Installing Zotero as a non-admin user

[maaliso]

Hi,

I have no admin previliges and i want to install this debian version on ubuntu.

1. I have a problem with running the first line in the installation instruction, i.e.,
   wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/retorquere/zotero-deb/master/install.sh | sudo bash
   It results in the terminal asking for my user password and a message saying that i am not allowed to run this kind of command. I tried same command (the one in the quotes) again without sudo, but it is also not working and the terminal asks again for the user password and tells me i not allowed to run this command.

2. I tried removing the O from the options of the wget and wrote the following code
   wget -q https://raw.githubusercontent.com/retorquere/zotero-deb/master/install.sh | bash
   This results in 2 folders called .git and .github being created in my directory and upon running the sudo apt install zotero, a counter runs to 100%, but then the terminal says "E: Unable to locate package zotero".

What can I do to install the software then using this version? Trying another version from the main website is not working fully because of the broken simlink to the the ./local/share/applications path. This problem is, however, out of the scope of this issue.

[retorquere]

I'd seriously recommend not experimenting this way. You don't want to send unvetted output through bash.

This results in 2 folders called .git and .github being created in my directory

It does not. Those directories must have been there already; wget -q used this way downloads the file install.sh to the working directory but provides no console output, so you're sending an empty string through bash, which (fortunately in this case) means it does precisely nothing.

It is technically sort of possible to install .debs without root, but there's no benefit over just unpacking the tarball Zotero provides, and will have the added downside that the installation from the .deb has Zotero's own update mechanism disabled since you would be expected to let apt handle upgrades. Without apt in the loop, you would have to manually check for updates.

[maaliso]

Thank you for your answer.

It does not.

As you can see in the available folders from this page, there is no folder called .git. It is created during the process of trying to unsuccessfully install zotero.

So, as far as i understand, there is no way of installing Zotero from this git version without admin privilege. Am I correct? If I understood wrongly, and there is actually a method, could you please highlight it?

If possible, please state directly the solutions specific to this example and not general solutions about how to handle .deb files. I would pretty much appreciate it, since i am totally novice with linux and ubuntu.

[retorquere]

TL;DR: follow the Linux instructions from Zotero.

As you can see in the available folders from this page, there is no folder called .git.

I'm quite familiar with the structure of this repo and git usage.

It is created during the process of trying to unsuccessfully install zotero.

That may well be, but that's another claim entirely. What you have done in the process of trying to install Zotero is unclear to me, but if you have these two folders, it is clearly more than just the two commands you highlighted above.

The .git folder is created if you clone https://github.com/retorquere/zotero-deb.git using git, or if you download and unpack https://github.com/retorquere/zotero-deb/archive/refs/heads/master.zip, none of which you should be using to install Zotero (and none of which is even hinted at in the install process); this repository contains the code to package the Zotero program, it does not contain the Zotero program. A process runs every two hours to check Zotero for new releases on Zotero itself, and package it if a newer version was found. Nothing in this repo except install.sh is useful for people installing Zotero.

The wget call does not create these directories. Neither of the two commands you highlighted above will, when executed in an empty directory, create folders .git and/or .github. If you want to verify, create an empty folder, cd into it, then issue the two commands above. The first will error out without doing anything as you don't have root access, the second will silently "succeed" in downloading the file install.sh in the previously empty directory, and nothing else. This install.sh is of no use to you if you don't have root access.

So, as far as i understand, there is no way of installing Zotero from this git version without admin privilege.

You don't install from this "git version" at all. If you use the .debs, you install, in the end, from https://zotero.retorque.re/file/apt-package-archive, which is where my debs actually live; this repo has the packaging code and the script to set your system up to use the packages (the one-time install.sh, which in itself doesn't even install Zotero on your system). You could in principle download Zotero from there, but you shouldn't, as that has automatic updates turned off. If you don't have root access, you're better off with the official tarball. If you have no root access, these packaged Zotero debs are not useful.

Am I correct? If I understood wrongly, and there is actually a method, could you please highlight it?

Without root access, you should use the official Zotero tarball.

If possible, please state directly the solutions specific to this example and not general solutions about how to handle .deb files. I would pretty much appreciate it, since i am totally novice with linux and ubuntu.

And I'm not, so when I say that the commands you issued do not create the .git and .github, you can trust me or verify.

But you should either get admin access, or use the tarball from Zotero.

[maaliso]

Ok. Thanks for your answer. Detailed and informative