Inkscape 0.92 installation on OSX

[Moini]

Sometimes, months are shorter than one can believe. Take a look here: https://sourceforge.net/p/inkscape/mailman/message/35645802/

[brynn]

Awesome news!!

Let's think up some nice gift for him.....or something   

[cc]

Hi Brynn, I have been searching, reading, watching, learning... & I came across quite a bit of info regarding Inkscape for Mac including this recent article… (attached screenshot).

I imagine you’re referring to me in that thread. OF course, there could be MANY (Mac) newbies that you’re attempting to help. Moot point, the point is that you’re (IMHO) really going out of your way to HELP… SO VERY KIND! Thank you for that, I read through many such posts, much of which I can’t pretend to comprehend but I see your name pop up, seeking help on my behalf, on the behalf of Mac users, on the behalf of a newbie… on behalf of a non Developer-Programmer-Tech person! With that I just wanted to say, THANK YOU, so very much!

As I mentioned, I’ve been using (only) Macs for a few decades. I’ve spent yrs. in large corporations, with large IT/IS departments, & in some startups with NO support; & *generally* —as a Mac user, you tend to be hugely unsupported in either situation. Happily Mac’s popularity has changed this --a bit, that & people like yourself! Please know I am grateful for your support & the Inkscape development team for helping out the Mac community of Inkscape users, whether with a .dmg install or a stable (comprehensive) working install via Macports. Thank you, thank you!

[brynn]

Well, thanks for your kind words, cc.  Yeah, there's some one-liner about good intentions and a cup of coffee, but I don't remember exactly how it goes.

Yes, that was my post on the development mailing list.  The last time I looked, it hasn't been answered (just logged on today, haven't checked email yet).  And I've been waiting to find out if a DMG installer is coming relatively sooner or later.  I think it's either 2 or 3 people who have posted as having some interest.  If it looks like it's going to drag on and on, I will definitely try and find out what that problem with MacPorts is (if indeed it turns out to be a single cause - that's just a guess at this point).

It's one thing that I don't understand about programming and development.  It was several versions ago when the project was at risk not to have a Windows version, for lack of someone who can do the packaging.  Now it's Macs.  What I don't understand is why there seems to be so few people who have the right skills.  Is it just that most of them want to be paid?  If that's the case, maybe we should set up some kind of packaging fund, or something?

In any case, it's those Mac users who are trying to create the DMG package who deserve all the praise!

[Moini]

Actually, a test package has already been published for testing by developers and is being worked on. It's not ready for user testing yet, but I assume that it soon will be. Tim is a hard-working guy

[brynn]

Hah, I was just coming to post that info!  Here's the link:  https://inkscape.org/en/~tghs/★inkscape-0921pre1-tghs_0-x11-107-i386dmg

And again, it's not ready for newbies yet.

[cc]

Yea! That's exciting!! Not a problem, I won't be testing it (I've not the developer skills to be a tester). I understand it's a work in progress & not an official release. Still, I appreciate ALL the effort... thank you all!!
 
 

[brynn]

Just to keep you up to date, Tim Sheridan, who along with a few others whose names I don't know yet, is the one who is working on the DMG version.  He has released a 2nd test version.  I'm still waiting to hear whether it's only for developers and advanced users.

But the main thing, is that he says his goal is to have an official DMG version ready for the 0.92.2 Inkscape release.  As far as I've heard, 0.92.2 should be expected in a few months.

I really had no idea it was so hard to package Inkscape, or any kind of program.  No wonder finding people to do it is so difficult.

[brynn]

Good news!  Tim says this version should be ok for most users.  Here's the download link:  https://inkscape.org/en/~tghs/★inkscape-0921-tghs_2-x11-107-x86_64dmg

Note that this is considered to be an unofficial, not necessarily stable, test version of version 0.91.

Note that if you run into any bugs, report them directly to Tim.  He can be found on IRC https://inkscape.org/en/community/discussion/.  Or if you're subscribed to the mailing list, you can report it on the same message thread where he announced it.  In any case, please don't report them on Launchpad, yet.

If you run into problems, and you're not sure if it's a bug, you can post a message in this forum, and we'll try to help you sort it out.

Tim says he hopes to have an official, stable version ready for the 0.92.2 release!

