How to install Darktable 4.0.1 in linux Mint (ubuntu derivative)

I know there are new versions but I would like to stay with darktable 4.0.1 due to some compatibility problems.

I was trying to find binaries for ubuntu to install in my new linux Mint install (I was previously using windows).

I could find a deb package in OBS (in the opensuse distribution under ubuntu).

Thank you

But when I try to install it using ipkg I get errors complining about some libraries not present like libicu71 and others.

When I try to use apt to install that libraries it complains that the libraries cannot be found.

I suppose it is due to that libraries being substituted by others in the repositories for the new versions os ubuntu (I am using linux mint Vera, similar to ubuntu 22, I think).

How my I get that libraries installed or how I may get darktable 4.0.1 installed in my system?

You’re going to have a bad time trying to get a deb package built for a different distro or version of the same distro installed.

Your best bet is likely to check out the source code for that version and run the build script. Or find the flatpak for that version and use that.

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Ok, thank you I was having a bad time trying it already.

Does the tar file that is in GitHub for that version include the sources to the dependencies?

If not it would be difficult to get it working and find appropriate source versions

Flatpak would be a good solution, but I could not find the appropriate distro.

It seems in flatpak there is only the last version.

It contains rawspeed, but the rest of the dependencies are on you. There are quite a few of them.

If you can build the flatpak yourself, you can just change the json manifest to point to the version you want. Or you can I stall the latest flatpak and try to roll back the version.

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I’ve never tried it, but it looks like you should be able to use the command line flatpak tool to find and install older versions of software from (for example) flathub.

This link explains the commands a bit.

Do you have flatpaks working and have you gone through the steps to add flathub to your system? I don’t know what Mint does out if the box and want to make sure we can answer your questions if you’ve recently switched from Windows, apologies if you have more Linux experience.

With flatpak and flathub set up it looks like the first command would be

ā€˜ā€™ā€™
flatpak remote-info --log flathub org.darktable.Darktable
ā€˜ā€™ā€™

and find the commit you want from the list.

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Just curious…so much to gain esp in highlight handling if nothing else…what are the roadblocks to going with a more current version??

Thank you all.

Not enough experience in Linux to compile darktable and all the dependencies.

It seems there may be older versions in flatpak, I will try that.

In the web there is no other version, but it seems there might be more that can be listed as you say, using the command line I will try that.

In flathub they say they do not guaranty storing old versions for many time.

Is there a way to download the distribution file and store it locally for future use?

(I have only used flatpak once in Linux mint to install displaycal and it was using the app manager gui)

Well thank you @BorisRabit for your hint.

I could install 4.0.1 using flatpak command line.

the commit for 4.0.1 is: ffe32b5c29648562b2c400c4bf3df2832ca165a216ea6292e5a741f7e353955b

But I could not installed it directly, I tried

sudo flatpak install --commit=ffe32b5c29648562b2c400c4bf3df2832ca165a216ea6292e5a741f7e353955b org.darktable.Darktable

But I receive an error, it seems you cannot use the commit option to install the version you want you have to install first the current version and then downgrade to the commit you want, like this:

sudo flatpak install org.darktable.Darktable
sudo flatpak update --commit=ffe32b5c29648562b2c400c4bf3df2832ca165a216ea6292e5a741f7e353955b org.darktable.Darktable

That way I could install 4.0.1 version.

What I don’t know is how to download the files in order to keep them and install them locally (just in case the commit disapears from flathub soon).

I’m glad I was able to help in some way. :slight_smile:

Ideally, I think the community would be interested in knowing what was giving you trouble in the newer versions of darktable. You said ā€œcompatibility problemsā€? If you were to start a new thread specifically for that topic, people smarter than I am may be able to help, or even fix issues for other users too.

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Just don’t want to upgrade the database, I am testing Ansel and it uses the same database as 4.0.

For the moment I don’t need new improvements in 4.2 and would like to simplify and don’t maintain two databases.

It surprised me how difficult it is to install a given version of a program in Linux.

In windows installs use to be easy, just download the installer you want and execute it

I was using Linux for decades but not for desktop use, at server tasks .

Now I decided to go the Linux way for everything, at least all as I can, as there are some windows dependencies.
Not easy to adapt all the knowledge but given the paths that windows is going ( the Google big brother path) I won’t return.
A pity I can’t do the same with android in the mobile.

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Windows has only a few versions, for Linux there are a lot of distributions, each with their own combination of versions for different libraries…

That said, the darktable source can in principle be compiled on any distribution, unless some of the libraries needed are too old (and then you can try to compile newer versions).
You will have to install all needed libraries though, with the corresponding development packages (through the package manager for your distribution). Either you have a list of the dependencies, or you can use ā€œtrial-and-errorā€:
start build, on error install missing dependency, and repeat until build completes.

If you get errors about missing symbols, you most likely have a version mismatch somewhere. Those are a bit harder to handle.

Any decent package manager will list the dependcies for you.

At any rate, software is difficult, hopefully there is some new found appreciation for it :slightly_smiling_face: