
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/voldardard/mkv2cast/main/install.sh | sudo bash -s -- --system

Development Installation

For development or contributing:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/voldardard/mkv2cast.git
cd mkv2cast

# Install in editable mode with dev dependencies
pip install -e ".[dev,full]"

# Run tests
pytest

Verifying Installation

After installation, verify everything works:

# Check version
mkv2cast --version

# Check requirements
mkv2cast --check-requirements

# Show configuration directories
mkv2cast --show-dirs