Thanks Tim!!   

[ivy]

I know this is a very old thread and things have moved on, but I run into similar issues running Inkscape on my Mac using the recommended  (as per the old download page: inkscape.org/en/download/mac-os/ which has now been superseded by the newer link below) instalation method:


Inkscape 0.92 via MacPorts as an X11 build via inkscape.org/releases and selecting the previous 0.92.2 (2017) revision for macOS


I opted for this alternative install due to the comment "The native quartz build can potentially be less stable, and less well integrated into the desktop environment (e.g. for copy-pasting)."

However upon installing Xcode from the App store, MacPorts (High Sierra v10.13) from macports.org/install.php and Inkscape from within a macOS terminal window (>_:  sudo port install inkscape) I was struggling to run Inkscape even though I didn't receive any errors during the install. It was all rather confusing and what I really struggled with was the following:

- No Inkscape icon in the applicaitons folder or anywhere else
- Attempting to run Inkscape from within a macOS terminal window resuled in a message: "Nothing to do!"

Searching for a fix I run into this forum and I got stuck on this thread, but after a lot of head scratching and going over all the install instructions I kinda figured it out. I missed one or two steps in the installation which were not exactly obvious, specificall the instrucitons relating to Xcode and Macports!

1) When installing Xcode (guide.macports.org/#installing.xcode), pay attention to "Xcode and the Xcode Command Line Tools" i.e. don't forget to install the Xcode Command Line Tools i.e. in a macOS terminal window run >_:  xcode-select --install

2) Then accept the license (although I think this is done via the installer already) by runing the following in a macOS terminal window >_: xcodebuild -license

3) A crucial element to run Inkscape on MacPorts install is to have the X11 environment working on the Mac, even though it's stated as "Optional" step on the Macports instructions (macports.org/install.php). It lists 3 different available choices for this:

- Install the xorg-server port from MacPorts
- The XQuartz Project provides a complete X11 release for macOS including server and client libraries and applications.
- Apple's X11.app is provided by the “X11 User” package on older OS versions. It is always installed on Lion, and is an optional installation on your system CDs/DVD with previous OS versions.

My choice: Although I assumed I already had X11 installed I decided to make sure by re-installing one of these options and as XQuartz was already mentioned as an alternative install for 0.92 on the Inkscape site I decided to install the XQuartz Project's release of X11 to be on the safe side and would you believe it, this did the trick. Not sure why I assumed I already had this installed, but in any case a properly working X11 environment seems to be a necessary requirement to run Inkscape on the Mac! It may seem obvious to most Inkscape users, but it's probably worth spelling out for some Mac users, especially if they are new to macOS or haven't dabbled with Linux/Unix for a while or never before.

End result: Inkscape running successfully within  XQuartz terminal window



NB: It could be possible that X11.app is already instaled on your Mac and therefore you could potentially use this to run Inkscape instead of needing XQuartz or the other X11 alternative listed above.


Postscript:

Not sure if this was the right place for this reply post, but given that my search for a fix lead me to this thread, I figured others who are experiencing the same issues might end up here too and hence my reply on this old thread


Also if you want to create  Inkscape applicaiton shortcut you could either:

Create a XQuartz application shortcut  to use once you have the XQuartz terminal open

or

use the Mac Automator app to create a Run Shell Script (don't forget to select 'Pass input: as arguments') to launch X11 with Inkscape as a parameter. The script code to use would be something like: /Applications/Utilities/XQuartz.app/Contents/MacOS/X11 Inkscape

To finish this off you could create a shortcut/alias for this and move it to your Mac Applicaitons folder. Now you can launch Inkscape directly form Launchpad.


Loose ends: Still haven't worked out how to change the icon for the Automator shortcut/alias nor how to run Inkscape as a windowless X11 background process .. but life is too short as they say, so may just skip this

[Moini]

Could you please replace the link to the download page by the current one in your bookmarks?

The current download page is at https://inkscape.org/releases . For macOS, you need to select the 0.92.2 version to see instructions for Mac (however, they should be the same as the ones on the old downloads page) - this is only important for future versions.

[ivy]

All right will change the link in my previous comment as requested.


