mimedecode requires Python2; preferred versions are 2.6 or 2.7. mimedecode requires m_lib library. First install m_lib. To install the program from sources system-wide run run the following command: sudo python setup.py install -O2 If you don't want to install it system-wide you can install it in your home directory; run run the following command: python setup.py install -O2 --user Option '--user' only available in Python 2.6 or 2.7. The command installs mimedecode into $HOME/.local/bin; add the directory to your $PATH. Or you can simple drop mimedecode.py somewhere in your $PATH.