[SOLVED] Scribus 1.4.6 spell checker?

Doug Hutcheson · 01-22-2017, 01:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beachboy2

I thought that the whole point of installing VirtualBox was for you to then install Linux Mint 18.1 MATE, which has a functioning spell checker

I forgot to explain I had downloaded to MATE .iso and tried to install it into a VM, but could not make it work. I will try again with more coffee. "8-)

Doug Hutcheson · 01-22-2017, 02:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beachboy2

I thought that the whole point of installing VirtualBox was for you to then install Linux Mint 18.1 MATE, which has a functioning spell checker, not Fedora 25?

Yes, I should have mentioned I did try installing MATE but had trouble with the VM manager.

I installed Fedora to prove it would not work with a pristine installation.

I have now successfully installed and run MATE using a different VM manager and it is just as we expected: only the USA dictionary was installed and spell checking works perfectly from the Item menu, from the Story Editor and using Shift+F7.

SO, is it the use of en_GB and en_AU dictionaries that is confusing Scribus on Fedora, or is there a switch I am not switching? I will pursue this on the Fedora forum. If no luck there I will contact Martin. I don't want to bother him until I have all the evidence sewn up. "8-)

Cheers,
Doug

beachboy2 · 01-22-2017, 04:13 AM

Doug,

Quote:

I have now successfully installed and run MATE using a different VM manager and it is just as we expected: only the USA dictionary was installed and spell checking works perfectly from the Item menu, from the Story Editor and using Shift+F7.

SO, is it the use of en_GB and en_AU dictionaries that is confusing Scribus on Fedora

Why don't you add the en_GB and en_AU dictionaries to Scribus in Linux Mint MATE and then see if the spell checker still works.

I am confident that it will do so.

I suspect that Fedora has something (or is missing something) which prevents the spell checker operating correctly in Scribus.

Doug Hutcheson · 01-23-2017, 12:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beachboy2

Why don't you add the en_GB and en_AU dictionaries to Scribus in Linux Mint MATE and then see if the spell checker still works.

I should have done that before - thanks for picking me up on it. I downloaded all the 5 English dialects available to MATE and found the spell checker was still working.

Quote:

Originally Posted by beachboy2

I suspect that Fedora has something (or is missing something) which prevents the spell checker operating correctly in Scribus.

Yes, I agree.

Scribus on Fedora has 24 English dictionaries for every country imaginable, but all but a couple are sym links to en_GB. I can imagine the spell checker getting confused of this many dictionaries, but cannot see how to remove them from within Scribus.

I have had no response form the Fedora Forum yet, so it is not high on anyone's radar I suppose.

I checked the Help/About information. Fedora and MATE are using the same build, but MATE is using Ghostscript 9.18 whereas Fedora is using 9.20. This difference can have nothing to do with my problem

I'll keep seeking an answer and will post here if I find it.

In the meantime, I see there is a 1.52 development release available, so I'll try to set that up in my Fedora VM and see what happens.

Cheers,
Doug

beachboy2 · 01-23-2017, 01:07 AM

Doug,

Quote:

I have had no response form the Fedora Forum yet, so it is not high on anyone's radar I suppose.

I don't think that Scribus is particularly high on anybody's radar, not just the Fedora Forum's.

This is a pity because Scribus is a powerful Desktop Publishing application which is open-source and free. Not too many people appear to be aware of its existence.

Of course professional users will pay monthly subscriptions for Adobe's InDesign DTP software.

For the amateur/semi-pro user then Scribus fits the bill quite nicely.

A local group in my area currently uses the outdated Adobe PageMaker to produce a monthly newsletter on a member's old Windows PC.
Since this software will not run on recent versions of Windows, it is necessary to find an alternative DTP application and Scribus is the main replacement candidate.

I don't know whether Martin Zaske is fully clued up on Fedora, but he would seem to be the best person to contact regarding the technical requirements of Scribus running on a Linux platform.

Doug Hutcheson · 01-23-2017, 03:15 AM

A clue:

In document https://wiki.scribus.net/canvas/Building_SVN_versions_with_CMake

Is the information:

Code:

Version 1.5.x

Here is a list of dependencies for Scribus 1.5.x:

...
Libhunspell (if missing, spellchecker won't work)
...

On my system I have:

Code:

[root@KETCHUP doug]# ls -l /usr/lib64/libhunspell*
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root     24 May  3  2016 /usr/lib64/libhunspell-1.4.so.0 -> libhunspell-1.4.so.0.0.0
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 517080 May  3  2016 /usr/lib64/libhunspell-1.4.so.0.0.0

So I don't exactly have libhunspell, I have libhunspell-1.4.so.0 - could this be a problem? More investigation needed ...

beachboy2 · 01-23-2017, 03:33 AM

Doug,

The above link does not work.

Hopefully this one will:
https://wiki.scribus.net/canvas/Buil...ecking_out_SVN

My libhunspell is even older, libhunspell-1.3-0 with installed version 1.3.3-4ubuntu1.

You need to follow the advice in that link and try one of their suggested routes.

beachboy2 · 01-23-2017, 10:00 AM

Doug,

Just for the hell of it, why not try Chapeau 24, which is based on Fedora 24 but has a few more tweaks?

http://chapeaulinux.org/chapeau-24-is-out-now/

Doug Hutcheson · 01-23-2017, 11:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beachboy2

I don't think that Scribus is particularly high on anybody's radar, not just the Fedora Forum's.

Yes, it is a shame it is not well known. I write a monthly newsletter in Scribus and have no need for anything more powerful.

Quote:

Originally Posted by beachboy2

I don't know whether Martin Zaske is fully clued up on Fedora, but he would seem to be the best person to contact regarding the technical requirements of Scribus running on a Linux platform.

I have joined the Scribus forum and posted my question there. I'll let you know if I find anything.

As I write, my system is compiling the Scribus 1.5.2 source and it will be interesting to see if I have spell checking when it finishes. The compiler certainly picked up Hunspell, so the chances are it will work.

Doug Hutcheson · 01-23-2017, 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beachboy2

Just for the hell of it, why not try Chapeau 24, which is based on Fedora 24 but has a few more tweaks?

http://chapeaulinux.org/chapeau-24-is-out-now/

I will set up a VM for it and have a look. Thanks for the suggestion.

Doug Hutcheson · 01-23-2017, 11:57 PM

You may be interested to know the testing-only version 1.5.3 compiled on my system and has the spell checker. It is under the 'Extras' menu now and is still able to be invokes with Shift+F7.

So what is wrong with my 1.4.6 version? (Cue the sounds of gnashing teeth and banging head.)

beachboy2 · 01-24-2017, 12:59 AM

Doug,

I am afraid that I don't have an answer.

I know you are using Scribus 1.5.3 testing but all I can find is this:

Quote:

The Scribus Team is very pleased to announce the release of the development version Scribus 1.5.2, which is another major step onto the next fully-featured version 1.6.0. In terms of stability, 1.5.2 can be already be regarded as robust. The Scribus Team encourages the wide-spread use and testing of version 1.5.2 in as many environments as possible. User feedback will help us to release a rock-solid version 1.6.0.

https://wiki.scribus.net/canvas/1.5.2_Release

Get in touch with Scribus and point them to this thread.

Also ask them when Scribus 1.6.0 is due to be released.

Failing that, maybe Uri Geller can help you:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ic-powers.html

ardvark71 · 01-24-2017, 02:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doug Hutcheson

You may be interested to know the testing-only version 1.5.3 compiled on my system and has the spell checker. It is under the 'Extras' menu now and is still able to be invokes with Shift+F7.

Hi...

That's cool, I'm assuming you able to load the dictionary and perform spell checks?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doug Hutcheson

So what is wrong with my 1.4.6 version?

Absolutely no idea, unless it's what beachboy2 suggested with respect to Fedora. Or it may be something wrong with the particular package available in Fedora's repositories.

Regards...

Doug Hutcheson · 01-24-2017, 04:00 PM

I have tracked down the immediate cause: the version of 1.4.6 in the Fedora 25 repository does not include libhunspellplugin.so

Now the question is "why"? It is present in the Fedora 24 version and in the latest 1.5.3 testing-only version I compiled.

I have loaded F24 into a VM and will try to get the file from there into my normal F25. I tried copying the 1.5.3 version of the file into 1.4.6, but Scribus couldn't load it.

I love problems like this - not!

Doug Hutcheson · 01-24-2017, 11:21 PM

Fedora 25 Scribus 1.4.6 cannot use the libunspellplugin.so from Fedora 24 or from Scribus 1.5.3.

Attempting to install the F24 Scribus 1.4.6 caused dnf to offer to delete 274 applications, so I chose not to do that!

I am left with Scribus 1.4.6 with no spell checker on Fedora 25, plus Scribus 1.5.3 with a working spell-checker.

It would have saved a lot of work if the Fedora 25 compilation of Scribus 1.4.6 had included libhunspellplugin.so (what were they thinking?), but that is all water under the bridge.

Incidentally, I installed Chapeau in a VM and found it is based on Fedora 24, so Scribus spell-checker works there!

Linux: there is always a way around any problem. "8-)