SolveSpace is an open-source, parametric 2d and 3d CAD software suite for Linux, Mac, and Windows. SolveSpace has a lot of exciting features that CAD modelers will love. In this guide, we’ll show you how to install SolveSpace on Linux.
Ubuntu installation instructions
SolveSpace has been available for Ubuntu Linux since Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. So if you’re looking to get the app set up on your Ubuntu PC, here’s what to do. First, open up a terminal window on the Ubuntu desktop.
To open up a terminal on the Ubuntu desktop, press Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard. Or, search for “Terminal” in the app menu. When the terminal window is open, use the apt install command to install the “solvespace” package.
sudo apt install solvespace
When you write in the command above, Ubuntu will ask you to enter your password into the terminal prompt. Then, using the keyboard, enter your password into the terminal box and press the Enter key.
After pressing the Enter key and writing in your password, Ubuntu will collect all of the dependencies related to Solvespace. From there, you’ll be asked to press the Y button on the keyboard to continue. Do so.
When you press the Y button on the keyboard, the installation will begin.
Debian installation instructions
If you use Debian, you’ll be able to get SolveSpace working. Just ensure you have Debian 9, 10, 11, or Sid. If you’re using an older release of Debian, you’ll have first to upgrade your system.
To get SolveSpace working on Debian, open up a terminal on the Debian desktop. You can open up the terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard. Or, search for “Terminal” in the app menu.
With the terminal window open, the installation can begin. Use the apt-get install command alongside the “solvespace” package.
sudo apt-get install solvespace
When you enter the command above, Debian will ask you to enter your password into the text box. Using the keyboard, enter your password with the keyboard. After entering your password, Debian will collect all dependencies necessary to install SolveSpace.
With all the packages collected, press the Y button to confirm you would like to install SolveSpace.
Arch Linux installation instructions
SolveSpace is available for Arch Linux users. However, the app is not in the central software repositories. So instead, if you need to get the app working, you will have to set it up through the AUR.
To start the installation, use the commands below to set up the Trizen AUR helper. Trizen makes compiling the SolveSpace application from the source code a painless and easy process.
sudo pacman -S git base-devel git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/trizen.git cd trizen/ makepkg -sri
With the Trizen AUR helper set up on your Arch Linux system up and running, use the trizen -S command to set up the latest release of SolveSpace from the AUR.
trizen -S solvespace
Fedora Linux installation instructions
SolveSpace is available for Fedora Linux users. However, not in the included Fedora software repositories. However, it is possible to get it working on Fedora as a Snap package.
To start the installation on Fedora, follow the Snap package installation instructions to get the SolveSpace application up and running on your computer.
OpenSUSE installation instructions
The SolveSpace application is available for OpenSUSE Tumbleweed, Leap 15.3, and 15.2 in the “Science” software repository. However, this software repository is not enabled by default on any version of OpenSUSE.
You must enable this software repository before you can install the software. To enable it, open up a terminal window on the Linux desktop. Open up a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard or searching for “terminal” in the app menu.
Inside of the terminal app, use the zypper command to add the SolveSpace repo below.
For OpenSUSE Leap 15.3, you can add the repo using this command.
sudo zypper addrepo https://ftp.lysator.liu.se/pub/opensuse/repositories/science/openSUSE_Leap_15.3/ science-x86_64
If you are using OpenSUSE Leap 15.2, you can add the repo to your system using this command instead.
zypper addrepo https://ftp.lysator.liu.se/pub/opensuse/repositories/science/openSUSE_Leap_15.2/ science-x86_64
Or, if you use OpenSUSE Tumbleweed, you can add the software repo to your computer with the command below.
zypper addrepo https://ftp.lysator.liu.se/pub/opensuse/repositories/science/openSUSE_Tumbleweed/ science-x86_64
When the repo is added to your system, use the zypper install command to set up SolveSpace.
sudo zypper install solvespace
Snap package installation instructions
If you’d like to get SolveSpace on Linux through the Snap store, you’ll first need to set up the Snapd runtime on your computer. To do that, follow along with the Snap installation guide here.
After setting up the Snap package runtime on your computer, you can install the SolveSpace application using the snap install command below.
sudo snap install solvespace --beta
