Well, actually… yes. They’re being very nice. They’ve offered much more than an inch, but if people start demanding that proverbial yard, they may well stop. I know I would. But as I noted, the good folks at LitNLat seem to be much nicer people than me.
That’s cutting your nose off to spite your face. The worst case scenario if LitNLat do decide to stop providing the Linux beta is you have to move to running a paid for Windows licence under WINE. Not ideal, but probably still a better alternative than a non-Scrivener solution if you’re the kind of writer who benefits from Scrivener’s features and approach. But if you’d rather move to something else than use WINE, I suggest continuing to use the Linux beta, and then compiling to something suitable like RTF at the end of December. You can make the jump to something less Scrivener then in the event they decide to abandon providing the fruits of their hard labour to you for free.
This is not entirely correct. It was developed on cross-platform qt libraries, which is what made the port easier to do than most, and the fact that 64 bit packages of Scrivener were made available suggests that something was done behind the scenes to make them available.
I don’t want a yard. I want to know whether or not I can keep using Scrivener as part of my workflow. If you use something, it’s entirely reasonable to want to know if you can continue to use it. I’m not just playing around with Scrivener – at the moment it’s part of my publishing workflow, and I’m currently creating a new workflow (one I like a lot less) that doesn’t depend on it, because I have no way of knowing if Scrivener for Linux is going to be around in 2016. So far the L&L folks have given no sign whatsoever whether or not they’re going to extend it.
I can’t go by what they’ve done in the past, because in the past they released updates to LinuxScriv a lot more regularly. I can’t go by any public or official statements, because they haven’t made any. And I can’t go by any unofficial statements, because y’all don’t know any more than I do. Scrivener is a great program, and I’d love to see it continue to exist on Linux, but I’m not going to bet my second career on it.
Scrivener is a fantastic program. Unfortunately it looks like it’s going to be a fantastic program for Mac and Windows only. I’ll be very happy to be proven wrong.
WINE is extremely useful. It is not, however, the cure for all your ills. I used to run the (paid for and registered) windows version of Scrivener exclusively under WINE, but recent releases of Scrivener for Windows don’t run very consistently. Lately Scrivener under WINE crashes any time I try to do anything in the Binder. Rename a section? Crash. Move a section? Crash. Add a new section? Crash.
Hanging users out to dry isn’t nice. Even if it’s only a very small percentage of them.
Well, the clue’s in the forum heading: Scrivener on Linux (Unofficial). The LitNLat staff don’t frequent this sub-forum. Talking about it here is much less likely to attract their attention as this sub-forum is for Linux users to support each other.
Back in 2012, this same conversation took place. I reached out to the Management, resulting in the following statement:
But, as you say… past performance is no guarantee of future intent. If you’re not happy using unofficial software in beta stage in your primary workflow, or if you’re not happy with potentially having to move to WINE based solution should LitNLat decide to stop providing extensions, then you should do exactly what you’re doing: Not use Scrivener for Linux.
Seems a bit of an extreme reaction, given everything we know, though.
Therein lies the difference in our opinions. I don’ know how LitNLat view you, but I don’t consider you a user of supported / paid software. You can stop giving things away for free whenever you like, and people shouldn’t judge you if you choose to do so.
But in any case, if you’re concerned (and I really don’t see a reason why you should be - January is a long way away; we all used to work on short <1month timers), instead of posting a question in the unsupported forum, I’d suggest emailing the team via the normal support channels. You’ll be in a queue for someone to respond in that case.
What you consider me is largely irrelevant. I am actually two people in L&L’s eyes – one of me is the user of the free version of Scrivener for Linux. The other bought the full version of the Windows software.
I agree!
Except: There is no free version of Scrivener for Linux. There’s an unsupported beta version of Scrivener for Linux that you might be confusing it with?
Two other things to leave you with:
This is an unsupported version in an unsupported subforum. If you don’t care about interactions with other mortals, or feel their opinions have no relevance… You are in the wrong place!
You were around and involved in this exact same conversation back in 2012, so you know all this already.
I would like to buy Scrivener for Linux … I would never buy a copy for Windows neither for Mac. It’s some years I’ve been waiting for it, but …
I would rather prefer to buy another software less efficient less fast less organized , damn it when it doesn’t work but never never buy one of that I mentioned.
