In need of a proper raw image processing tool on your Linux PC? Check out the RawTherapee image processing tool. It’s an application that specializes in analyzing, editing, tagging and managing many types of digital photographs.
RawTherapee has excellent Linux support and has detailed instructions for all of the mainstream Linux distributions. To install it, you need to be running Ubuntu, Debian, Arch Linux, Fedora, or OpenSUSE. Alternatively, if you do not use any of these distributions, you’ll need to be able to execute and run things like AppImages.
Note: in addition to running on Linux, RawTherapee also has a Windows and Mac OS version.
The RawTherapee photo processing tool has some pretty good support for Ubuntu, and its derivatives in the form of a software PPA. To enable this personal package archive, you’ll need to open up a terminal window. In the terminal window, paste the following command.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:dhor/myway
PPAs are easily set up in Ubuntu, but they aren’t fully functional until the system has a chance to add it to the software catalog. To do this, you must run the update command.
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Running the update command allows Ubuntu to check all software sources for new packages, update the release files, etc. After this command finishes, the RawTherapee PPA will be fully accessible. However, before continuing, you’ll need to finish updating, with the upgrade command.
sudo apt upgrade -y
Ubuntu is up to date, and the app is ready to install. Grab it with the install command.
sudo apt install rawtherapee
RawTherapee has a pretty good community, and as a result, the program has support for many different Linux distributions — including Debian.
Installing the software on Debian requires interacting with the OpenSUSE Build Service. Officially, only Debian Stable and Old Stable (version 8) are working. To start the installation, open up a terminal and add the software repo to your software sources.
Debian 9
sudo echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/rawtherapee/Debian_9.0/ /' >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/rawtherapee.list
Debian 8
sudo echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/rawtherapee/Debian_8.0/ /' >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/rawtherapee.list
With the software source added to Debian, it’s time to use the update command. Updating allows the system to check if the new software repository is accessible.
sudo apt-get update
Running the update command on Debian will enable the system to set up new software sources. Additionally, it’ll check for any software updates, which you can install using the upgrade command.
sudo apt-get upgrade -y
With everything up to date on Debian, install RawTherapee.
sudo apt-get install rawtherapee
Arch Linux users have a few ways of installing the RawTherapee image processing tool. In this tutorial, we’ll focus on the third-party software repository that the developers provide. The third-party software repository is superior to the AUR version as it allows users to get constant updates, without needing to fiddle with compiling packages.
Note: want to get the AUR version? Grab it here.
Using Nano, open your Pacman configuration file. Paste the code below into it, at the very bottom of the file.
[home_rawtherapee_Arch_Extra]SigLevel = NeverServer = http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/rawtherapee/Arch_Extra/$arch
Save the file in Nano with Ctrl + O and exit the editor by pressing Ctrl + X. Once you’ve left Nano, re-sync Pacman to enable the new RawTherapee software repository.
sudo pacman -Syyuu
Finally, install RawTherapee using the Pacman tool.
sudo pacman -S rawtherapee
The RawTherapee application can easily be set up on Fedora Linux, and users can expect regular updates thanks to the OpenSUSE Build Service. Officially, RawTherapee supports every version of Fedora, from version 25 to 28. There’s no doubt that in the future they’ll update it with support for future releases as well.
To set up the RawTherapee Fedora repo, open up a terminal and run the following command.
Note: change X to the version of Fedora you want RawTherapee to run on.
sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:rawtherapee/Fedora_X/home:rawtherapee.repo
Finish up the setup process by installing the RawTherapee application on your Fedora Linux PC.
sudo dnf install rawtherapee
Are you an OpenSUSE user looking to install the RawTherapee image processing tool? Lucky for you, it’s super easy to install and set up. To do it, you’ll need first to add the third-party software repository.
OpenSUSE Leap 15.0
sudo zypper addrepo http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:rawtherapee/openSUSE_Leap_15.0/home:rawtherapee.repo
OpenSUSE Leap 42.3
sudo zypper addrepo http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:rawtherapee/openSUSE_Leap_42.3/home:rawtherapee.repo
OpenSUSE Tumbleweed
sudo zypper addrepo http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:rawtherapee/openSUSE_Tumbleweed/home:rawtherapee.repo
After adding the new software sources, run the zypper refresh command.
sudo zypper refresh
Lastly, install RawTherapee on OpenSUSE with:
sudo zypper install rawtherapee
RawTherapee has support for almost every mainstream version of Linux. That said, they can’t cover them all. To make up for it, the developers make an AppImage available. This AppImage can run the RawTherapee photography application on all versions of Linux, regardless of the distribution details. If you’re on an obscure Linux distribution that doesn’t enjoy first-class support, this is your best option.
To get the AppImage working, download the file and change the permissions of it so that it can execute as a program.
wget https://rawtherapee.com/releases_head/linux/RawTherapee-releases-5.4.AppImage sudo chmod +x RawTherapee-releases-5.4.AppImage
Next, make a new AppImage folder, to prevent the RawTherapee executable file from being deleted.
mkdir -p ~/AppImages
Move RawTherapee into the new folder and run the AppImage for the first time.
mv RawTherapee-releases-5.4.AppImage ~/AppImages cd ~/AppImages/
./RawTherapee-releases-5.4.AppImage
Running RawTherappee from the terminal will instantly start the application.
