Getting Scribus on Ubuntu/Kubuntu up and running

BIG FAT WARNING: Scribus users on Ubuntu/Kubuntu Dapper Drake will experience difficulties while changing values in real number spinboxes. This is a long standing bug which has been reported to both Ubuntu and Scribus bug tracker. As long as there is no real solution, you can use the following easy workaround: launch Scribus in this way: LC_ALL=C scribus

Please refer also to this metabug for other Ubuntu issues that may diminish its suitability as a good platform for Scribus and DTP

Adding repositories with Scribus related packages
Note that Ubuntu/Kubuntu Breezy packages can be also used for Ubuntu/Kubuntu Dapper branch:


 * Kubuntu: go to KDE menu/System/Adept (Package Manager)  Ubuntu: System/Administration/Synaptic (Package Manager)
 * Kubuntu: in Adept go to Adept/Manage Repositories Ubuntu: in Synaptic go to Settings/Repositories/New
 * Kubuntu: Add the following repositories one by one using the Add field and click on Apply: Ubuntu: Fill the fields and use the OK button to add the following repositories:

deb http://debian.scribus.net/debian breezy main restricted deb-src http://debian.scribus.net/debian breezy main restricted
 * 1) debian.scribus.net - Primary repository

deb http://debian.tagancha.org/debian breezy main restricted deb-src http://debian.tagancha.org/debian breezy main restricted
 * 1) debian.tagancha.org - Backup repository



Using cryptographic repository signatures
Our repositories are cryptographically signed for added security. Add the gpg-keys for our repositories to avoid having to confirm your installation choice to the package manager each time you update a scribus or scribus-ng package.

root$ gpg --keyserver wwwkeys.eu.pgp.net --recv-keys DA286F326C5F196B root$ gpg --armor --export DA286F326C5F196B | apt-key add -

or as a normal user (with an appropriate entry for apt-key in the sudoers file):

user$ gpg --keyserver wwwkeys.eu.pgp.net --recv-keys DA286F326C5F196B user$ gpg --armor --export DA286F326C5F196B | sudo apt-key add -

Installing Scribus and related packages
Launch Adept (on Kubuntu) or Synaptic (on Ubuntu) and install the following packages:


 * scribus – Scribus 1.2.x or
 * scribus-ng – Scribus 1.3.x. scribus-ng package can be installed paralelly to the scribus package
 * scribus-template – developer and user-contributed additional templates
 * scribus-doc – Scribus 1.2.x documentation, which has to be provided as a separate package due to its non-free nature by the Debian Free Software Guidelines
 * scribus-ng-doc – Scribus 1.3.x documentation, which has to be provided as a separate package due to its non-free nature by the Debian Free Software Guidelines
 * icc-profiles – a collection of common ICC profiles to use with Scribus and other color profile-aware software
 * lprof – hardware color profiler that can be used to create color profiles for your hardware to be used with Scribus
 * qt3-qtconfig – Ubuntu users are strongly adviced to install this package for finetuning the Scribus GUI with their Gnome desktop
 * gs-afpl – The AFPL Ghostscript PostScript interpreter, the Ghostscript version recommended by the Scribus team

Optionally, install the following high quality font packages:
 * t1-xfree86-nonfree
 * ttf-bitstream-vera
 * ttf-gentium
 * ttf-xfree86-nonfree

Default GUI font (Ubuntu users only)

 * Launch gtconfig: ALT + F2 / enter "qtconfig" / hit Enter
 * Go to Fonts tab and choose the font family and size to match your Gnome settings



External tools and additional fonts

 * Launch Scribus and go to File/Preferences/External Tools
 * PostScript Interperter: enter gs-apfl
 * Image Processing Tool: gimp-remote
 * Go to Fonts subsection and add/disable/enable additional fonts



Other installation howtos

 * Scribus on Debian GNU/Linux
 * Scribus on Mac OSX
 * Scribus on Windows