Getting Scribus on Ubuntu/Kubuntu up and running

"Debian" name here encompasses Debian proper (unstable/testing/stable or sid/etch/sarge) and Ubuntu breezy/hoary.

Installation

Scribus is packaged for Debian GNU/Linux by Oleksandr (Alex) Moskalenko <malex@tagancha.org>. Please contact me at that email if you have questions that do not belong to the Debian or Scribus BTS (Bug Tracking System) or for comments about this page.

If you'd like to stay on the leading edge of Scribus development please use upstream repositories as I have to upload scribus into Debian through a sponsor and it usually takes weeks to get an upload in. Because of that the official packages are usually well-behind what is available in the upstream repositories. Please try a package from an upstream directory to test the bug you discovered as it might have already been fixed and new package is available. This is called "the Scribus magic (TM)". Please note that the repositories listed below are IDENTICAL in order to provide a backup and additional bandwidth if needed. The contain packages for Debian stable,testing,unstable and Ubuntu hoary,breezy distributions. If you are using a different Debian based distribution you should use the "unstable" source lines and rebuild the source package.

To use our upstream repositories: Add the appropriate lines from the following list to your /etc/apt/sources.list file:

# Debian stable
# debian.scribus.net - Primary repository
deb         http://debian.scribus.net/debian/ stable main non-free contrib
deb-src     http://debian.scribus.net/debian/ stable main non-free contrib

# debian.tagancha.org - Backup repository
deb         http://debian.tagancha.org/debian/ stable main non-free contrib
deb-src     http://debian.tagancha.org/debian/ stable main non-free contrib

# Debian testing
deb         http://debian.scribus.net/debian/ testing main non-free contrib
deb-src     http://debian.scribus.net/debian/ testing main non-free contrib

deb         http://debian.tagancha.org/debian/ testing main non-free contrib
deb-src     http://debian.tagancha.org/debian/ testing main non-free contrib

# Debian unstable
deb         http://debian.scribus.net/debian/ unstable main non-free contrib
deb-src     http://debian.scribus.net/debian/ unstable main non-free contrib

deb         http://debian.tagancha.org/debian/ unstable main non-free contrib
deb-src     http://debian.tagancha.org/debian/ unstable main non-free contrib

# Ubuntu hoary
deb         http://debian.scribus.net/debian/ hoary main restricted
deb-src     http://debian.scribus.net/debian/ hoary main restricted

deb         http://debian.tagancha.org/debian/ hoary main restricted
deb-src     http://debian.tagancha.org/debian/ hoary main restricted

# Ubuntu breezy
deb         http://debian.scribus.net/debian/ breezy main restricted
deb-src     http://debian.scribus.net/debian/ breezy main restricted

deb         http://debian.tagancha.org/debian/ breezy main restricted
deb-src     http://debian.tagancha.org/debian/ breezy main restricted

Once you added the relevant sources lines you can run

aptitude install scribus scribus-cvs

or

apt-get install scribus scribus-cvs

or use your favorite graphical apt-get front-end such as synaptic (Don't forget to "Reload Package List" in the synaptic. It's the equivalent of apt-get update and has to be done before new packages from these repositories will become available to your package management tools).

The "scribus" package is for 1.2.xcvs stable series whereas "scribus-cvs" package will let you try the new 1.3cvs series, which is pretty stable and much more featureful than 1.2. "scribus-cvs" package installs into /usr/local hierarchy and can be installed in parallel with the scribus package, so you can have both and even run them at the same time.

However, please DO NOT file bug reports about the 1.3 scribus-cvs package or any packages in these upstream repositories into the Debian or Ubuntu BTS. Only use the distribution BTS for the package versions that are in that distribution. If you have a Scribus issue, which is not related to Debian packaging then it is much more preferable if you use scribus BTS for reporting bugs. Go to http://bugs.scribus.net and have fun.

For NEW Linux users

You don't have to log on as root, but you have to have superuser privileges to edit the /etc/apt/sources.list file. Fortunately, on a Linux system you can do that with ease. Please open a root terminal or open a regular terminal and become root through a "su" command. You will have to provide root password when prompted. Then, you can launch your favorite text editor from that terminal and edit the sources.list file as outlined in the http://wiki.scribus.net/index.php/Scribus_on_Debian_GNU/Linux page. Alternatively, you can do a bit more work upfront to achieve a more permanent access to package manipulation system. If you are familiar with the VI editor you can do the following:

• Open a root terminal.
• Type "visudo".
• Type "o" to open a new line (vi command) and type the following line

(assuming your login name is "keay"): keay ALL= NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/synaptic

• Press "ESC" to leave the editing mode in Vi and return to the command mode.
• Type ":wq!" to exit the editor.

Now you are ready to launch the very nice graphical apt-get front-end Synaptic with a "sudo synaptic" command at any time. If you are a new Linux user, Synaptic will help you get started easier than you probably would with command line tools.