However the reason I ended up stumbling upon the old link (inkscape.org/en/download/mac-os/) was becasue there was no mention of MacOS on the main page which you are refering to. It would be really useful if there is a mention about using the 0.92.2 (2017) revision for Mac OS X!

Also if I found this page before you mentioned it I probably would have tried another install e.g. the Homebrew one, as the order of the list (left to right)  on this page seems quite the opposite to what was on the previous link (top to bottom) i.e MacPorts is mentione prior to Homebrew. Not sure if this is intentional or supposed to signify anything, perhaps just an odd observation on my part.


Shame I overlooked the DMG install as it was based on Inkscape 0.91 and for 'Mac OS X 10.7 Installer (xquartz)'. I probability could just have used this one instead and saved myself the hassle provided this installs all the necessary components. It may very well be the best option to try first if you are not all that bothered about having the most up to date version for macOS. Actually now that I think about it, 0.92 isn't the latest general version of Inkscape either, so perhaps it's worth checking the release notes to compare 0.91 to 0.92 and work out if there are any major benefits worth choosing one release over the other.


In any case hopefully any other struggling Mac user will have a few more pointers now to aid their own install. 

Could you please replace the link to the download page by the current one in your bookmarks?

The current download page is at https://inkscape.org/releases . For macOS, you need to select the 0.92.2 version to see instructions for Mac (however, they should be the same as the ones on the old downloads page) - this is only important for future versions.

[Moini]

It would be really useful if there is a mention about using the 0.92.2 (2017) revision for Mac OS X

You're right, that sounds like a good suggestion (although it may be a bit weird to just write 'use the previous version'... hope I'll find some better phrasing for it)! Also, thank you very much for explaining how you ended up there on that old page. I'm not sure right now if it's possible to change the order, but I'll have a look.

(I wasn't asking you to edit your post, just your browser bookmarks, so you'll get the next version more easily when it's available)

Btw. it's 0.92.2 which is available as a dmg file for macOS:
https://inkscape.org/de/release/0.92.2/ (and I see the order is better there)

Just not 0.92.3.

[brynn]

The current download page is at https://inkscape.org/releases .

It seems that https://inkscape.org/download/ automatically redirects to https://inkscape.org/releases.  Just the other day, I tested our link on the forum index page, just to be sure.  Unless there's something different about Mac bookmarks....or maybe ivy has some security feature which prevents redirects....it seems like ivy should have been redirected.

[Moini]

No, it was just a different link.

[Moini]

ivy, hope this is better now:
https://inkscape.org/release/0.92.3/

[lescroc]

Hi everyone,

As it seems that it is the thread for "mac users" trying to install Inkscape, here's what I kinda found out while installing it (

Please note that I am a newbie (as in "today newbie") in DTP programs, MacPorts, and everything related to the topic, so if my post happens to be totally irrelevant I am sorry ! 

As I had to install MacPorts to run Ghostscript for Scribus, I decided to install Inkscape (the XQuartz version, not the X11) through MacPorts too.
--> Ran the following lines on the console:
sudo port install inkscape +quartz
sudo port load dbus (because they proposed it, though I do not understand what it does exactly)

Not sure if this was the right place for this reply post, but given that my search for a fix lead me to this thread, I figured others who are experiencing the same issues might end up here too and hence my reply on this old thread


Also if you want to create  Inkscape applicaiton shortcut you could either:

Create a XQuartz application shortcut  to use once you have the XQuartz terminal open

or

use the Mac Automator app to create a Run Shell Script (don't forget to select 'Pass input: as arguments') to launch X11 with Inkscape as a parameter. The script code to use would be something like: /Applications/Utilities/XQuartz.app/Contents/MacOS/X11 Inkscape

To finish this off you could create a shortcut/alias for this and move it to your Mac Applicaitons folder. Now you can launch Inkscape directly form Launchpad.

As expected, there was no application shortcut/icon to open Inkscape directly... But by looking for Inkscape-related ports on MacPorts database (port search inkscape), I stumbled on this one and installed it:
inkscape-app @0.92_1 (aqua, graphics)
    Inkscape.app application bundle
--> sudo port install inkscape-app @0.92_1

An application icon is now on the launchpad and Inkscape seems to work just fine when I open it through this icon. I found this solution a bit easier than the ones cited above, so if it can be of any help for anyone, it's great !