How to upgrade to Audacity 2.x

The easiest way to upgrade to the current version of Audacity is to simply wait until Audacity is updated in the repository for your distribution.

For users that wish to take advantage of the new features and enhancements in the latest version, here are some upgrade options:

Ubuntu:
The very latest version of Audacity is available from the Audacity Daily Build PPA.
Follow the instructions on that page to add the PPA to your sources list.
Note that this PPA is updated nearly every day, so unless you wish to update Audacity daily you will probably want to temporarily deselect the PPA in your Software Sources list after installing/updating Audacity.

Installing from the source code:
Building an application from the source code is relatively simple on Linux, though there are a few preparations that need to be made.
The latest official release version of the Audacity source code is available here: http://audacityteam.org/download/
Instructions for how to compile/build Audacity from the source code are here: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Developing_On_Linux
If you require help compiling/building Audacity there is a forum board specifically about compiling Audacity: http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewforum.php?f=19

of course I’ve ‘taped down the knobs’ for Ubuntu 10.10 (i.e. pointing to the older 10.10 repos) because I don’t want to use either Unity or Gnome3.x (until they stop trying to be like Unity) so trying to upgrade Audacity to 2.0 via a .deb causes a dep-dance of recursive absurdity…the .deb for Audacity 2.0 requires the audacity-data deps for 2.0 but that won’t install because it ‘breaks the existing package’ - brilliant!

and going back to 1.3.15 results in the same mess.

in this case, how would one update Audacity from 1.3.12.beta → 2.0?

Give me all the details anechoic and I’ll try it.
I expect that the solution will be to build from the source code, but if you can give as much detail as possible I’ll try to duplicate your set-up in a virtual machine.

Which package manager are you using to do the upgrade? apt-get? aptitude? synaptic? ubuntu’s software center (or whatever they call it)?
Which sources (repos) have you defined?
Have you set any “default” distro version?

Some package managers, such as aptitude, can provide different alternatives on how to handle dependencies on upgrading a package.
There are also ways of forcing one default distro version.

Any chance of a deb for Lucid (10.04) users? That’s the latest LTS release (until 12.04) and I’m sticking with it as best I can (avoiding Gnome 3 and Unity like anechoic).

The Audacity developers do not produce binaries for Linux, that’s left to the distribution maintainers to do so that they can configure it to suit their system.
Unfortunately the Ubuntu PPA only goes back as far as Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick).

I sympathise with you about Gnome 3 / Unity. I expect that Gnome 3 will eventually develop into an excellent Desktop, but I don’t personally think that it’s ready yet for general use. I’m not placing any bets on Unity - while Ubuntu have a tremendous track record for innovation and moving Desktop Linux into the 21st century, I found Unity Desktop to be far too slow and annoying, so set about looking for alternatives.

One option that’s available in the short term is that you could upgrade to Ubuntu 10.10. I used Maverick for a long time (with Gnome 2) and found it a real pleasure.

Another option is that you could try building Audacity from the source code. Lucid has WxWidgets 2.8 in the repository so Audacity should build quite easily. If you want to try this option let me know and we can start a new topic to go through it step by step.

Another option that may see you through for the longer term would be to change to a different Linux distribution.
Popular choices that are not too dissimilar to Lucid include Mint, Debian Squeeze, Xubuntu.

I’ve gone with Squeeze which I am very happy with. The initial set-up is not quite as simple as Ubuntu - in particular, non-free wifi drivers are not included so you need to have a wired connection for the initial set-up. After the initial set-up it’s terrific. Extremely stable, reliable, customisable, does everything you could want.

Mint is dead easy to set up and works well, though for my preference I found it to be a bit over-customised - I like to do things my way :wink:

Xubuntu uses the XFCE Deskop which you will notice is a bit different from Gnome, but it has matured a lot over the last couple of years and is much faster than Unity. As you will need to upgrade eventually, I’d suggest that you try out some Live CDs and see which you like.

Thanks for all the comments, steve. For those who come after, wxgtk has a ppa to get the current version, and libsndfile is in the lucid repos (you’ll need libsndfile1-dev).

Steve, I actually use Linux Mint 9 (and found it very customisable), but the Mint folks discourage in-place upgrades except in their Debian edition. I’ve been hanging on to LM9 a while and I’ve got it “Just So” so I’m hesitant to do a fresh install. I’ll certainly consider Squeeze when I finally bite the bullet and upgrade, but I’m also interested in what the Mint teams are doing to make Gnome 3 palatable. I’ve used XFCE (been a few years ago now) and found it very limiting, but maybe I just like resource-draining clutter and effects on my desktop. I am a sucker for Compiz. :smiley:

2.0.0 is working great here, thanks.
Eric

I’ve been a happy Debian user for the last 12 years, so I might be a bit biased here, but Ubuntu never got me convinced. I’ve tried maybe 4 or 5 different releases of it (since the very first one) and didn’t like any so far…

I don’t know how much of this applies to ubuntu, but on Debian it’s not very complex to create your own deb packages, specially if you just want to upgrade to a new upstream release of an already existing package: http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/maint-guide/update.en.html#newupstream
(this one here goes particularly to Steve hehe :wink: if you haven’t checked debian new maintainers’ guide yet I think you’ll like it and enjoy building your own debs)

Version 2.8.10 is recent enough.
When I used 2.8.12 (from the PPA) on Debian I was getting a few glitches in the Audacity interface, so if 2.8.10 or later are available in your distribution repository then I’d recommend using that.

sorry for the late response - been hellabusy with a armful of projects all with looming deadlines

as for Audacity on Linux:

I am using Ubuntu 10.10 and refusing to upgrade to the Fisher-Price wannabe iPad like UI they think the 21st century computer users want and need - to which I say ‘no thanks!’

I like my Gnome2.x setup and due to the lack of updates I’ve been considering switching to Mint Debian running MATE in order to update my apps

in the meantime, I’m using Audacity 1.3.12 beta and am quite happy with it - so I think I’ll wait until I switch to Mint until I move to Audacity 2.x

thanks and keep up the great work!

I’ve must have installed Audacity on literally dozens of machines in my workshops over the past 10 years

ciao!!
kim

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: - That’s why I returned to Debian and FVWM (first release in 1993) - Here’s a picture of Audacity_2.0 using stoneage power:

Does that look old enough? - It really works! - [If you can’t see an image complain to the %$§! SourceForge mail archive]

  • edgar

and why I switched to “straight” Debian Squeeze. Less stone-age than FVWM but still avoids the “Fisher-Price”/iPad/Win 8 features that reduce computers to oversized mobile phones (without the 'phone).

Also, Compiz works well on Debian Squeeze (but for me, the novelty wore off so I don’t use it now).
fullwindow000.png

You don’t “have” to use Unity on Ubuntu.

On 11.10, open a Terminal:

sudo apt-get install gnome-session-fallback

Then choose Gnome Classic by clicking the “cog wheel” when you log in.



Gale

True, but that gives you Gnome 3 which still feels rather experimental to me.

If you want the full Gnome shell use

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell

gnome-session-fallback, or gnome-panel can be installed from the command line with apt (apparently they both depend on each other so will install the same things) or from the Ubuntu Software Centre, or Synaptic (if you have it installed).

gnome-shell will also install gnome-session-fallback and gnome-panel and some other gnome stuff.