A Mostly Complete Guide to Installing Scrivener on Linux

Scrivener Scrivener on Linux (Unofficial)
26

Spelling now working after installing lib64aspell-devel :smiley:

27

Spelling working on Ubuntu Utopic (14.10), once I installed libaspell-dev (the lib64aspell-devel library is probably the name of the same package on Fedora-like systems).

The rest of Scrivener seems to work fine, though I’ve only just started exploring it.

28

I have been using Scrivener on Mac osx and ios for a few years now. Awesome piece of software. I recently set up a linux laptop and was psyched to see a port available. Thanks!
I followed the install for the .deb file. I ran into an issue and thought it might help someone to post here.
I just installed Ubuntu 16.04.
The application installed all lowercase so when you call “which Scrivener” as the docs say it comes back with nothing. “which scrivener” will return “/usr/bin/scrivener”. Minor thing but unless you are used to troubleshooting Linux apps it might throw people off.
The bigger issue was an error

“/usr/share/scrivener/bin/Scrivener: error while loading shared libraries: libgstapp-0.10.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory”

I fixed this by installing libgstreamer as so.

“sudo apt-get install libgstreamer0.10-dev libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-dev”

Once I ran that I ran it and have not had an issue. Hope this helps and thanks again to everyone who make this possible.

29

Hi! I got Scrivener up and running on Ubuntu 16.10 with some of the same troubles middletwig had.

First, I was missing “libpng12.so.0” so I had to install that–I found the right package on this page.

Then, I had the same trouble with the “libgstapp-0.10.so.0” dependency. However, the command middletwig had no longer works because those packages aren’t available anymore.

I did some digging and found a workaround that user Spurlos used when trying to get a different program to run, but was missing the same dependency:

wget http://fr.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/g/gst-plugins-base0.10/libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-0_0.10.36-1_amd64.deb
wget http://fr.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/g/gstreamer0.10/libgstreamer0.10-0_0.10.36-1.5ubuntu1_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i libgstreamer*.deb

After doing both of these things, Scrivener is running on my machine. And it only took 90 minutes of Googling! I hope this helps someone else in the future.

30

OMG that is beautiful! Thank you so much!

31

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!
I’m new to Ubuntu (Using 16.04 LTS) and learning new technology for everything- this system, Scrivener, etc. Just discovered I was eligible for a half price code from NaNoWriMo 2016, but I use two systems in two locations and wanted the application on both- the description of the application sounds exactly like my existing PAPER process, which currently involves carrying about 60 tons of gear with me to the different areas and locations where I work, when counting a huge laptop, three paper copies of alpha reader manuscript notations, my own paper notes, my Alphasmart, and and and… I recently bought a small lightweight computer for travel, and am trying to coordinate all my technology to minimize hauling things to write… I could not figure out the install issues in Ubuntu until I found your post. It worked like a charm.

Now to import the manuscript and get working on revisions!!

THANKS!

-A.

32

I bought an Asus Chromebook with an Arm71 chip. I installed Ubunto 3.14.0 with Crouton and then installed Scrivener 1.9.0.1. I found the executable in my /usr/share/scrivener/bin folder. However, when I try to run the executable I get the error: “Scrivener: command not found”. All the fixes for this involve running on a 64bit chip. This is 32bit. One comment said that Scrivener will not run on an Arm chip. I really hope that is not the case. Any ideas? Thanks!

33

Good evening, I’m “in the mood!”.
I use Scrivener from time to time and I’m happy!
Finally I worked under ubuntu 17.04 and everything went well …
I just passed in 17.10 (complete reinstallation by caution)
So, after installing Artful, I wanted to install Scrivener.
I was downloading the deb, no problem;
I do dpkg -i no problem;
so everything is fine, except that when I click on the icon, nothing happens …
After reviewing the log, I notice that I do not have permission to run, yet I took the precaution of positioning owner and permissions in /usr/bin and /usr/share.
Is there a new safeguard mechanism that needs to be taken into account?
Thanks

34

After much experimentation, research and exchange, I believe that this problem is intrinsic to Wayland, which is unavoidable.
I was even told that : “the easiest and most restless to use software designed for Wayland and polkit (the system operations manager).” !!!
The policy of all linux distributions is of course to switch to Wayland, much more modern and better built than the very old X11. But at the same time there have been added security considerations, conceivable in network, but which are not generally the environment of the writer rather solitary.
So I worry about the future of Scrivener under Linux …

35

Victory !!! :smiley:
I got to install correctly scrivener on ubuntu 17.10 from the downloaded package
In fact, I just used pkcon with the install-local [files] option
(just type pkcon in the terminal and we have all the man …)
for me:

pkcon install-local scrivener-1.9.0.1-amd64.deb Installation des fichiers [=========================] Test des changements [=========================] Terminé [=========================] Installation des fichiers [=========================] rre/.local/shaAttente de l'authentification [=========================] Démarrage [=========================] Chargement du cache [=========================] Téléchargement des paquets [=========================] Exécution [=========================] Installation des paquets [=========================] Terminé [ ] (0%) (pkcon:12135): GLib-CRITICAL [=========================] attempting to Téléchargé scrivener-1.9.0.1.amd64 (local) Scrivener is a powerful content-generation tool for writers designed for composing and structuring long and difficult documents. While it gives you complete control of the formatting, its focus is on getting you to the end of that awkward first draft. Compose your text in any order and in pieces as large or small as you like. View the components of your draft individually or as a whole. Import and refer to research files such as images and PDFs alongside your writing. Whether you prefer to outline first, hammer out your first draft and restructure later, Scrivener's corkboard and outliner tools are completely integrated with the text, so working with an overview of your draft is just a click away. Scrivener's users include best-selling novelists, screenwriters, students, academics, lawyers, journalists and translators. It won't presume to tell you how to write - it just provides an array of flexible tools that allow you to do things your way, no matter what kind of writing you do. Installé scrivener-1.9.0.1.amd64 (local)
…
so on

So it’s a lot simpler than I opens and in addition we do not have the security problems, Wayland taking care during installation …

Phew!

