Hi everyone, some years ago I switched from Win to Linux for performance reasons: DT is much faster on Linux (on my HW).
I recently read about DT setup packages not being up to date; in fact I can’t enjoy the last DT 4.4.x version on my Mint 21.1. In the past I tried flatpack setup, but I had performance issue (slow to start and processing).
I prefer .deb package (alternatively appimage).
Could someone suggest me a Linux distro in order to be (almost) certain to have an installable DT package? a At the same time a distro with most recent packages ? (gcc. libheif, …)
Ubuntu ?
Debian ?
OpenSuse ?
(I hope I was clean, my english is not so good).
Thank you in advance and thanks for all DT contributors.
Ciao, @Ric_Developer,
Most people want to recommend their present distro.
So would I. My present favourite distro is endeavouros,
which works just fine with RawTherapee, darktable,
The Gimp, and Nvidia/openCL.
Their repository offers darktable 4.4.1, so you cannot blame it for being old 
However I do recommend that you compile RT and dt yourself from GitHub.
In case you need it, I can send you a list of step-by-step-info-on-how-to-compile-darktable, tailor-made for endeavouros.
Cordiali Saluti,
Claes a Lund, Svezia
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I’m on Ubuntu (Kubuntu, actually), always on the latest stable version. I don’t use LTS, and I build darktable from the master branch using a script. Once or twice a year, perhaps, there’s a hiccup, then I roll back to the previous version I built, and wait a few days for a fix.
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I use the flathub version of DT with fedora. It’s currently DT 4.4 but I expect 4.4.1 will be available on flathub fairly soon. They don’t usually take too long to update.
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“Best distro” is highly subjective and bound to change without warning.
If you really want to be sure to be able to use the latest version, building the programs yourself, as @Claes suggested, might be the best bet.
And even if you have issues with the build, you have more options to get around those: either build the missing library version as well, or (for optional features), disable them if you don’t need them.
The latter is what I did on OpenSuse Leap, where there seems to be an issue with the openEXR version. As I don’t need that, I compiled without it.
If you go that way, make sure you do have the required gcc version, >=12 for dt 4.4.x.
I used the following command line to build dt 4.4:
export CC=gcc-12; export CXX=g++-12; ./build.sh --prefix /opt/darktable --build-type Release --install --sudo
That ensures gcc-12 is used, the “system” version is 7.x…
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NixOS, clearly the best. I have my own overlay for darktable that I update to latest releases.
@paperdigits
NixOS: flexible is an understatement ! I did not know It.
@Claes Ciao !
You mean that fresh darktable is available via pacman ?
openSUSE Tumbleweed. Best rolling release distro on the planet.
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Yes, it is. I had it installed on Arch Linux before I even saw that it was available from darktable.
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Yeah I flagged as outdated this morning and an hour later or so it was available
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You can use the nightly appimage from today and it will be almost exactly 4.4.1, so i don’t see reason for distro hopping.
As @kofa I use Ubuntu.
I also compile myself - if you are interested, take a look at my scritpts on my github repo.
/Per
Keep what you have (if it works). Use an Arch Distrobox to get an up to date darktable version in any distro (if Flatpaks doesn’t work for you).
If you want to always have the latest and (maybe) greatest updates, Arch Linux or openSUSE Tumbleweed are going to be your best bets. On Arch at least, most packages typically get updated within a day or two of release.
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I’ve just downloaded the last appimage. It runs (well, I hope !). Why don’t create/supply an appimage file when DT is released ?
Yes, Is what I understood from some feedbacks: Arch Linux and derivates are the most updated (rolling released) .
I switched from Manjaro to openSUSE Tumbleweed a week ago (because Manjaro was causing me a lot of trouble after three years of use). Packages are about as up to date in Tumbleweed as in Arch, but many folks report greater stability. Can’t comment on that yet.
Don’t think to deeply about what distro you are running, the risk is that you will slowly morph from a photographer to a Linux system administrator. That risk is even higher with a rolling distro.
I know. Put hands on Linux is funny but It takes time that I don’t have neither for manage pictures. I’m looking for the best compromise.
The trouble is, everyone finds their own compromise the right one – that’s why they chose it.
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