Upgrade howto
From LilyPond Wiki
Many Linux users have LilyPond installed from their official package repositories. This is not a problem unless you want to install a newer version.
The development cycle of LilyPond reaches a point in which it is better to use the latest release instead of the old stable, mainly because it is the next stable and it is better in many aspects: better documentation, fewer bugs, improved layout or whatever.
To install the binary package from the web page, you should first uninstall lilypond using your package manager. A possibility is that you'll encounter problems trying to install the new version, as it refuses to do it thinking that the old version is still installed. So purge any remaining configuration or directories belonging to the old version before proceeding.
Once you have uninstalled the official package of your distribution and installed the distributed binary, your package manager is not aware of this new installation of LilyPond, so do not try to uninstall it by means of the package manager. See below under "Uninstall again".
Distribution-specific details follow.
Contents |
[edit] Ubuntu
[edit] Uninstall old version
If you have lilypond installed as an official package, its version will be 2.10.33. In Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid, it is in Section universe/tex. To uninstall it, you can do it directly from a terminal window. Open it from the Accessories menu, then type
sudo aptitude remove --purge lilypond lilypond-data
and press [ENTER]. Type your password and press [ENTER][ENTER]. One more [ENTER] will not hurt.
Ubuntu is a Debian-based distro and aptitude is the commandline front-end to the package manager apt.
If you prefer to use synaptic, the graphical front-end to apt (note the embedded letters 'apt' in all these names), you must find the package in the list and select 'Mark for complete removal', then push the Apply button. Anyway, you know how to use synaptic, wasn't that the way you installed it previously?
[edit] Install binary distribution package
Browse to
http://lilypond.org/web/install/
and choose the latest binary for your platform. Say you have downloaded the lilypond-2.12.1-1.linux-x86.sh installer and have saved it in the Desktop.
The command line of the terminal accessory has TAB key autocompletion, so when you read [TAB] in the following instructions, you should have the filename or command completed unless there is another one with a similar name; in this case, type one specific character of the name and press [TAB] again.
So open a terminal window from the Accessories menu and move yourself to the Desktop or to the place you saved the installer in:
cd Desk[TAB]
Execute the installer:
sudo sh lilyp[TAB]
I recommend this way because it is easy to mistype
sudo sh lilypond-2.12.1-1.linux-x86.sh
but this is what should be autocompleted, if not something very similar. As before, [ENTER] password [ENTER][ENTER].
This installs lilypond system-wide "as root". You could also install it per-user without root privileges, but be sure to include in your $PATH environment variable the directory which lilypond is in.
If lilypond refuses to install, maybe the old stable is still not fully deleted. Some users had to do this as well (WARNING: very dangerous -- do not try any other combination ):
sudo /bin/rm -rf /usr/local/lilypond /usr/local/bin/lilypond
Then execute the installer again.
[edit] Uninstall again
Once you have run the installer, an uninstaller is available for a new quick upgrade to the next version. Go to the terminal and type
sudo uninstall-lilypond
or
sudo unin[TAB]
for autocompletion.
