Notes on Inkscape (better than Adobe Illustrator)

Russell Bateman
March 2020
last update:


Links

Installation: I don't like quickie snap, etc.

...so, here's how to do it the right way. Okay, so it looks ugly—this is because I reveal all the ugly details, but it only has to happen once. Thereafter, the Update Manager will take care of it. We're really only looking at the following commands; the rest is just apt-get jabber:

  1. russ@tuonela ~ $ sudo bash # (get root so you can run apt-get)
  2. tuonela ~ # apt-get update
  3. tuonela ~ # add-apt-repository ppa:inkscape.dev/stable
  4. tuonela ~ # apt-get update
  5. tuonela ~ # apt-get install inkscape

Here's how the installation went:

russ@tuonela ~ $ sudo bash
tuonela ~ # apt-get update
Hit:1 http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian xenial InRelease
Ign:2 http://packages.linuxmint.com sonya InRelease
Hit:3 http://packages.linuxmint.com sonya Release
Get:4 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security InRelease [109 kB]
Hit:5 http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease
Hit:7 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease
Hit:8 https://packagecloud.io/slacktechnologies/slack/debian jessie InRelease
Get:9 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates InRelease [109 kB]
Get:10 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports InRelease [107 kB]
Fetched 325 kB in 1s (241 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done
tuonela ~ # add-apt-repository ppa:inkscape.dev/stable
You are about to add the following PPA:
 The Inkscape Stable PPA is intended to provide the current supported release of Inkscape.
 More info: https://launchpad.net/~inkscape.dev/+archive/ubuntu/stable
Press Enter to continue or Ctrl+C to cancel

Executing: /tmp/tmp.l6QQh68gde/gpg.1.sh --keyserver
hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80
--recv-keys
B9A06DE3
gpg: requesting key B9A06DE3 from hkp server keyserver.ubuntu.com
gpg: key B9A06DE3: public key "Launchpad PPA for Inkscape Developers" imported
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg:               imported: 1  (RSA: 1)
tuonela ~ # apt-get update
Hit:1 http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian xenial InRelease
Ign:2 http://packages.linuxmint.com sonya InRelease
Get:3 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security InRelease [109 kB]
Hit:4 http://packages.linuxmint.com sonya Release
Hit:5 http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease
Get:6 http://ppa.launchpad.net/inkscape.dev/stable/ubuntu xenial InRelease [17.5 kB]
Hit:8 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease
Get:9 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates InRelease [109 kB]
Hit:10 https://packagecloud.io/slacktechnologies/slack/debian jessie InRelease
Get:11 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports InRelease [107 kB]
Get:12 http://ppa.launchpad.net/inkscape.dev/stable/ubuntu xenial/main Sources [988 B]
Get:13 http://ppa.launchpad.net/inkscape.dev/stable/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 Packages [1,024 B]
Get:14 http://ppa.launchpad.net/inkscape.dev/stable/ubuntu xenial/main i386 Packages [1,020 B]
Get:15 http://ppa.launchpad.net/inkscape.dev/stable/ubuntu xenial/main Translation-en [692 B]
Fetched 346 kB in 2s (167 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done
tuonela ~ # apt-get install inkscape
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
  libgsl2 libmagick++-6.q16-5v5 libpotrace0
Suggested packages:
  dia | dia-gnome libgnomevfs2-extra libsvg-perl libxml-xql-perl transfig pstoedit gsl-ref-psdoc | gsl-doc-pdf
  | gsl-doc-info | gsl-ref-html
Recommended packages:
  libwmf-bin perlmagick python-numpy python-scour python-uniconvertor
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  inkscape libgsl2 libmagick++-6.q16-5v5 libpotrace0
0 upgraded, 4 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 17.6 MB of archives.
After this operation, 138 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
Get:1 http://ppa.launchpad.net/inkscape.dev/stable/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 inkscape amd64 0.92.4+68~ubuntu16.04.1 [16.6 MB]
Get:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 libgsl2 amd64 2.1+dfsg-2 [840 kB]
Get:3 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main amd64 libmagick++-6.q16-5v5 amd64 8:6.8.9.9-7ubuntu5.15 [136 kB]
Get:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 libpotrace0 amd64 1.13-2 [17.7 kB]
Fetched 17.6 MB in 2s (8,505 kB/s)
Selecting previously unselected package libgsl2:amd64.
(Reading database ... 745022 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../libgsl2_2.1+dfsg-2_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libgsl2:amd64 (2.1+dfsg-2) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libmagick++-6.q16-5v5:amd64.
Preparing to unpack .../libmagick++-6.q16-5v5_8%3a6.8.9.9-7ubuntu5.15_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libmagick++-6.q16-5v5:amd64 (8:6.8.9.9-7ubuntu5.15) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libpotrace0.
Preparing to unpack .../libpotrace0_1.13-2_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libpotrace0 (1.13-2) ...
Selecting previously unselected package inkscape.
Preparing to unpack .../inkscape_0.92.4+68~ubuntu16.04.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking inkscape (0.92.4+68~ubuntu16.04.1) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.23-0ubuntu11) ...
Processing triggers for mime-support (3.59ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.22+linuxmint1) ...
Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.13.3-6ubuntu3.1) ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.15-0ubuntu1.1) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.5-1) ...
Setting up libgsl2:amd64 (2.1+dfsg-2) ...
Setting up libmagick++-6.q16-5v5:amd64 (8:6.8.9.9-7ubuntu5.15) ...
Setting up libpotrace0 (1.13-2) ...
Setting up inkscape (0.92.4+68~ubuntu16.04.1) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.23-0ubuntu11) ...