On Fri, Dec 27, 2019 at 9:50 AM Ralph Palmer <palmer.r.vio...@gmail.com> wrote:
I confess that I'm a bit of a novice regarding installation via tarball. > > I'm running Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS. > > I cannot find Frescobaldi 3.1 in my Ubuntu Software app. > > I downloaded the tarball, but I'm unsure where to put it and/or extract > it. I tried putting it in its own directory in my /home directory, then > extracting it there, but I still cannot figure out how to install it, even > after reading the install file. I would greatly appreciate some further > advice about how, what, and where I need to install Frescobaldi 3.1 and > associated required files. For example, do I need to separately download > and install Python 3.8.1? If I'm installing on my machine, do I need > QtWebEngine? (I can't find that through Ubuntu Software, either.) Or should > I wait until the Ubuntu Software application recognizes Frescobaldi 3.1? > > (I *am* trying to learn Linux from the command line, but it takes a while > and my elderly brain is slow on the uptake.) > Hi, The basics: A tarball is like a zip file. What I usually do from the command line: tar tzvf frescobaldi-3.1.tar.gz | less That will show what's in the tarball without extracting anything. (t=test, z=compress and decompress with gzip, v=be verbose, f=the following is the name of the file to act upon). The "| less" on the end makes sure that it doesn't scroll off the screen faster than you can read. (I actually use "| most" but that requires you to "sudo apt install most" first.) Cursor up and down through the list to get an idea about where it will put all those files. Sometimes (rarely) packagers will do something silly, like not putting all the files to be unpacked in their own subdirectory. So, when you unpack, it clutters up whatever directory you're in. Being able to test first, will help you determine if you need to create a subdirectory yourself, and move the tarball into it before unpacking. Once you're satisfied that the tarball is "sane", type "q" to quit either "less" or "most". (In this case you will see that the tarball is sane: The tarball will create a subdirectory "frescobaldi-3.1/" with all the files. So, to actually unpack, change the "t for test" to "x for extract": tar xzvf frescobaldi-3.1.tar.gz In the tarball you'll find a file named INSTALL. Read it to get the "lowdown" on how to manually install it on your system. You will also find that file at: https://github.com/frescobaldi/frescobaldi/blob/master/INSTALL Hope that helps. -- > Ralph Palmer > Brattleboro, VT > USA > (he, him, his) > palmer.r.vio...@gmail.com > P.S. I have a musically-inclined, technically-inclined buddy in Barre, VT who on occasion wanders south to Brattleboro. A bit of a wild man, Paul "Hurricane" Flint, as I like to call him. He's the "proprietor" of http://bosivt.org/ and http://docbox.flint.com:8081/geekland which he believes to be sanely organized. ;-) And host of the Monday night Linux "Adult Swim" every week. -- Physical [image: [Photo: Kevin Cole]] Kevin Cole, RHCE <http://launchpad.net/~kjcole/> @ubuntourist Brain-Washington, DC (US)
