Installing Inkscape

Install Help

or Things to do before you install InkScape

Installing libraries

If you are running a debian based system, and have something like synaptic that lists recent enough versions of the libraries below, use that. If you want the latest libs, which you may need, especially if you are installing a snapshot or building from svn, you will want to download sources. Generally you will get a foo.tar.bz2 or foo.tar.gz or foo.tgz file that you will need to unpack and build.

bz2 files are the smallest. Uncompress them first by typing bunzip2 foo.tar.gz then unpack the remaining tar file by typing tar -xvf foo.tar

foo.tar.gz files and foo.tgz files can be extracted in one operation by typing tar -xvzf foo.tar.gz

Change to the directory that you just created foo. type ./configure then make then, as root, make install

Sometimes that is all you will need to do.

Sometimes you will run into dependancy errors because you need a library you haven't installed yet. If you try installing inkscape without some of these dependancies, you will get a list of what you need. hopefully the instructions below will help you solve these dependancies.

Running ldconfig

after installing libs, (as root) you need to run ldconfig so that the linker can find the libraries that you have just installed. If you aren't logged in as root (i.e. if you became root by typing su) you may not have the /sbin/ directory in your path. so if ldconfig isn't working for you try typing /sbin/ldconfig

pkg-config

pkg-config is a utility that lists dependancies for libraries that sets up flags and paths for compiling. When it's working right it's wonderful. Getting it to work right is a pain in the ass if you don't know how. It's amazing how silent an IRC channel will get when you mention it.

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libgc

download and install the latest version of libgc[[1]]

libgc installs in /usr/local/lib by default. If you have installed it and it is still not linking, you may not have that in your library path. There is a LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable, or alternatively you can make sure that /usr/local/lib is listed in the file /etc/ls.so.conf

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libsig++

download and install libsig++ [2]

this should be fairly straightforward.

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glibmm

This is where, if you haven't wrestled with pkg-config on your system you start scratching your head. Because when you run configure on glibmm you are going to get an error like this

checking for GLIBMM... configure: error: Package requirements (sigc++-2.0 >= 2.0.0 glib-2.0 >= 2.8.0 gobject-2.0 >= 2.8.0 gmodule-2.0 >= 2.8.0) were not met. Consider adjusting the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable if you installed software in a non-standard prefix.

Alternatively you may set the GLIBMM_CFLAGS and GLIBMM_LIBS environment variables to avoid the need to call pkg-config. See the pkg-config man page for more details.

It seems that most packages install in a non standard prefix, in direct defiance of the concept of standard, so you'll have to deal with this. See above.