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[readme] Update instructions on how to install build dependencies #20708

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A better explanation of the simple method for installing dependencies
victoryforce Mar 30, 2026
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Update instructions on how to install build dependencies for Ubuntu
victoryforce Mar 30, 2026
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21 changes: 12 additions & 9 deletions README.md
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Expand Up @@ -208,8 +208,13 @@ Optional dependencies (no version requirement):
* OpenJPEG *(for JPEG 2000 import & export)*
* GraphicsMagick or ImageMagick *(for misc image format import)*

To install all the dependencies on Linux systems, you may use the source repositories of your distribution
(provided they are up-to-date):
To install all the dependencies on Linux systems, you may use the source repository of your distribution.
This will install the same packages that were used to build the official darktable package on your system.
Most likely, you will want to build a newer version than the one packaged in the distribution. So please
note that although this does not happen very often, it is possible that a new version of darktable will
have a new (required or optional) dependency. So the commands below only simplify the creation of your
build environment, but will not replace your attention to the build process and possibly finding and
installing certain additional dependency packages.

#### Fedora and RHEL/CentOS

Expand All @@ -225,14 +230,12 @@ sudo zypper si -d darktable

#### Ubuntu

Recent Ubuntu releases do not include the deb-src sources out of the box, even in commented form.
To add them, you need to run "Software & Updates" and on the first tab that opens, "Ubuntu Software",
check the "Source code" checkbox. Only after that you can use the following command:

```bash
sed -e '/^#\sdeb-src /s/^# *//;t;d' "/etc/apt/sources.list" \
| sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/darktable-sources-tmp.list > /dev/null \
&& (
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get build-dep darktable
)
sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/darktable-sources-tmp.list
sudo apt-get build-dep darktable
```

#### Debian
Expand Down