Is there an up to date stable version of RawTherapee for Ubuntu 16.04?
Since upgrading to Ubuntu 16.04, the only version of RT available from ppa:dhor/myway is the unstable version. This package seems to be getting numerous updates which leads me to think that I will have issues someday. When I check the RawTherapee homepage downloads section for Ubuntu, it sends me to the dhor ppa and instructs me to install the non-existant “rawtherapee” package for the stable version. The Ubuntu repository contains a rawtherapee package, but in the past these have been old and not recommended.
Correct, Ubuntu 16.04 just offers you RT 4.2.0, and that is o-l-d.
That is the “most modern” stable version available, as far as I know.
However, the versions that are labeled “unstable” or “development” actually are quite good nowadays. To get the most recent one, open a terminal and paste these lines into it:
Maybe someone could update the website to prevent further confusion. Maybe rename unstable to latest. Unstable will tend to have people shy away from trying RT.
The rawtherapee website. The instructions are incorrect for Ubuntu 16.04. Only the development version, unstable, is available for 16.04 from the dhor:ppa. Maybe I’m jumping to a conclusion, but isn’t the stable version, rawtherapee, from the official Ubuntu repository depreciated.
If someone wants to install the stable version there is no need to add the dhor:ppa as instructed on the rawtherapee website for Ubuntu 16.04. The ppa only needs to be added for the unstable version.
Well I don’t see how contacting Ubuntu or dhor could fix incorrect instructions on the rawtherpee website. Would it make sense to open a bug on github against the issue on the rawtherapee website? I could even supply what I think is the correct text.
@gwaugh, I just double checked the [download page] for RT and found this when choosing Ubuntu:
[download page]: RawTherapee - Downloads
Repository
Repositories provide pre-built packages. To use a repository you only have to add it once, and you will get notified via the Update Manager as soon as a package of a new version of RawTherapee becomes available. Ubuntu repositories are kindly run by Dariusz Duma, and all questions should be directed to him.
We recommend using a development version so that you enjoy the latest features, bug fixes and improvements.
To install RawTherapee follow these simple steps:
Open the terminal
Paste this code into it: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:dhor/myway sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install rawtherapee
If you want a development version:
sudo apt-get install rawtherapee-unstable
RawTherapee should now be installed and ready for use.
What exactly is wrong with the existing text? Or what do you think needs to be changed? Seems pretty straightforward (at least this part):
We recommend using a development version so that you enjoy the latest features, bug fixes and improvements.
I personally think they should just lose the stable moniker completely if it’s not going to be reasonably up to date and just point to unstable (which is usually rock-solid for me anyway…)
@patdavid Perhaps gwaugh means that there is no package named rawtherapee to install from repository ppa:dhor/myway.
For Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial), there is just a rawtherapee-unstable.
For older Ubuntus (Wily, Vivid, Trusty), there also was a rawtherapee-fresh (compiled in October 2015) to fetch.
But no packaged named rawtherapee.
@Claes, @patdavid - Claes understands the problem. Depending on what version of Ubuntu one is using different packages are available from Dariusz Duma’s PPA. It seems like a simple task to make the instructions on the website clear. I have even offered to supply the correct text for a simple task.
In my case in migrating from Ubuntu 14.04 to Ubuntu 16.04. I could no longer install rawtherapee-fresh. I only had the choice of rawtherapee-unstable from the PPA or rawtherapee from Ubuntu’s repository. So far rawtherapee-unstable seems to be getting new builds pretty often which leads me to think I’m using beta software which could still be buggy.
Note that I really appreciate Darius Duma’s effort because it saves me from the need to compile any code.
Yes, I know it is simple to compile, but it is the only software I use that would require me to install a load of crap on my computer. Besides, if the instructions on the RawTherapee website are inaccurate, what would lead me to think that the instructions to compile RawTherapee are accurate? Especially since none of the developers use Ubuntu. The last time I tried compiling RawTherapee it required versions of packages that were not available in the current Ubuntu LTS that I was using (pulls hair out). The current Ubuntu LTS can be up to 2 years old.
My PPA (I’m the owner of Highly Explosive PPA with rawtherapee-* inside) was meant to be add-on for official repository. Thus, if there’s official packages RT 4.2, there’s no need to put the same package in my PPA. If RT will hit new official stable release, then there’ll be new RT package in my PPA (till it will show in main repositories) - that’s obvious.
The name Rawtherapee-unstable is problematic (as was mentioned - new ‘unstable’ RT is more stable, than previous stable RT 4.2). There was attempt to change that name to ‘rawtherapee-fresh’, but it pointless. Anyway, ‘rawtherapee-latest’ (or -git) is worth to consider.
Did anyone look into building a snap package (ubuntus new self contained package format) package for RT? I like the general idea of having more decoupled packages that can be updated more easily but I haven’t looked at snap yet.
I think snap packages is a good idea as well. Apparently, there are very few packages available at this time. I have seen a couple articles that point to a security issue with snap packages. It might be prudent to give the technology time to mature.
[quote=“gwaugh, post:16, topic:1380”]
I have seen a couple articles that point to a security issue with snap packages
[/quote]Afaik the main problem was miscommunication there rather than any new security problems.
They will not magically secure & containerize a system (X11 and generally the Linux desktop), but they won’t make it inherently less secure either. What they are supposed to do is to provide isolation between packages so your system doesn’t break because RT would like a different version of a library than ubuntu ships with. Yes that can mean that outdated software will not have it’s dependencies automatically patched the way they are when software is part of the distribution. But it does (at least to me) look like a halfway reasonable way to install third party (or bleeding edge software) into a otherwise stable distribution.