Once you launch Synaptic select the "Settings/Repositories" menu entry. Click on the "New" button and type in the appropriate parts. For example for "Sarge":

URI: http://debian.scribus.net/debian/
Distribution: stable
Section(s): main non-free contrib

Don't forget to enable that repository by selecting a checkbox in the leftmost column. Now you can reload repository information by clicking on the "Reload" button in the main Synaptic window. Then you click on the "Search" button and search for "scribus". Once "scribus", "scribus-cvs", "scribus-doc", and "scribus-template" packages are found you can mark them for installation by double-clicking on them or by right-clicking and selecting "Mark for installation". When you are done, click on the "Apply" button to proceed with installation. After that you should have the packages installed and may begin to use Scribus.

Other branches

Instructions below have been rendered mostly obsolete for the x86 architecture by the new repositories. If you have non-x86 hardware or would like to build an optimized package you can still use these instructions. You can submit packages for other architectures to me and I will place them into the repository.

If your distribution is not already supported

If you have a non-x86 arch or would like to optimize the packages for your CPT you can achive these goals by a very simple package rebuild. Make sure that you have the deb-src lines for scribus repositories uncommented and run the following commands:

The cool way (TM) - as root or set up sudo for yourself as a user:

apt-get install apt-build

Answer questions about your CPU and stuff - see an excellent document at http://julien.danjou.info/article-apt-build.html)

apt-build update

apt-build install scribus (or scribus-cvs)

---

An alternate cool way - as root or see the config setup below:

• Install "apt-src":

apt-get install apt-src

• Install the dependencies, build and install scribus from source:

apt-src -i install scribus

To streamline this process and build scribus as a user:

• Configure apt-src:

Add the following lines to /etc/apt/apt.conf or ~/.apt-src/config file:

APT::Src::RootCommand su -c;
APT::Src::BuildDeps

This is especially convenient if you set up the no-password su to root for yourself through pam. Otherwise you'll likely have to type a password.

---

Without apt-build or apt-src - as root:

apt-get build-dep scribus-cvs (or scribus)

apt-get source -b scribus scribus-cvs

---

Anoter way - as root:

apt-get install devscripts build-essential fakeroot

Note: This creates a minimal build environment.

apt-get source scribus-cvs (or "scribus" instead of "scribus-cvs")

apt-get build-dep scribus-cvs (or scribus)

cd scribus.... or scribus-cvs...

At this moment these are scribus-1.2.1+cvs20050620 and scribus-cvs-1.3+cvs20050629), but it's just an example. Use the actual directory names.

debuild -us -uc

cd ..

dpkg -i scribus_.... or scribus-cvs_....

At the moment these are scribus_1.2.1+cvs20050620-2_i386.deb and scribus-cvs_1.3+cvs20050629-1_i386.deb, but use the actual file names.

Voila - you have a scribus (1.2) or scribus-cvs (1.3) package built and optimized for your Sarge (Debian 3.1 a.k.a. stable) system.

User notes about installation on other Debian-based distributions

Please post your experiences about the Scribus availability on other Debian-based distributions. If you just want to get the latest package on one of them - follow the source package rebuild procedure above.

== 'NOTE' There are now std repositories for both Hoary and Breezy Ubuntu for Scribus 1.2 and 1.3 dev series packkges. So you do NOT have to use the notes below. I have left them there should the need arise to build a deb from source from a Debian build. ==

Ubuntu Linux Hoary (5.04)

Using the 1.3 CVS and the 1.2.2 CVS from the Debian CVS builds and rebuilding from source works fine for me. Originally I just tried to install the these packages using just apt-get install scribus but with Ubuntu had some major dependency errors with gcc etc.

With the help of the scribus list, I now use (admittedly a slight variant of the building from source for Debian) notes, ie, as root, or with sudo:-

apt-get source -b scribus-cvs

This alerted me to many dev libraries that were missing. Ubuntu doesn't (not surprisingly) have many dev libs installed on the std build. This command does the actual complie. If you use 'scribus-cvs' you will currently get the v1.3 dev series build, whereas if you use just 'scribus' you will get the stabile 1.2.2 release ie the 1.2 CVS series builds.

Once these were all installed, I did :-

apt-get build-dep scribus-cvs

This builds the scribus-cvs package for you from source. It took around half an hour, and spews out a lot of messages. Eventually, you should find a scribus-cvs deb in the directory that you are working in.

Then just do

apt-get install scribus-cvs

& Bingo !

As I said before, I'm not a Debian/Ubuntu expert and I'm sure there may be betters ways of doing this. The scribus packages do however work fine on Ubuntu when building from source. I have had NO errors part from std occasional crashes of the CVS package.

NOTE It seems from experimentation that you should stick with either the official install method as mentioned above, or the method I use, BUT NOT BOTH !