[Solved] Problem getting Zotero Standalone running in Linux Mint

I have removed Zotero Standalone and reinstalled the PPA version via Synaptic Package Manager.

Here is the output from the install routine:

(synaptic:12185): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_child_watch_add_full: assertion 'pid > 0' failed
Selecting previously unselected package zotero-standalone.
(Reading database ... 172330 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../zotero-standalone_4.0.28-ubuntu1_all.deb ...
Unpacking zotero-standalone (4.0.28-ubuntu1) ...
Setting up zotero-standalone (4.0.28-ubuntu1) ...
>>> Downloading Zotero standalone 4.0.28 for x86_64
>>> URL: http://download.zotero.org/standalone/4.0.28/Zotero-4.0.28_linux-x86_64.tar.bz2
--2015-09-14 23:01:58-- http://download.zotero.org/standalone/4.0.28/Zotero-4.0.28_linux-x86_64.tar.bz2
Resolving download.zotero.org (download.zotero.org)... 54.192.39.181, 54.192.36.87, 54.192.38.234, ...
Connecting to download.zotero.org (download.zotero.org)|54.192.39.181|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 42780224 (41M) [application/x-bzip2]
Saving to: ‘/tmp/zotero.tar.bz2’

100%[======================================>] 42.780.224 1,77MB/s in 27s

2015-09-14 23:02:25 (1,50 MB/s) - ‘/tmp/zotero.tar.bz2’ saved [42780224/42780224]

>>> Extracting Zotero
>>> Target folder: /opt/zotero
>>> Creating menu entry
>>> Creating startup script
>>> Done!

>>> Don't forget to check out Qnotero, the Zotero sidekick!
>>> URL: http://www.cogsci.nl/qnotero


When I then start the program via commandline, I get an almost identical error message as posted previously in the Ubuntu PPA thread:

cd '/opt/zotero'
/opt/zotero $ ./zotero

(process:12240): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_slice_set_config: assertion 'sys_page_size == 0' failed

(zotero:12240): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: Attempt to add property GnomeProgram::sm-connect after class was initialised

(zotero:12240): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: Attempt to add property GnomeProgram::show-crash-dialog after class was initialised

(zotero:12240): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: Attempt to add property GnomeProgram::display after class was initialised

(zotero:12240): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: Attempt to add property GnomeProgram::default-icon after class was initialised
Could not create gnome accelerators directory `/home/mint/.gnome2/accels': Permission denied


Any ideas how to continue with troubleshooting this?
  • I still can't get Zotero Standalone running on Linux Mint 17.2 and would appreciate help with this. Thank you.
  • We don't produce the PPA and can't provide support for it.
  • If you can reproduce problems with the regular Linux package, let us know (though we pretty much only test with Ubuntu/Kubuntu — generally when there've been problems with other distros it's been due to bugs in those distros).
  • though, Dan, as you see above, the PPA is really only a wrapper for an install script that downloads and unzips the Zotero-provided tarball and then creates a menu items, so this very likely is an actual Zotero issue on Mint, possibly connected to the Gnome Desktop which is the main difference between Mint and Ubuntu I believe.

    @zurpher
    My first try would be to see if this works if you run it locally.
    So download the archive for Zotero. Unzip it into a suitable local folder -- e.g. ~/.local/share/ -- delete the downloaded file and then CD into the newly created Zotero folder and run ./zotero from the commandline.

    i.e.
    cd ~/.local/share
    wget https://download.zotero.org/standalone/4.0.28/Zotero-4.0.28_linux-x86_64.tar.bz2
    tar -vxjf Zotero-4.0.28_linux-x86_64.tar.bz2
    rm Zotero-4.0.28_linux-x86_64.tar.bz2
    cd ./Zotero_linux-x86_64/
    ./zotero

    Note for future reference: The download wget above is specific to the 4.0.28 Zotero version, current as of 09/19/2015. You should make sure to use the download address for the current Zotero version
    You can choose a different folder than ~/.local/share as long as it's in your home directory.
  • edited September 21, 2015
    It turned out that that for some reason I did not have write permissions for the folder .gnome2 and this caused the problems.

    This has been fixed by using the following command
    sudo chown -R $USER:$USER .gnome2
  • @adamsmith

    The local installation works. I installed it on my Ubuntu 14.04 by running the lines you have written in your previous post.

    How do I change this to a global installation ?
  • and the PPA is the only way I'd run a global install, since otherwise updating is a mess&you'd have to run Zotero as su every time you update.
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