Skip to content

resolve.md

Latest commit

 

History

History
125 lines (102 loc) · 7.42 KB

resolve.md

File metadata and controls

125 lines (102 loc) · 7.42 KB
Raw

DaVinci Resolve

Open Applications Setup > Design Tools and select DaVinci Resolve - Native or DaVinci Resolve - Davincibox.

Native targets Fedora and Arch-family installations. Davincibox additionally accepts Debian, Ubuntu and derivatives identified through ID_LIKE (including Linux Mint). Both require x86_64 and a graphical X11/XWayland session. Atomic/OSTree systems are not supported by this integration. Runtime checks still apply if your launcher exposes all catalog entries.

Before installing

  1. Download the Linux Free or Studio ZIP from Blackmagic Design.
  2. Extract it, and supply the full path to DaVinci_Resolve_*_Linux.run when asked. Paths containing spaces are supported. The toolbox does not redistribute Resolve.
  3. Install a compatible host GPU driver and reboot if necessary. Choose NVIDIA, AMD ROCm or Intel OpenCL when prompted. ROCm and Intel compute support depend on the GPU generation. NVIDIA must pass nvidia-smi.
  4. Read Blackmagic's license before confirming: the installation runs unattended with license acceptance after you type APPLY. Studio requires your own license.

Choose a method

Native Davincibox
Application location Host /opt/resolve /opt/resolve inside commander-resolve
Dependencies Fedora/Arch packages Fedora-based container dependencies
Host additions Runtime libraries and OpenCL packages Podman, Distrobox, Git; NVIDIA Container Toolkit when needed
Disk use Installer and application Also a container image and build cache; allow several extra GB
Launch DaVinci Resolve (Commander) Same desktop entry, entering the container

Native installs use Blackmagic's installer directly, not an AUR package. Do not mix this with an AUR-managed installation. Existing native installations or a container of the same name are refused rather than overwritten. Back up projects before upgrades or removals. Installing a second method replaces the backed-up Commander launcher to select that method; it does not remove the first installation.

Debian and Ubuntu

Choose DaVinci Resolve - Davincibox. The toolbox refreshes APT metadata and installs Podman, Distrobox, Git, uidmap, slirp4netns and fuse-overlayfs using APT or Nala. Your enabled repositories must provide these packages; older releases may need a newer distribution release. Resolve's libraries stay in the Fedora container. Native Debian/Ubuntu installation is not implemented.

For NVIDIA, the installer offers the official toolkit APT repository with a repository-specific signing key, then installs the toolkit. Existing standard NVIDIA toolkit source lists are respected. CDI devices and a working host driver are still required. For AMD, rocm-podman-support is installed if available; otherwise check device permissions if the GPU cannot be accessed. Host GPU access can require render/video group membership and logging out and back in.

These paths have mocked installer coverage, not real Debian/Ubuntu GPU validation. Davincibox describes these distributions as community-supported.

Dependencies and compatibility

Native package names are mapped separately for Fedora and Arch. Package-manager prompts remain interactive; there is no automatic package removal or partial Arch database refresh. The Fedora NVIDIA OpenCL packages must be available from your already-configured driver repository. Missing packages stop installation.

The container is built locally from a pinned revision of Davincibox recorded in core/tabs/commander/common.sh. Its Fedora base and distro packages can change between builds. AMD/Intel use the OpenCL image; NVIDIA uses CDI device passthrough. On Fedora, the script offers to add NVIDIA Container Toolkit's signed repository when the toolkit is missing, then installs it. This needs a separate APPLY. The script checks CDI device registration and stops with instructions if devices are missing. It does not replace GPU kernel drivers or disable SELinux.

The installer extracts the AppImage before running it, avoiding a FUSE dependency. The vendor package-name check is bypassed only after dependency installation. The Commander launcher preloads system GLib/GObject/GIO/GModule/GdkPixbuf libraries and selects Qt's X11 backend, following the library-conflict approach described by ArchWiki and Davincibox. Bundled libraries are not removed or overwritten. Use the Commander launcher to receive these fixes; the vendor's native launcher is unchanged.

This covers common installation and GLib/Qt launch issues, not every Resolve release, GPU, optional hardware panel, scripting dependency or companion program. Linux codec restrictions, especially in the Free edition, still apply.

Video and CTT reference

The supplied Resolve 21 Fedora video shows installing compatibility packages, bypassing vendor package-name checks, and moving four bundled GLib-family libraries aside. The Commander launcher addresses that library conflict through preloading, preserving the bundled files. It additionally covers GThread/GdkPixbuf and checks for missing linked libraries before publishing a success launcher.

ChrisTitusTech/resolve-linux, reviewed at 0e9e5a28e26d63d890748817aae97d6aebec1bc0, provides a similar preload wrapper and Fedora library diagnostics. Its Fedora/Intel dependency lists informed the runtime package coverage here. Its FFmpeg conversion and backup tools are separate utilities; this installer does not execute those scripts.

The video also configures RPM Fusion, changes the host FFmpeg packages and installs NVIDIA kernel drivers. This integration requires a working host driver first and does not replace the host multimedia stack. Those system-wide changes are not a universal fix for Resolve's own codec restrictions.

Launch and maintenance

Run ~/.local/bin/commander-resolve, or use DaVinci Resolve (Commander). Launchers and the runtime script receive timestamped adjacent backups; symlink-managed destinations are refused. They live in ~/.local/bin, $XDG_DATA_HOME/applications and $XDG_DATA_HOME/commander-toolbox respectively (~/.local/share by default).

A failed install can leave installed dependency packages or a partial container. The script stops without publishing a success launcher; it does not delete the container automatically. Inspect it with podman logs commander-resolve or distrobox enter --name commander-resolve. Save projects before removing it. Run ~/.local/bin/commander-resolve --check for a linked-library check after a successful installation. If the final check failed, resolve the reported package dependencies before reinstalling; the vendor install may already be present. For native removal, use Blackmagic's installed uninstaller. For container removal, use distrobox rm commander-resolve after backing up needed data. Restore launcher backups if switching to a previous setup. Containers share your home directory; they are not security sandboxes or backups.

Installer orchestration and launcher generation are tested with mocks and temporary files. Actual GPU acceleration, video playback and installation require testing with Blackmagic's installer on each supported distribution.