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Eduardo Aguiar edited this page Dec 30, 2025 · 1 revision

Installation Guide

May 31th, 2025 by Eduardo Aguiar

Welcome to the installation guide for Mobius Forensic Toolkit! In this guide, we will walk you through the process of setting up and installing Mobius Forensic Toolkit.

The package names mentioned in this guide are specific to OpenSUSE Leap 15.6. If you are using a different Linux distribution, the package names may differ. The commands provided in this guide are for installing version 2.15 of the software. If you are installing a different version, you will need to modify the commands accordingly.

There are two ways to install Mobius Forensic Toolkit: by building from source files, or by using the .AppImage bundle file. The steps for each method are provided in the following sections.

1. Installing MobiusFT from source code (.tar.xz and .zip)

In this section, we will walk you through the process of configuring and installing Mobius Forensic Toolkit using CMake.

CMake is a cross-platform build system that generates native build scripts (such as Makefiles or Ninja files) from a unified configuration. It simplifies the compilation process and supports out-of-source builds, making it easier to manage dependencies and build environments.

Mobius Forensic Toolkit has been designed to be built and installed using CMake, so you will need to have CMake installed on your system before proceeding. Additionally, ensure you have a compatible compiler (such as GCC, Clang, or MSVC) and the necessary development tools for your platform. If you do not already have CMake installed, you can typically install it using your system's package manager (e.g., apt, brew, or choco).

Once CMake and the required tools are set up, follow the steps below to build and install Mobius Forensic Toolkit:

  • Download the source code and prepare the build directory.
  • Configure the project using CMake (with optional flags for customization).
  • Compile and install the toolkit on your system.

We will guide you through each of these steps in detail.

Let's get started!

  1. To begin, use a package manager available on your Linux distribution to install both the required packages and optional packages listed below:

    Required packages

    • g++ (or any C++17 compatible compiler)
    • Python 3 version 3.6 or newer
    • python3-devel
    • python3-cairo
    • python3-gobject-devel
    • python3-gobject-gdk
    • python3-libxml2-python
    • gtk3-devel
    • libgtksourceview-4-0
    • libsqlite3
    • libtsk (from Sleuthkit package. See https://www.sleuthkit.org)
    • libdl (already installed in most Linux distributions)

    Optional packages

    • libz (already installed in most Linux distributions)
    • libudev (already installed in most Linux distributions)
    • libsmbclient (from Samba/Samba client package)

  2. Download the latest version of Mobius Forensic Toolkit using one of the links available in this page.This is typically provided as a tar archive, which can be extracted using the tar command. For example:

    tar xvf mobiusft-2.15.tar.xz

  3. Run the configuration command to prepare the build process. This will check for dependencies and configure the build to match your system. The configuration command is usually invoked using the following command:

    cmake -B build -S mobiusft-2.15 -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release

    You can install Mobius Forensic Toolkit to a specific directory, using the --install-prefix option. For example:

    cmake -B build -S mobiusft-2.15 -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release --install_prefix=/opt/mobiusft-2.15

    If you have installed the Sleuthkit package in a specific directory, use the -DLIBTSK_ROOT= option. For example:

    cmake -B build -S mobiusft-2.15 -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DLIBTSK_ROOT=/opt/sleuthkit-4.14.0

    The CMake program will run, trying to identify your system configuration and to find both the required packages and the optional packages.

    It is highly recommended that you install all the required packages and all the optional packages, for a better user experience.

  4. Run the cmake command to build Mobius Forensic Toolkit. This will compile the source code and create the executable file:

    cmake --build build

  5. If the build was successful, you can install Mobius Forensic Toolkit using the cmake --install command. This will typically install the tool to a system directory such as /usr/local/bin:

    sudo cmake --install build

2. Installing MobiusFT using .AppImage file

In this section, we will walk you through the process of installing Mobius Forensic Toolkit on your system using an AppImage file.

An AppImage is a portable application format that allows you to run applications on a variety of Linux distributions without the need to install them. It includes all of the necessary dependencies and libraries, so you can simply download and run the AppImage file to use the application.

To install and run our application using an AppImage file, you will need to have the AppImage runtime installed on your system. This is typically included by default on most modern Linux distributions, but if it is not installed you can typically install it using your system's package manager.

Once you have the AppImage runtime set up, you can follow the steps in this guide to download and install Mobius Forensic Toolkit using the AppImage file. We'll start by downloading the AppImage file and making it executable, then we'll show you how to run the application and (if desired) make it available system-wide.

Let's get started!

  1. If your Linux distribution does not already include Python 3, you will need to install it before proceeding.

  2. Download the latest AppImage file for the Mobius Forensic Toolkit, using the link available in this page. This is typically a single executable file with a .appimage extension.

  3. Make the AppImage file executable. You can do this using the chmod command, like this:

    chmod +x mobiusft-2.15-x86_64.AppImage

  4. If you want to make the application available system-wide, copy the .AppImage to your favorite bin directory, such as the /usr/local/bin directory. This will allow you to run the application from any directory by simply typing its name on the command line.

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