Enable DVD Playback

Warning: It is illegal to circumvent DRM in many countries, including the United States. But it is legal in most countries to make private copies/backups of your possession. Proceed at your own risk.

By default, Trisquel is unable to play many DVDs because it lacks a library to bypass the CSS (Content Scrambling System) DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) algorithm that prevents access to encrypted DVDs. You need to install a simple free software library called libdvdcss, which bypasses the encryption, includes an API to access DVDs as a block device, and ignores region codes.

Simple installation

A simple way to install libdvdcss on Trisquel 11 Aramo and Trisquel 12 Ecne:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install build-essential debhelper meson ninja-build python3-setuptools -y && wget https://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/contrib/libd/libdvd-pkg/libdvd-pkg_1.5.0-1-1_all.deb && sudo dpkg -i libdvd-pkg_1.5.0-1-1_all.deb && sudo dpkg-reconfigure libdvd-pkg

Install libdvdcss by compiling it

A simple way to install libdvdcss is to manually download its latest source code from repository and then compile it.

First install the tools needed to download/compile it.

$ sudo apt install build-essential git meson ninja-build

Select a directory where you are going to install it, according to Filesystem Hierarchy Standard /opt/ would be appropriate.

Create the directory in /opt/ under your username, this is not mandatory but it's preferable for organization.

$ sudo mkdir /opt/$USER

Go in the directory

$ cd /opt/$USER

Git clone the repository

$ sudo git clone https://code.videolan.org/videolan/libdvdcss.git

Go in the libdvdcss directory

$ cd libdvdcss

Configure libdvdcss

$ sudo meson setup build --prefix=/usr

Building libdvdcss. First move to the build directory.

$ cd build

Now run "ninja"

$ sudo ninja

Installing libdvdcss, stay in the build directory and run meson install.

$ sudo meson install

Now VLC should be able to read DVD for your Trisquel media center :)

Enable Blu-ray playback

Install the necessary libraries for VLC

$ sudo apt install libaacs0 libbdplus0 libbluray2 libaacs0 libbdplus0 libbluray-bdj libbluray-bin

Getting and putting the the AACS keys in the right directory. Sadly the keys can't be shared legally you have to find them by yourself.

But if you find them you put them in:

$ ~/.config/aacs/KEYDB.cfg

Note that the name of the file is case sensitive, it must be in capital letters.

Reading the Blu-ray with VLC

Once that is done all you need to do is to launch VLC, select "Media", then select "Open a disc" and then you choose "Blu-ray" and point to where it's located.

Why is it not legal to share the AACS keys?

The keys are actually on each Blu-ray, extracting them is considered a breaking the DRM, and sharing them a violation of copyright. If you wish to see this evolve, the FSF in the USA and the APRIL in France are the entities you should seek to lobby against these unethical methods.

Why do we read DVDs as easily then?

Different encryption different interpretation of the law.

Important information: K3B will be able to copy into an image disc the Blu-ray you give it but it will also import the DRM.