Just to let you know … I had to devices … one running under windows and onther one running under Os … I asked Marco, a friend of mine that drives lorries … to smash my two devices under a very havy lorry … after that I saw this … I began to sleep at the night.
I thank God that Linux has let me forget Windows and Mac … and I have never wanted to install wine on my previus version of Ubuntu let alone my recent Mint 17.2.
To tell you the truth I can’t understand why L&L have made the decision to dismiss Scrivener Linux version, perhap the BIG have made pression to kill a beautiful baby …
Take care of yourself … the end of the year isn’t far but the time left can let the events to take two possible directions …1) L&L will come back on their decision (at least they can live the actual software without expiring on the first of January 2016 … 2) we have time to evaluate some different software… A third one, but ??? an open source in the world of Linux that is growing more and more.
Best wishes …
(I hope my poor English will be understandable)
Yes, they are, so this should be easy. I would like to see a: names be non arbitrary, b: the option to have only text (and within that use markdown, which the Scrivener editor would interpret), and c: locking related issues be addressed if any.
There is a way to define a project as one explicitly rather than implicitly made up of files. That may only apply to or be needed on Mac, though. Not sure.
Other people edit like this too. This must have come up before - if L&L haven’t implemented friendly .rtf names I expect they have a reason.
Indeed, this is only an issue on a Mac. Projects appear as folders on Linux & Windows.
I suppose the neatest solution to both issues would be to have an option on the ‘sync with external’ setting to allow syncing the rtfs only as an explicit folder where the section title creates the .rtf name. Syncing to a separate folder might be preferable to changing the file names within the project folder, since it would discourage accidental editing of the core .scriv files while editing the rtfs in Multimarkdown or vim or WordGrinder or whatever else. It would also avoid any locking/improper exit issues.
That would be quite a big enhancement though.
As for asking Scrivener to store files in Markdown (as opposed to importing and exporting it), I wouldn’t hold your breath - there is a whole ecosystem of Scrivener/Markdown users and I think Scrivener is well aware of them and is supporting them just the way they want. Perhaps you’re doing this already, but you can write in Markdown syntax in Scrivener (though you’ll need to fiddle a little in order to preview the output), use a command line editor to tinker with the .rtf files as you feel inclined, and then use the ‘Compile for MultiMarkDown → HTML’ feature in Scrivener to output the Markdown as html when you’ve finished.
I would also pay for a Linux version. At the moment I have a paid Windows version and the Linux beta and I move projects between them. I prefer writing on my little Linux netbook but I like the full sized Windows screen when it comes to organising things. So I tend to value the Linux version for the basic things that I can do and so far the bugs haven’t hurt me. I would be all sorts of devastated if there were no Linux version though.
For those following this thread who are still worried about the release of another Linux beta before the end of the year (although, why you would be is beyond me)… KB recently posted in the Mac Feedback section about updating the Scrivener file format in order to accommodate the eventual release of the iOS version. He confirmed that a Linux beta will be released with the new format.
You can read the full thread and background to the discussion, here.
Perhaps because there’s been no mention of an update or extension of the expiration for more than a year, now? While the comments from KB are welcome and affirming, they were almost as an aside while discussing a major revision to Scrivener file formats going forward.
Those who are concerned about the major freeway pileup and carnage that is the current Windows 10 “upgrade” situation (including myself) are seriously jumping to Linux, which means that Scrivener for Linux is being watched with increasing nervous eyes. (No,
Sparky, no news is rarely good news! In the absence of confirmation, folks tend to get fidgety and begin to supply their own answers – rightly or wrongly.
(And no, the fact that WINE on Linux is a useful tool does not mean that it’s a totally satisfactory substitute for a native Scrivener for Linux package. Sorry about that.)
So … KB’s mention of a coming Scrivenver for Linux update is HUGELY welcome! Thanks much for that.
now how about a comment and status update from the developer of the windows/linux version?
i bought scriv for windows years ago to support the development of a linux version. i still use that on windows, and wait patiently. wine is an abomination and no substitute for a native linux version.
i realise there have never been any guarantees, but it sure will be a huge shame if it’s never going to happen.
Eh, KB is above LAP and Tiho in the L&L hierarchy. Not weird to not hear from LAP or Tiho for long stretches of time. It all depends on whether or not they let them out to get sunshine. :mrgreen:
Not weird to not hear from LAP or Tiho for long stretches of time. It all depends on whether or not they let them out to get sunshine. :mrgreen: