Score:1

Ubuntu

How to install a newer version of blender than repositories without snap or flatpak?

nammerkage

3/1/24, 2:52 PM

I'm trying to install Blender. I don't want to use snap or flatpak. I downloaded a blender tar filed and extracted it.

Trying to find out where to move this folder such that Ubuntu know about the folder. I read that /usr/local/ should be the place

However, after a reboot my system does not know about Blender:

termninal says

>>> blender 
Command 'blender' not found, but can be installed with:
sudo apt install blender

Where should I put the folder? Would love your input

503

3 + 9

software-installation

terdon

3/1/24, 3:06 PM

Why don't you want to use snap or flatpack? Or at least the repositories? That's how you "correctly" install and is much simpler and easier.

nammerkage

3/1/24, 4:07 PM

Hi @terdon - The snap version is running an old version (approx 3.0.0 while newest is 3.4.1). Flatpak is new but there are some issues with making blender a path variable (not sure if it's the right word, but when the program is installed the terminal does not know any blender)

user535733

3/1/24, 4:13 PM

@nammerkage See `snap info blender`: The current latest/stable blender snap is 3.4.1. latest/edge is 3.6.0. Anything else means you are using a different channel, which is very easy to change.

terdon

3/1/24, 4:20 PM

And do you absolutely and definitely need the very latest version? Even if you cannot find a newer one in snap or the repositories, if you don't need the absolutely newest one, just go for one of those.

nammerkage

3/1/24, 4:25 PM

Sorry @user535733 i meant the blender form apt.. Not snap. You are right, snap is new.

nammerkage

3/1/24, 4:25 PM

@terdon sadly I need the newest one. Is it not possible using the downloaded file from Blender.com?

terdon

3/1/24, 4:26 PM

Yes, it's possible, but much harder and more complicated. So unless you know for a fact that you absolutely need a specific feature that is only present in the newest, it just isn't worth the effort. If this is what you need please [edit] your question and explain _exactly_ what you did. Simply un-tarring will not install anything. You will also probably need to compile it.

Mahler

3/1/24, 4:56 PM

You can try 'chmod +x blender' before running it. It needs 'executable' permission.

user535733

3/1/24, 5:15 PM

"Blender [3.0.1] from apt" means that you are using Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. Bolting newer software onto an older LTS release is almost always the wrong solution. It is unmaintainable and may eventually break your system. It's a common mistake. If you want to use a newer deb package, then you must run a newer release of Ubuntu (22.10 = 3.2, 23.04 will include 3.4). If you don't want to use the snap, then you are embarking upon a journey of learning.

Score:1

Ubuntu

nukkio

3/20/24, 12:04 AM

I had the same problem on Ubuntu 22.10, but managed to solve it. I don't know which of the following actions worked, so I list them all:

I copied the blender.desktop file that is in the Blender tar archive into the ~/.local/share/applications folder, changed the path for the executable and for the icon, and I set it as executable. This didn't launch Blender and in the right click menu there was no Allow launching option.

I added the line:

application/x-blender=blender.desktop

to the /usr/share/applications/defaults.list file.

Using a terminal:

echo "application/x-blender=blender.desktop" | sudo tee -a /usr/share/applications/defaults.list

This did not work.

I copied the blender.desktop file to the desktop: here with the right click there was an Allow launching option, and it launched Blender. It was possible to add Blender to the Favourites and then I moved the blender.desktop file back to ~/.local/share/applications.

After the above, even after eliminating everything I had done, Blender remained in the favorites and is present in the Applications overview. I don't know, maybe I missed some logout or restart.

Note that since the first versions of Ubuntu, I had never installed Blender this way. I was always creating a Programs folder, unpacking the Blender tar/zip, renaming the folder as blender and creating the launcher. With this method I could always update the Blender version by simply unzipping the new zip and renaming the new folder.

With Ubuntu 22.10 it was just a bit more complicated, but it was also late at night.

Hope this can help.

+ 0

Score:1

Ubuntu

Terrance

3/1/24, 3:01 PM

Create a link to Blender to call it since the location you have it in is not in the $PATH statement. To see your $PATH statement run echo $PATH from a terminal. The executables need to be in a directory that is in your path.

Since /usr/local/bin should be in your path you can use the following to create a link to Blender.

sudo ln -s /usr/local/blender-3.4.1-linux-x64/blender /usr/local/bin/blender

+ 0

Score:1

Ubuntu

jmath1983

3/1/24, 3:58 PM

Just open a terminal and type:

sudo apt install blender

And you'll have the latest deb version of blender.

If you want the most recent version, you should consider the snap or flatpak version.

The alternative is to manually create a shortcut to the blender executable inside that folder you've created. That will require a few more steps.

+ 2

nammerkage

3/1/24, 4:09 PM

Didn't work, it installed the snap package instead. (Snap package is at version 3.0.1, but newest is 3.4.1). But thanks for the suggestion

jmath1983

3/1/24, 4:33 PM

Have you tried to do `sudo apt-mark hold snap && sudo apt update && sudo apt install blender`?

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