Installing on Linux

Check the minimum requirements and where to get Blender, if you have not done so yet.

Specific packages for distributions

Some Linux distributions may have on their repositories a specific package for Blender.

Installing Blender via the distribution’s native mechanisms ensures consistency with other packages on the system and may provide other features (given by the package manager), such as listing of packages, update notifications and automatic menu configuration. Be aware, though, that the package may be outdated comparing to the latest official release, or not include some features of Blender. For example, some distributions do not build Blender with CUDA support for licensing reasons.

If there is a specific package for your distribution, you may choose what is preferable and most convenient, otherwise, there is nothing wrong with the official binary on blender.org.

Download from blender.org

Download the Linux version for your architecture and uncompress the file to the desired location (eg. ~/software or /usr/local).

Blender can now be launched by double-clicking the executable.

For easy access, you can configure your system by adding a menu entry or shortcut for Blender and associate and open blend-files with Blender when opening from the file browser. These settings typically belong to the Window Manager (KDE, Gnome, Unity).

Running from the terminal

To run Blender from the terminal without needing to be in the executable directory, add the extracted folder to the environment PATH.

Add the following command to ~/.bashrc or ~/.profile pointing to the directory with Blender’s binary:

export PATH=/path/to/blender/directory:$PATH

Tip

If you use daily builds and update Blender frequently, you can link or always rename your folder to ‘blender’ and use this name for the PATH environment variable and for keeping the window manager menu up to date.

Avoiding Alt+Mouse Conflict

Many Window Managers default to Alt-LMB for moving windows, which is a shortcut that Blender uses to simulate a three button mouse. You can either have this feature disabled User Preferences ‣ Input ‣ Emulate 3 Button Mouse or you can change the Window Manager settings to use the Meta key instead (also called Super or Windows key):

  • KDE: System Settings > Window Behavior > Window Behavior > Window Actions , Switch ‘Alt’ for ‘Meta’ key
  • Unity/Gnome: enter the following in a command line (effective at next login):
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences mouse-button-modifier '<Super>'