How to install Cairo Dock in ubuntu

Cairo Dock is a Mac like dock that contains shortcuts to your applications in Ubuntu.

It is compatible with Compiz-Fusion, Beryl, Compiz, Metacity, Kwin, Xcompmgr, etc., but it can also run without a composite manager (using fake transparency). Cairo-Dock can run under GNOME, KDE and XFCE. 

Installation.

The project is split in to two parts: the dock itself and the plug-ins. Only the installation of the dock is explained, but installing the plug-ins is the same, just make sure you install the plug-ins after the dock.

The config file will not be overwritten during updates as Cairo-Dock is capable of inserting the missing fields if any without losing your previous settings. 

Please note that, although Cairo-Dock is listed in the Universe repository since Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) and can be installed using Synaptic Package Manager, but it is recommended to install Cairo-Dock using one of the methods described below to get the most up-to-date and stable version of Cairo-Dock.

From the Repository (Stable)

This is only for Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron), Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope), Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) and Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) with a support of 32/64bit/lpia architecture.

With 5 commands

To add the Cairo-Dock repository to your sources simply launch these commands from a terminal : 

sudo -v

echo "deb http://repository.glx-dock.org/ubuntu $(lsb_release -sc) cairo-dock ## Cairo-Dock-Stable" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list 
wget -q http://repository.glx-dock.org/cairo-dock.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add - 
sudo apt-get update 
sudo apt-get install cairo-dock cairo-dock-plug-ins

Manually

Or if you want to do that manually, open the sources.list file: 

gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

and add the appropriate repository to the end of the file:

deb http://repository.glx-dock.org/ubuntu lucid cairo-dock  # For Ubuntu 10.04

deb http://repository.glx-dock.org/ubuntu karmic cairo-dock  # For Ubuntu 9.10

deb http://repository.glx-dock.org/ubuntu jaunty cairo-dock  # For Ubuntu 9.04

deb http://repository.glx-dock.org/ubuntu hardy cairo-dock  # For ubuntu 8.04

The signed GPG key for identification of the repository is: 

wget -q http://repository.glx-dock.org/cairo-dock.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -

Then, to install Cairo-Dock, issue these two commands in the terminal:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cairo-dock cairo-dock-plug-ins

There are no repositories available for releases older than Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron). So, if you want Cairo-Dock for an older release, you must compile it or download the package.

From a .deb Package (Stable)

If you can't install Cairo-Dock from the repository, you can download the .deb package from LauncHPad. But you first need to install the following packages:

sudo apt-get install libcairo2 librsvg2-2 libglitz1 libglitz-glx1

Then, download the packages here. 

Apply a double-click on the package or open the terminal, navigate to the directory which you downloaded the .deb package to (e.g. cd ~/Desktop) and issue the following commands (NB: Ensure that you have typed in the correct version number): 

sudo dpkg -i cairo-dock*.deb

and then:

sudo apt-get -f install

Done. You can type cairo-dock in terminal to launch and configure the dock.

By Compiling it (Stable)

First you must install the following packages: 

sudo apt-get install build-essential libcairo2-dev libgtk2.0-dev librsvg2-dev libglitz1-dev libcairo2 librsvg2-2 libglitz1 libglitz-glx1 libglitz-glx1-dev m4 autotools-dev pkg-config libtool

Then, download the tar.bz2 package from Launchpad : core package here and its plug-ins here. Open the terminal and navigate to the download directory and type:

autoreconf -isvf

./configure –prefix=/usr
make
sudo make install

By Compiling it With a Script Using the bazaar (Unstable)

PLEASE DON'T USE THIS VERSION OF CAIRO-DOCK IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING

If you want to try the newest version of Cairo-Dock (not in the repository because it's not completely stable), you can use the BZR. But be aware that this version is potentially unstable and there are updates everyday. Use this version only if you know what you're doing, it is also preferable to know how Cairo-Dock works to be able to use the BZR. 

A script has been written to compile the BZR version of Cairo-Dock easily. So, you just have to create a directory where the script will be installed in, download the script and launch it: 

Open a terminal, and create a new directory: 

mkdir /cairo-dock_bzr
cd /cairo-dock_bzr

Then get the script, make it executable and launch it:

wget http://bzr.glx-dock.org/cairo-dock_bzr.sh
chmod u+x cairo-dock_bzr.sh
./cairo-dock_bzr.sh

 

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Ubuntu is a Linux distribution that offers an operating system predominantly focused on desktop computers but also provides support for servers. Based on Debian GNU / Linux, Ubuntu focuses on ease of use, freedom in usage restriction, regular releases (every 6 months) and ease of installation.