36

Sorry but I still face problems while trying to install Scrivener into Ubuntu 17.04.

I have tried with gdebi and pkcon with no success.

I think the problem is related to Ubuntu 17.04 not providing the versions for some libraries like libpng12 ( I have found libpng16 installed on my system ) …

Is there any way to bypass all these errors?

Thanks in advance for you time .

37

What steps did you follow and what were the results?

38

I’m up & running.

I’m running Ubuntu Studio 16.04 on Asus with Intel Centrino. I installed scrivener-1.9.0.1-i386.deb with the Software Install and faced all the problems above. I tried all the solutions, above. I finally installed scrivener-1.9.0.1-amd64.deb on top of the 32-bit install without deinstalling anything, and now I’m running Scrivener. The app crashes a couple of times a week but I never loose any work.

I’m loving Scrivener on Linux and being very productive - even with such an old version of Scrivener. I do wish I had some of the newer features, like the corkboard display that can show timelines of same color label items along a colored line.

39

Huge thanks to Acerock7 – these instructions got Scrivener up and running on my Xubuntu 18.04 system.

wget http://fr.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/g/gst-plugins-base0.10/libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-0_0.10.36-1_amd64.deb
wget http://fr.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/g/gstreamer0.10/libgstreamer0.10-0_0.10.36-1.5ubuntu1_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i libgstreamer*.deb

The 18.04 is an upgrade from 16.04, and there just may be settings I had there that were transferred, but the main issue was collecting the libgstreamer extras. If in doubt, download copies and archive them.

Thanks again, it is a lifesaver.

40

I upgraded my hp pavilion x2 detachable from ubuntu 16.04 lts to 18.04. i’ve been trying to reconstruct the darned thing all day due to a mid upgrade crash.

a zillion hours and downloads later, 18 is installed, and scrivener is installed.

I could not get it to run until I installed as above noted by Snick and Acerock…, Haven’t tried it out yet but it booted and loaded scrivener. yay! thank you so much for posting these solutions! I’m tired of apple kicking my hardware to the curb when they want more money. It still runs on my older macbook pro but there’s no dropbox.

sadly, you all can’t help me with that. :slight_smile:

thank you!

Almost done revising the second draft!!

41

Hi everybody,

I posted my DEB package for Scrivener, if anyone are still interested, please check and read the README inside the download folder.

Topic: https://www.literatureandlatte.com/web/forum/viewtopic.php?p=279115#p279115.

Download: <DEB archive and dependencies v1.9.0.1-2a - amd64>

I read carefully all the adventures reported on the forum and made the archive guided by experiences of everybody.

Tested:

Debian 8 (Jessie) w/ Gnome
Debian 9 (Stretch) w/ Mate and Cinnamon
MX 17 w/ Xfce
LMDE2 Mate
LMDE3
Mint 19 Cinnamon
Xubuntu 18.4
Ubuntu 18.4

Obs.: In any distro based in Debian 9 and above, video play inside Scrivener may be restricted.

That’s it!
Salutes,
Alex…

EDIT: Tested distros.

42

Hi,

I have installed Scrivener on Ubuntu 18.04.4 using Play On Linux and everything was fine. But. I paid for the license and Play On Linux tells me that it can’t contact the license server, tells me to install .net. Then when I try to install .net it crashes. Now I have no scrivener, a license key that doesn’t get me anywhere and the world’s best excuse not to write! Disaster! :smiley: What to do? any idea?

Thanks in advance,

Stu

43

Which version did you install? I haven’t tried yet since I use the beta for now, but it’s supposed to work with the last version of dotnet on Winetricks.
Also, I would suggest to install Scrivener via Lutris. It works much better on it for me.

44

Update:

Now running Ubuntu Studio 20.04 on a Dell with Intel i7. This linux installation I got the Scrivener-1.9.0.1beta-x86_64_language_pack.AppImage.tar.gz from theswede’s July 11, 2021 post at:

The direct link to theswede’s dropbox is:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bnsysjubsyq45ud/Scrivener-1.9.0.1beta-x86_64_language_pack.AppImage.tar.gz
I later moved the file from my Download folder to my ~/ to make a better shortcut path. I then ran:
$ tar xvf Scrivener-1.9.0.1beta-x86_64_language_pack.AppImage.tar.gz
$ chmod a+x Scrivener-1.9.0.1beta-x86_64_language_pack.AppImage
$ ./Scrivener-1.9.0.1beta-x86_64_language_pack.AppImage
And I ended up with a Scrivener quick launch icon in my Office category. All my prior work opens and everything is functioning correctly!