Prometheus has no .deb package from upstream. What are the steps to install it from the release binaries on Linux?

Create a system user, create the config and data directories, download and unpack the tarball, move the binaries and config into place, fix ownership, then write and start a systemd unit.

* Seven steps from tarball to running service. *

1. User and group: groupadd --system prometheus, useradd -s /sbin/nologin --system -g prometheus prometheus.
2. Directories: /var/lib/prometheus for the TSDB data, /etc/prometheus (with rules, rules.d, files_sd) for configuration.
3. Download and unpack the linux-amd64 .tar.gz from the GitHub releases.
4. Move files: the binaries prometheus and promtool to /usr/local/bin/, prometheus.yml and the console libraries to /etc/prometheus/.
5. Permissions: chown -R prometheus:prometheus on the config and data directories.
6. Service file: /etc/systemd/system/prometheus.service.
7. Start: systemctl daemon-reload, then start and enable.

promtool is the companion tool. Besides --version it can validate configuration before a restart (promtool check config /etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml). The Node Exporter follows the same seven steps, or comes from the distribution's package manager (apt install prometheus-node-exporter), which is easier but ships an older version.

Go deeper:

• Prometheus — Installation — binaries, Docker and package options.
• Prometheus — promtool — check config, check rules, test rules and more.