How to modify Zotero directory in order to install update in Ubuntu

drpjkurian

Hello
I installed Zotero on my machine running on Ubuntu. I used a snap package for installing the Zotero. I am unable to update the software due to the following reason: "A recommended update is available, but you do not have permission to install it. Modify the Zotero program directory to be writable by your user account". I changed the permission of the Zotero directory in the snap folder. But this step didn't resolve the issue. How to solve this?

dstillman

You'd have to ask the maintainers of the Snap package.

Generally a third-party package wouldn't use Zotero's updater at all — handling updates is part of the point of a package. (Zotero's updater will be much faster and use vastly smaller updates, though.) It sounds like updates weren't properly disabled in the package, or you reverted a preference manually to allow Zotero updates to continue.

You can check ~/.cache/zotero to see if there are update files within there that you can clear, but your system or the Snap package might use a different location.

drpjkurian

Thank you dstillman. I removed the snap package of Zotero. I installed it from the tarball. I created a thread in ubuntuforums explaining the instructions for installing the Zotero from the tarball.
The link to the thread is https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2479834&p=14115069

dstillman

Re: "a whole day today to figure out the commands", I'd just note that, as you obviously saw, we document those commands, linked from the download page. It's generally better just to link to official documentation than to repost commands that might become outdated in the future.

emilianoeheyns

And from the same download page, these would have reduced "a whole day" to minutes: https://github.com/retorquere/zotero-deb/#readme

The snap package keeps running into file permission problems. Don't see why people are so enamored of them.

Mark Wilson

Thank you drpjkurian! Your commands worked perfectly.