With some popular Linux distributions recently updating their long-term-support releases eID functionality is broken once again until Estonian authorities catch up to release their drivers. Although Debian sid and PikaOS (being a derivate of it) will probably never be officially supported, setting it up is actually a pretty quick and easy process if you follow the steps below.
Setup instructions
If we were to execute the official installer script we’d just get a message telling us that our system is not supported. We can get around the the script refusing to work by executing some of procedures on our own.
First we need to make sure the official package repository signing key is available in our system.
wget -qO- https://installer.id.ee/media/install-scripts/C6C83D68.pub | sudo tee /etc/apt/keyrings/open-eid.ascNow we add a package repository formally intended for use in Ubuntu plucky, the latest supported distribution as of the time of writing.
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/open-eid.asc] https://installer.id.ee/media/ubuntu/ plucky main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/open-eid.listLet’s be clear that we are introducing a kind of risk by adding a foreign and static repository into a rolling release distribution such as Debian sid or PikaOS. If you are reading this article far in the future, it might have become outdated for you. So check the publication date of this article! 🙂
Finally, we update our package repos and install open-eid drivers.
sudo apt update && sudo apt install open-eidInstall Browser add-ons
With the driver components done make sure web eID add-ons are installed in your browser. Firefox and Chromium based browsers are usually well supported. Check your browser preferences if web eID is installed and if not add it.
Install Digidoc
Digidoc is a utility used for encrypting, decrypting and signing files and documents in your file system. It comes with the official installer script but is not included in the installation steps above. I installed the Flatpak and it has worked flawlessly since then.
What to be aware of
Watch the official sources for updates on their latest supported operating systems and mind that we are using packages intended for use in Ubuntu plucky. Functionality might break when Debian sid updates its own related packages and we might restore it by moving on to whatever is the latest package repository at the time (which might be Ubuntu resolute). But since you are running a rolling release distro it is just another thing to keep updated and informed in.