Just a very quick write up for a new roonserver install on Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS, HWE kernel. The roon install guide on linux is missing some crucial parts (unfortunately).
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg
sudo apt-get install cifs-utils
sudo apt-get install lbzip2 #this is required by the install script!
curl -O https://download.roonlabs.net/builds/roonserver-installer-linuxx64.sh
sudo chmod +x roonserver-installer-linuxx64.sh
sudo ./roonserver-installer-linuxx64.sh
Maybe roon can update their website/install instructions ???
ffmpeg and cif-utils are the only dependencies for running Roon Server on Linux, and these are mentioned in the help guide.
The other packages may be necessary to install Roon on your server, but they are not dependencies, and different distributions may or may not include these utilities.
Thanks for this info. I have a project to put Roon and HQPlayer on the same platform soon so this will be really useful. Information specific to particular distributions is always helpful because things always differ across different distributions and different versions.
Well, the easy install script offered by roon to install a roon-server does error on ubuntu lts 2022, which has been out quite some time (2 years). Since roon says it runs/test a lot of linux versions to install their server software on via the easy install script (the preferred way of installing) I would guess they’ve figured out this one. Off course I can modify the easy install script but … that .sh script is offered by roon.
That the bzip2 library is missing on some distributions has already been discussed in several threads (like the one below) and the op is not the first one asking about adding information for checking for its availability in the installation document provided.
The ability of Roon doing self updates is a feature of Roon and it depends on the availability of bzip2 (I just checked that the updates are bz2 compressed too). So in my book this counts as needed for Roon to run (with all features as defined by its developers) and thus makes it a true dependency.
Wget and/or CURL too if one of those is used to download the updates, but i don’t know if this is the case.
CURL has been discussed elsewhere, and the installation script was modified to mitigate a potential issue with the Snap version, which does not utilize /tmp space.
As Roon’s own Nucleus devices and countless Roon on NAS installations show, ffmpeg is not needed to run Roon. Roon will run just fine, there are although limitations regarding the usable file and stream formats. A deviation from Roon’s advertised features (published list of supported formats).
So why should ffmepg be a dependecy but bzip2 not? Roon can run without either but both are needed for Roon to have all its features present.
I don’t see why adding it to the install document should be impossible. If the devs don’t want to add it to the dependencies, then they could add at least add a note about it to be a prerequisite for installation and future updates of Roon. Documentation should be there to make a users life easier after all.
We’re going off-topic here, but ffmpeg is absolutely necessary to install Roon Server on Linux (the topic of this thread.) Indeed, the script will fail if it isn’t installed. That’s why it’s a dependency. The same goes for cif-utils.
As I’ve already stated, bzip2 is installed by default on Ubuntu. So is wget and curl. But Roon is dependent on these binaries to run, and if they’re not present, the OS will tell you at the command prompt.
@Edwin_Muskee, thanks for your post and suggestion. I’ve asked the team to look into the documentation and install checks to ensure that everything is brought up-to-date.
What is the point. The script obviously fails too if bzip2 is missing. The difference is just that the devs failed to add a check for it, so users have to figure out themself why its failing.
As already many users stated (and a check of the manifest of a minimal server image shows) it is not installed with an Ubuntu Server minimal installation.
Oftentimes users are able to follow the provided instructions but complete novices on using Linux, its command line interface and interpreting the error description correctly. Updated install instructions may help here.