I recently re-instilled linux mint on my computer, and just discovered that the RawTherapee I installed from its repository will not show .ARW files in the file browser. I noticed that I had a appimage of 5.12 on my computer and ran that, and that version will show and open .ARW files.
Does anyone know why mint is installing such an old version?
Is Linux Mint a rolling release, or does it usually distribute major (i.e. not just security fixes) upgrades of its software within a release cycle?
Linux Mint 22.3 uses the Ubuntu Noble (24.04LTS) package repo.
Whereas Linux Mint Debian Edition 7 (āGigiā) uses the Debian 13 Trixie package repo
So it will follow their release cycles.
If you want the latest version, then use appimage or flatpak.
Yes, Linux Mint is pretty slow at getting the latest versions out there. Itās a much more conservative distribution. I used it for about a decade and I liked it but its software is just old.
Itās not a matter of slowness, itās a model of distribution. Some distros like Debian freeze all the packages at a certain version which remains fixed for the whole lifetime of the āstableā release (which is called stable for a reason). There will be no updates, apart from security fixes, until the next stable release (which in the case of Debian might mean 2 years or more, since they have no fixed timeline). I think that Red Hat Linux Enterprise is the same.
This is desirable in production environments and servers, a bit less if youāre a desktop user who wants the latest software. As a Debian stable user I remember the frustration of having apps obsolete and buggy sometimes.
Others are rolling distributions like Arch where the packages are updated continuously. Others like Fedora, are semi-rolling because despite having a fixed 6-month release cycle, they often update the packages within a release.
2 Likes
Iām pretty sure that 5.10 is more than two years old.
Mint is slow with updates. That is the reason why I switched to Manjaro years ago.
Still happy with it.
1 Like
Yes, February 2024. And if Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, then it ships the most recent version at the time of release.
If you installed a Mint 22.3. The one based on ubuntu 24.04 , which in turn is based on a Debian Sid (of about 2021/22 vintage) hence the old version.
Mint still comes with synaptic and you can see available versions.
Where to get Rawtherapee and one that might (hopefully) update in the future. Use an ubuntu PPA
Mint is a seriously out of date distribution
2 Likes
I see so many folks pointing new users to Mint and I dont understand why.
OP: I would consider other distros with a 6-month rolling release.
Debian or Ubuntu users who never accepted Gnome 3, I guess.
1 Like
Like NixOS 
I was one of those. Gnome used to be good, but then they started forcing a tablet UI on desktop users. I found it unusable, and it kept getting worse so I switched to mint.
why couldnāt you just haveā¦ switched to KDE Plasma? or a window manager?
1 Like
I was pissed at ubuntu for screwing a perfectly good working desktop UI. I tried mint cinnamon, and it worked exactly like I expected it to, and has been reliable ever since.
Fedora has a Cinnamon Spin, if you want to try that:
well, I suppose the blame falls on GNOME, not the Ubuntu team specifically, eitherway Iād suggest KDE Plasma
I used Mepis / PClinuxOS / and kubuntu, all KDE, in that order since 2004
Not at all keen on the latest kubuntu with Wayland. It seems sluggish to me. Just an impression.
So in the meantime, I am using Mint 22.3 and installed KDE and it is ok. End of life is down as 2029 so still a few years of security updates.
Back to the āWhy the old RT 5.10 questionā If you use 'buntu or Mint you can get the latest RT / DT / Gimp All you need do is use a PPA.
I was not aware that there was a ppa for rawtherapee. I had been using the appimage. I added the ppa for gimp as well though I had not noticed any deficiencies in the version provided by mint.