Trouble for new Linux install on Mozilla Firefox with LO Writer Plugin

Cbhihe
Hello,
I am completely new to Zotero.
I also just installed it on Ubuntu 14.04 (64bits), running:
- Mozilla Firefox 52.0.1 (Zotero v4.0.29.16)
- LO Writer 5.3.1.2 (Zotero LibreOffice Integration v 3.5.12).
After doing so I registered, added a couple of references in Zotero (the version integrated in FF) and checked that my syncing worked well. So far so good.

I viewed the youtube tutorials but when it came to including my first citation in LO writer, I just could find neither Zotero's plugin listed in LO Writer, not any menu allowing me to include references from Zotero.

I must be missing something basic. Can sb give me pointers ?
Thanks. -ced
  • Cbhihe
    Okay, so I removed the two extensions on Mozilla FF, downloaded the Zotero standalone Linux v5.0 beta... So my questions become:
    - Is there a user manual for that version ?

    As there does not seem to be an easy install path I just plain extracted the tar.gz2 file and put the result in a directory of /opt/bin/Zotero/.
    - Is the only way to use Zotero to launch ./run-zotero.sh ?
    - Do I need to create an icon for it and launch by double clicking on the icon in order to launch from the GUI ?

    Any help welcome. Thanks.
  • adamsmith
    There's no particular user manual, no. Basic functionality hasn't changed; we'll document additional features with or shortly after the final release
    .
    Installation is indeed to just extract & run (though I'd recommend doing this somewhere local, e.g. ~/.local/bin, so that you can update from within the software without running it as sudo).
    You also should run ./zotero not the bash script. Since 5.0 includes an Ubuntu desktop file, I think if you run it, you should see an icon in the unity launcher bar, which you can then "Lock to Launcher". There's a ticket for packaging Zotero for Ubuntu, but that's only going to happen if someone from the community picks it up.
  • dstillman
    edited March 23, 2017
    1) There's no 'run-zotero.sh' in 5.0, just a 'zotero'.

    2) Once you've moved the directory to its final location, there's a 'set_launcher_icon' script that you can run to set a proper icon in the Ubuntu desktop file.
  • Cbhihe
    Thank you @adamsmith and @dstillman ! Much appreciated. Really.

    I ended up putting the extracted files in ~/.zotero/Zotero_linux-x86_64.

    In fact there _IS_ a `run-zotero.sh` in 5.0 beta. I had a peek in it to understand what the script does and apparently it is used for debugging purposes. The question could well be in this case "did I download the right thing" ?

    There is indeed a desktop entry file: `zotero.desktop` in the unpacked bunch of files and running it from its (above-mentioned) location creates a new one and puts it nicely where it belongs, i.e. in `~/.local/share/applications`.

    However when I run the application either from the launchbar or from cli with fully qualified path, I get:
    >> ERROR: Your Zotero database is currently in use.
    >> Only one instance of Zotero using the same database may be opened
    >> simultaneously at this time.
    >> If Firefox with the Zotero extension is open, please close it and restart
    >> Zotero Standalone.

    Indeed I do have Firefox opened with the Zotero extension installed. What to do ? I need FF opened more or less "18/7/360" and Zotero at the same time with LO Writer when I write an article. Should I just get rid of the FF extension then ? But does not this preclude the use of Zotero to (in the best of cases) automatically import references from the web pages I visit ?

    I may be confused as to how Zotero can be used but my (tentative) use case was:
    - opened FF -> surf and fish for references as needed with Zotero extension
    - opened Zotero Standalone -> insert citation in paper being written
    - opened LO Writer -> process paper being written
    ... all that simultaneously.

    Anything wrong with that ? Cheers. -ced.
  • adamsmith
    Where are you getting the 5.0 version from? Dan would know what's in there, given that he packs it, but I also just double-checked and there really is no run-zotero.sh anymore. If that's in your Zotero folder, you either somehow merged folders or you're not running 5.0

    Also, you can't run 5.0 together with the 4.0 Firefox add-on. You need to run the Firefox connector (which doesn't have its own database): https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/comment/267549/#Comment_267549
  • Cbhihe
    edited March 23, 2017
    @adamsmith:
    All clear now. Thank you a bunch. I got rid of the installed FF extensions released with Zotero 4.x and installed the light-weight FF DB-connector you pointed me to instead. Sync'ed and connected all. All is working fine.

    A word of explanation about spurious files in my Zotero directory. I first downloaded and installed the Zotero 4.0.x version.
    I then downloaded the 5.0 beta version and unpacked it. Before unpacking I checked its destination and the default name of the destination directory. From v4.0.x to 5.0 the destination directory name did not change.
    Seeing this I thought (wrongly) that `xarchiver` would crush the earlier destination directory. It did not; it appended to it !
    Result: I have a nice mess of files pertaining to two different releases, among them the contentious one: `run-zotero.sh`. So, I owe you guys a "mea culpa".

    So far having a bunch of irrelevant file does not seem to bother Zotero 5.0. However I will clean the mess up...

    Cheers. -ced
  • adamsmith
    since there are no data files in the Zotero program folder, you can just delete it entirely and recreate by unpacking the the 5.0 tarball to the same location. Glad everything is working, then.
  • Cbhihe
    Done. Tx.

    One last musing:
    I understand that saving refs to a distant DB administered by the Zotero project is done in the background. Is that the _only_ citation-DB available ?
    Don't users have access to a local DB on their installation host too ? If so where ?

    If no local-host DB is available by default, can a user secure a full snapshot-copy of their DB at any time ?

    Cheers. -ced
  • adamsmith
    By default data is _only_ saved to a local db:
    https://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data

    Using Zotero servers is entirely optional and is done by syncing your local database:
    https://www.zotero.org/support/sync
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