Unable to update Pixinsight on Linux Mint

K

Ken89148

Active member
Hello, I'm a long time Mac user but recently switched to Linux Mint 20.1 Cinnamon for faster processing. I tried to update to the new PixInsight release 1.8.8.8 but on start up it was still the previous version. I had right clicked on the previous version icon and clicked uninstall, but I get a message that it is not associated to the package, even though it launches the program ! I tried Synaptic package manager but when I search for PixInsight no such package is found. It was originally installed under home in a directory called pi-install which contains several folders but no program. I found a hidden directoy under home called .PixInsight which contains a license and a conf file but no program. I'm hoping someone more knowledgeable in linux can help point me in the right direction so I can install the update.
 
Sounds like it was not installed. Your best bet is using the Mint terminal. Download the program file to your home/owner directory and install the program following directions at the PI linux version download site.
 
The new version was not installed, I understand the old version needs to be removed for the new version to successfully install, but I can't locate the old version.
 
Should I be looking for a different program name ?

ken@ken-Linux:~$ sudo apt-get remove pixinsight
[sudo] password for ken:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package pixinsight
ken@ken-Linux:~$
 
i don't think pixinsight is going to be in APT; you would have had to add PI to the APT repositories and i don't think PI is distributed that way for linux.

anyway if you are able to start pixinsight from the shell, the command "which PixInsight" or "which PixInsight.sh" would tell you where it is currently installed.

the PI binary/script does accept the --uninstall flag, which would do it... but i'm unsure if that would delete all of your settings as well.

rob
 
I have eventually found a file called pixinsight.sh in a directory called /opt/PixInsight/bin. Can someone please confirm that this is the file (I assume the only file ?) that I need to delete in order to install the update. I don't want to end up is a situation where both the old and new versions fail to work.

Surely Pixinsight should have a better way to update their software. The pixinsight installer installs the software in the first place, why is it incapable of uninstalling any necessary files for an update. I love the program but this hardly seems professional, or is this the penalty for using linux rather than mac.
 
this is just the way linux is... even torvalds thinks linux on the desktop sucks.

anyway no, you don't want to just delete that file. that's just a launcher shell script - there are a bajillion more files that PI has installed, probably in /opt/PixInsight. you need to call pixinsight.sh with the argument --uninstall in order to uninstall it.

rob
 
Hi Rob

Well I finally got the update done, I just deleted the directory. Suspect I will need to download the star database files again. I sure hope there are no more major updates if this is the process one has to follow. Given pixinsight recommends linux, and it certainly runs faster than on a mac, I would hope that they would put some effort into their future update process

If other linux programs can be deleted by clicking on the icon and selecting uninstall, why does it not work with pixinsight (at least on my installation).

Thanks for your help
 
i guess those other programs are distributed via apt/dpkg and thus there are tools to delete/install from many sources. i don't know why juan distributes PI using a standalone installer but it certainly isn't out of the norm for a linux program to be distributed that way. anyway juan uses linux to develop PI so whatever the method of installation, linux is the "primary" operating system for PI.

rob
 
I did not delete the old rev and it updated fine for me. I simply downloaded the file to my home/tom directory, I then ran the tar command as shown in the download page, and then sudo ./installer and all went fast and well.
 
Probably sounds a silly question, but did it actually install the new program and delete the old ? When I ran the tar command as shown in the download page it also went fast, but when I started the program it was still the old version. Are you using linux mint or some other system ?
 
PixInsight is not available through package managers on any Linux distribution. To install PixInsight on Linux, simply run the installer program, type 'yes' (without quotes), and press Enter. The installer program will uninstall a previous version automatically.

The exact sequence of operations is:

* Download the Linux installation package on any folder. For example, let's assume that you have downloaded it on a "Downloads/PI" folder under your home directory.

* Open a terminal window

* Enter the following commands:

cd ~/Downloads/PI tar -xf PI-linux-x64-1.8.8-8-20210531-c.tar.xz sudo ./installer

* Enter your password, as requested by the sudo command.

* Type 'yes' (without quotes) and press Enter.

That's all. PixInsight is now installed on your machine. You can run it through your applications menu (such as the Application Launcher on KDE), and also from a terminal by just entering the PixInsight& command.
 
Ok, thank you for confirming, it was a silly question. I had typed the same commands that Juan listed above, including the yes response, but it did not update. There were no error messages. I only have a few months of experience with linux and I use it exclusively for PixInsight, so I have no idea what I'm doing when installing or removing programs. I'm monitor it more closely next time there is a major update and take some screen shots during the process just in case of any problems. Thanks again to everyone that responded.
 
Juan Conejero said:
PixInsight is not available through package managers on any Linux distribution. To install PixInsight on Linux, simply run the installer program, type 'yes' (without quotes), and press Enter. The installer program will uninstall a previous version automatically.

The exact sequence of operations is:

* Download the Linux installation package on any folder. For example, let's assume that you have downloaded it on a "Downloads/PI" folder under your home directory.

* Open a terminal window

* Enter the following commands:

cd ~/Downloads/PI tar -xf PI-linux-x64-1.8.8-8-20210531-c.tar.xz sudo ./installer

* Enter your password, as requested by the sudo command.

* Type 'yes' (without quotes) and press Enter.

That's all. PixInsight is now installed on your machine. You can run it through your applications menu (such as the Application Launcher on KDE), and also from a terminal by just entering the PixInsight& command.
Click to expand...
What command you use to uninstall PI? I can't upgrade Fedora and would like to see if uninstalling PI would help.
 
Rob, afterwords I managed to update my system files in Fedora. Thanks

Now I should reinstall using the command "sudo ./installer".
 
yes i think so, the FAQ says to "become root" and run the installer so sudo should work for that.
 
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