Requirements

The programs you will need to compile Scribus 1.3.5+ are:

  1. For Scribus 1.3.x+ GCC 3.x+ is required, GCC 3.3+ is strongly recommended. The Scribus Team has tested compiling with GCC 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3. We recommend the newest stable GCC 4.x release for the performance benefits.
  2. GNU make
The dependencies for compilation, and also to run Scribus are:
  1. Qt 4.3.0+, both the runtime libraries and development libraries. Qt 4.2.x is not supported as 1.3.5+ relies on functions only in 4.3.x. Qt3 is no longer required or supported with Scribus 1.3.5 or higher.
  2. Python and python-devel libraries 2.3+. Python 2.2 is not supported.
  3. Freetype2 2.1.7+. Due to various freetype2 bugs, we recommend, if your distribution/OS allows, to use 2.3.x
  4. cairo 1.4.x We recommend 1.4.10+for performance reasons.
  5. libxml2 2.6+.
  6. Ghostscript 8.15+ or GPL Ghostscript 8.60+ is highly recommended. Ubuntu users in particular are urged to update to a newer version if possible.
  7. PostScript-Fonts. TrueType Fonts. Scribus also can support OpenType fonts, both TrueType and Type 1 Outline OpenType Fonts.
  8. Littlecms - also known as lcms in some distributions. Minimum 1.12, 1.17+ recommended. lcms 1.12+ has support for black point compensation. 1.3.4+ requires littlecms.
  9. libtiff 3.6.0+
  10. libjpeg

Optionally:

Scribus will run under most any window manager and does not require KDE itself. However, drag and drop functionality will be lost without KDE. One of the Scribus developers runs Gnome. The author of this documentation has made a point of testing each release of Scribus under Blackbox as well. This has shown no incompatibilities or problems for Scribus, except for the loss of drag and drop functionality.

If color management does not work, you also need at least one RGB profile and one CMYK profile installed or the color preferences and options will not appear in the menus. Scribus installs one RGB and one CMYK profile simply to enable color management, but some distributions, notably Debian, because of licensing issues provides icc profiles in separate packages.

Testing suggests setting the correct "-march=" CXXFLAGS has a very beneficial effect on Scribus performance. For example, if you have a Duron or Athlon processor, using export CXXFLAGS="-march=athlon" would be of benefit. Check if your distribution sets these for you and how they are set, and for further information see:

man gcc
for detailed options

There are detailed notes in the BUILDING file and packagers should look at the PACKAGING file in the sources for more details.

Using CMake

In 1.3.3.6+, we have added support for using CMake as an alternative for traditional autotools. For 1.3.5+ it is now mandatory. Currently, Linux and MacOSX are working reliably. Please see CMake instructions for instructions.

You can launch Scribus from the command line with the following options:

scribus --help

Output:

scribus -h

Scribus, Open Source Desktop Publishing
---------------------------------------
Homepage:       http://www.scribus.net
Documentation:  http://docs.scribus.net
Wiki:           http://wiki.scribus.net
Issues:         http://bugs.scribus.net

Usage: scribus [option ... ] [file]
Options:
   -h, --help             Print help (this message) and exit
   -l, --lang             Uses xx as shortcut for a language, eg `en' or `de'
  -la, --langs-available  List the currently installed interface languages
  -fi, --font-info        Show information on the console when fonts are being loaded
  -ns, --no-splash        Do not show the splashscreen on startup
  -v,  --version          Output version information and exit
  -sb, --swap-buttons     Use right to left dialog button ordering (eg. Cancel/No/Yes instead of Yes/No/Cancel)
  -pr, --prefs filename   Use filename as path for user given preferences
  -pi  --profile-info     Lists the installed profiles Scribus can access and diagnostics on loading them.

The default location for the Scribus executable is located in /usr/local/bin. Documentation is located in /usr/local/lib/scribus/doc

In addition for Linux/Unix desktops, there is a desktop.config file named scribus.desktop which can be used for a menu shortcut or desktop shortcut. Simply copy this from the base directory of the installation source directory to your KDE desktop and this will launch Scribus. After dragging this to the desktop, right click and make sure the execute check box is checked. This file conforms to the latest www.freedesktop.org specifications.