Gurk — Signal TUI Client

Pure-Rust Signal terminal client with zero Java/GTK dependencies.

Installation

Gurk is pre-built and included in the OpenRiot install. During openriot --install, the gurk binary is deployed to ~/.local/share/openriot/config/bin/gurk and symlinked to ~/.local/bin/gurk. The OpenBSD SIGSEGV fix is already baked in.

No manual steps needed for normal installation.

Rebuilding from Source

Use ./scripts/gurk.sh only when you need to rebuild gurk from source (e.g., updating to a new version, or refreshing the pre-built binary for image releases).

Source is cached at ~/Code/gurk so subsequent builds are fast.

Updating to a New Version

The build script defaults to the latest upstream origin/main:

./scripts/gurk.sh

To pin to a known-good commit if latest is broken:

GURK_COMMIT=02d3c45 ./scripts/gurk.sh

If the upstream notify function changed, the patch will fail to apply. The script aborts with an error — do not force-build an unpatched binary, as it will crash on OpenBSD when receiving messages. Update scripts/gurk-patch.diff to match the new upstream code, then re-run.

OpenBSD SIGSEGV Fix

Problem: gurk crashes with SIGSEGV on OpenBSD when receiving incoming messages.

Root cause: notify-rust (desktop notification library) calls /proc/self/exe to get the executable path. This syscall does not exist on OpenBSD, causing a segmentation fault.

Fix: The patch in scripts/gurk-patch.diff hard-disables the notification code by replacing the notify function body with a no-op.

Patch Details

File: src/app/message.rs (line 723)
-    fn notify(&self, summary: &str, text: &str) {
-        if self.config.notifications.enabled
+    fn notify(&self, _summary: &str, _text: &str) {
+        // notify-rust disabled on OpenBSD (SIGSEGV on /proc/self/exe)
+        let _ = (_summary, _text);

Why not a feature flag?

notify-rust is a hard dependency — it has no cargo feature to disable it. The patch is the only way to remove it on OpenBSD without forking the crate.

Manual Build

PKG_CONFIG=echo \
  cargo install gurk \
    --locked \
    --path ~/Code/gurk \
    --root ~/.local

Unlinking / Resetting

If you need to re-link your device (e.g. channel list stays empty):

rm -rf ~/.config/gurk ~/.local/share/gurk ~/.cache/gurk
~/.local/bin/gurk --relink

Note: Gurk does NOT remember your channels or messages on startup — it starts clean and only updates when you receive new messages. If the channel list stays empty, press ctrl+p to force the popup to open (often fixes the list), wait 30–60 seconds, or send yourself a test message from your phone.

Dependencies (OpenBSD)

Required:

rust (1.88.0+, tested with 1.94.1)
protoc (protobuf compiler)
sqlite3
openssl

Build note: Use PKG_CONFIG=echo to bypass missing pkg-config on OpenBSD.

Commands

Action	Key
Open channel popup	`ctrl+p`
Move up/down channels	`ctrl+j` / `ctrl+k` or Up/Down
Move up/down in messages	`alt+Up` / `alt+Down` or `PgUp` / `PgDn`
Select a message	`PgUp` / `PgDn`
Quit	`ctrl+c`

ctrl+p is your best friend — it opens the channel selection popup and often forces the channel list to load properly on startup.

Messages

Action	Key
Send message	`Enter`
Reply to selected message	Type reply + `Enter`
Open link in message	`Enter` (with empty input)
View attachment	`Enter` on selected message
Copy message to clipboard	`alt+y`
Edit selected message	`alt+e`
Copy selected message	`alt+y`
React with 👍	`ctrl+t`
React with 🔥	`ctrl+f`
React with 💜	`ctrl+h`
Open full help screen	`f1`

Multi-line and Attachments

Action	Key
Toggle multi-line input	`alt+Enter`
Send a file	`alt+Enter`, then type `file:///home/{user}/{path-and-file}`
Attach clipboard image	`alt+Enter`, then type `file://clip` (auto-pastes screenshot)

Emoji and Reactions

Action	Key
Add reaction	Select message → type emoji → `tab`
Emoji shortcode	`:thumbsup:`, `:heart:`, `:rocket:`, etc.
Direct emoji	Just type the emoji (e.g. 🙂)
Paste emoji from clipboard	`ctrl+Shift+V`

Emoji shortcodes use GitHub style — most standard ones work (:thumbsup:, :+1:, :100:, :skull:, etc.). Direct Unicode emoji works too.

Input Editing

Key	Action
`ctrl+a` / `Home`	Move cursor to beginning
`ctrl+e` / `End`	Move cursor to end
`ctrl+w`	Delete last word
`ctrl+u`	Delete to start of line
`alt+b` / `alt+Left`	Move back one word
`alt+f` / `alt+Right`	Move forward one word