Update failure on Ubuntu 11.10

jfy133
Hello,

I am currently running Zotero Linux (x86_64) Standalone version 3.0, using Google Chrome connector on Ubuntu 11.10 64bit

Ever since 2.8, the standalone automatic update will not work.

When I get the 'new version is available', and go through the menu, the updater stays constantly on 'connecting to update server'. There is no message explaining why it can't connect.

However, when I manually go Help > Check for updates I get the error message:

"Unable to update.
A recommended security and stability update is available, but you do not have the system permissions required to install it. Please contact your system administrator, or try again from an account that has permission to install software on this computer"

I am the 'admin' on my laptop, but I don't get the option to type in my admin password.

I wonder whether this is to do with the folder I currently have installed Zotero in (usr/share/zotero), but it has not worked since 2.8 which was just in my documents folder.

For now I'll just install it manually, but any tips to what the problem could be?

Cheers
James
  • adamsmith
    yes, having Zotero in usr/share isn't a good idea and might be the cause of the problem since you would usually not have write access there w/o su privileges. (there was never a version 2.8 of Zotero SA, so I'm not sure what you're referring to here). The typical install location for Zotero on Ubuntu would be
    /home/USERNAME/.local/share
  • jfy133
    Ahh ok, thank you! I'll try moving it.

    Oops! I couldn't remember exactly which version it was of SA, I think I meant one or two versions before the 3.0 release. But it has probably always been in the wrong folder.

    Thanks!
  • Simon
    It's also worth noting that your user account needs to have write access to the directory to auto-update.
  • jfy133
    Thank you! That was probably the problem originally. I forgot that despite me having the root password, I didn't have the same access.

    I've moved it to .local/share anyway.

    Thanks for your help!
  • kylebarbour
    In case it helps, I had the same problem (although my Zotero is in /opt) and changing write access solved my problem. Thanks! I wrote it up here - http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/26352/inability-to-update-and-server-hang-error-on-linux-solved-via-granting-write-permissions-to-opt/ - in case that's helpful.
  • llmunro
    Hello Ubuntu people!

    I need just a little bit of help updating ZSA to its most recent version. I'm using Ubuntu 12.10 [32 bit] and when I try to update to t the 3.0.14, I get the message about not having permissions. I'm not sure why or how it happened, but my Zotero install is in the /opt folder. I tried changing the write access as described by kylebarbour, but without luck. I would prefer not to run zotero as root. Do I need to move zotero to .local/share to be able to update? Is this just a matter of dragging the zotero folder from /opt to .local/share? [More to the point, will moving it mess up my library?] I've been on Ubuntu for a few years, but mucking around in the guts of the file system still scares me...any pointers would be appreciated!

    Thanks much to all!
    Lisa
  • adamsmith
    edited February 21, 2013
    if you want Zotero to auto update you can either use the unofficial (!) ppa https://github.com/smathot/zotero_installer which will include Zotero into your general aptitude update process.
    Disadvantage is that a) it's unofficial, so you'll have to trust Sebastiaan (I don't see any reason not to, but don't add ppas you don't trust) and b) that he lags behind a bit on the updates

    Otherwise, auto updates will only work if you move your entire Zotero install to a place you have write permissions. Likely your data folder is already there, else you couldn't do anything with Zotero, so you'd just be moving your program files. Nothing will happen to your library.

    As an alternative, you could just run Zotero with sudo once, update, close and use it as a regular user, but that means you'd have to do that on every update.

    generally you should also be able to change your permissions for /opt/zotero but we can't help you with that here - probably better to ask that on askubuntu
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