Because buying the solution is boring!
If you search for “install Sonarr on Linux,” you’ll find plenty of guides telling you to add a repo, install Mono, and call it a day. On Raspbian, that advice is outdated and mostly broken.
I hit this wall myself. The traditional Sonarr install steps that work on Ubuntu or Debian-based servers either fail outright or leave you with a non-functional service on Raspberry Pi. This article documents what actually works on Raspbian today.
Sonarr is one of those tools that feels optional until you use it for a week—then you wonder how you ever managed TV shows manually. This post walks through installing Sonarr on a Linux-based system, assuming you already have basic Linux access and aren’t afraid of the terminal.
If Linux still feels unfamiliar, I strongly recommend reading A Beginner’s Guide to Linux first. It explains distributions, package managers, and basic commands used throughout this guide.
Radarr is one of those tools that quietly becomes critical once you start using it. It handles movie monitoring, quality upgrades, and automation, and it does it well. In this post, I’ll walk through how I install Radarr on a Linux-based system using the official repository.
If you’re brand new to Linux concepts like package managers, services, or the terminal, I strongly recommend starting withA Beginner’s Guide to Linux before continuing.