For Arch Linux, there's a package in the AUR: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/soapymiri-git

For other distributions, clone and compile manually:

cd SoapyMiri
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make -j4
make install

This driver works with the libmirisdr-5 library -- an open-source version reverse-engineered by Miroslav Slugen.

It is much more stable than the proprietary SDRplay API (that presents a serious security risk -- it needs to run under root). It doesn't need to run in the background, doesn't need to be restarted and thanks to LibUSB, it can work even on Android devices inside chroot.

For this to compile and run, you need to have Pothosware/SoapySDR installed.

There are 5 individual gains. While it may be confusing, the method of operation is pretty straightforward -- trial and error. :)

One of them is called "Automatic". This uses an algorithm to configure all the other gains to hopefully provide a linear and easily understandable gain control.

However, if this is not enough for you and you really want to get the best performance (signal to noise ratio, image rejection) out of your SDR, you can control the individual amplification stages inside your SDR using the 4 other gains (LNA, Mixer, Mixbuffer and Baseband).