MetaEdit+ - I can't start MetaEdit+ under Ubuntu OS.

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I can't start MetaEdit+ under Ubuntu OS.

Printed From: MetaCase
Category:
Forum Name: MetaEdit+
Forum Description: All topics relating to MetaEdit+ or DSM
URL: https://www.metacase.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=764
Printed Date: 27.Mar.2026 at 03:35
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com

Topic: I can't start MetaEdit+ under Ubuntu OS.

Posted By: Victory
Subject: I can't start MetaEdit+ under Ubuntu OS.
Date Posted: 20.Feb.2014 at 08:00

I want run MetaEdit+5.0 under Linux environment.
But after I installed it,I can't start it used metaedit command.
There are some commands:

doublewang@ubuntu:~$ sudo su
[sudo] password for doublewang:
root@ubuntu:/home/doublewang# PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/mep50eval
root@ubuntu:/home/doublewang# bash
root@ubuntu:/home/doublewang# cd
root@ubuntu:~# mkdir metaedit
root@ubuntu:~# cd metaedit
root@ubuntu:~/metaedit# mesetup
Creating demo repository
root@ubuntu:~/metaedit# metaedit

Replies:

Posted By: rise
Date Posted: 20.Feb.2014 at 09:51

I replicated your command sequence in Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and for me it worked fine. Could you please tell us what happens after you have executed the last command (i.e. root@ubuntu:~/metaedit# metaedit). Once the command has been executed, you should see a start message on the terminal window saying "MetaEdit+(R) 5.0. Built with VisualWorks(R) 7.1.1" - do you see this or do you get an error message or something?

Posted By: stevek
Date Posted: 20.Feb.2014 at 11:08

You don't need to be root to run MetaEdit+. You might also be able to see more details of your problem if you edit the metaedit startup shell script to remove the >/dev/null. For most errors, MetaEdit+ will write a trace log to meplus0.err in the current directory.

Did you follow the normal http://www.metacase.com/download/metaedit/morelinux50.html" rel="nofollow - installation instructions , and check out the troubleshooting at the end? Probably the most common source of problems where nothing appears on screen is fonts: if MetaEdit+ can't find any fonts, it can't display anything. Older versions only found the base X11 fonts, but newer ones should be able to use anything with Xft. Perhaps the fonts it finds aren't acceptable for the encoding it sees - what is your $LANG set to?

Posted By: Victory
Date Posted: 20.Feb.2014 at 13:38

Hi,Dear SteveK and rise.
Now my Ubuntu's version is ubuntu 13.10 rather than ubuntu 12.04,acutally MetaEdit+ work well under ubuntu12.04.
I follow the normal http://www.metacase.com/download/metaedit/morelinux50.html" rel="nofollow - installation instructions , and check out the troubleshooting at the end,The problem is still exist.
I follow your suggestions to start MetaEdit+,But it dosen't work.
I executed this command:
...
root@ubuntu:~# export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/mep50eval
root@ubuntu:~# bash
root@ubuntu:~# cd ~
root@ubuntu:~# mkdir metaedit
root@ubuntu:~# cd metaedit
root@ubuntu:~/metaedit# mesetup
Creating demo repository
root@ubuntu:~/metaedit# metaedit
root@ubuntu:~/metaedit# metaedit
root@ubuntu:~/metaedit#

There was nothing happend when I executed last metaedit command.
My system language is English(US).
by compared 13.10 files with 12.04 files in the metaedit directory,I found 13.10 files is less than 12.04's.

Posted By: stevek
Date Posted: 20.Feb.2014 at 14:14

Is this a 64-bit Ubuntu? See this http://www.metacase.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=649&KW=xft&title=metaedit-50-on-opensuse-122-64bit" rel="nofollow - example of how to solve incomplete 32-bit support on 64-bit Linux. Getting rid of >/dev/null as mentioned above and there is your first step, so you can see what's going on.

What does uname -a output?

Posted By: stevek
Date Posted: 20.Feb.2014 at 16:04

If you're on 64-bit Ubuntu, I've posted instructions on how to the necessary 32-bit packages http://www.metacase.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=649&PID=1833&title=metaedit-50-on-opensuse-122-64bit#1833" rel="nofollow - here .

Posted By: Victory
Date Posted: 21.Feb.2014 at 05:05

Hi,My dear Stevek and Rise:
Your answers help me solve the problem perfectly,
I'm very grateful to you.
Yes,I'm on 64-bit Ubuntu.
I just need to install some ia32-libs to 64-bit Ubuntu,
of course ,the 32-bit package names have also changed from *-32bit to *:i386.

I installed libXft2:i386 rather than libXft:i386,
beacuse libXft:i386 package isn't exist.

so the last command should be :

sudo apt-get install libc6-i386 libX11-6:i386 lib32z1 libcairo2:i386 libXft2:i386

Ok,finally I want to thank for you again,after all I learning much more thing on the solving way.
It's a good start!
Have a pleasant journey !
Clap

Posted By: stevek
Date Posted: 21.Feb.2014 at 12:56

Great! Glad that we were able to help, and sorry for the typo on libXft2 - I'll correct that.

Thanks for letting us know about this: I'm sure others have just tried and just thought "stupid program doesn't even start!". We do test on a few different Linux distros when releasing, but there's no way to keep up with all subsequent releases of all the various Linux distros, so we just do our best to respond to user reports like yours.