# Best practices for 8.1 Designer Launcher install on Linux? **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [November 4, 2020, 5:11pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/best-practices-for-8-1-designer-launcher-install-on-linux/40302 "2020-11-04T17:11:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![peter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/278dde/32.png) [@peter](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/peter)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 5:11pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/best-practices-for-8-1-designer-launcher-install-on-linux/40302/1 "2020-11-04T17:11:12Z")
Is there a “Best Practices” for installing the Designer app under Linux (Debian in my case) for Ignition 8.1? I’m not sure if this is an Ignition or Linux question. After downloading from the Gateway page, I end up with designerlauncher.tar.gz which contains the folder “designerlauncher”, which contains: ![Capture](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/0/c/0cc7e66419f5388377f5ca5817ba51c400518267.png) So where is the best/proper place to put all of these files? ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 5:14pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/best-practices-for-8-1-designer-launcher-install-on-linux/40302/2 "2020-11-04T17:14:33Z")
I expand them to `~/designerlauncher-x.y.z/` until I’ve qualified whether they play nice with prior versions. Then I drop the version number, replacing the best prior that all my various shortcuts point at. ---
**Author:** ![peter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/278dde/32.png) [@peter](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/peter)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 5:16pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/best-practices-for-8-1-designer-launcher-install-on-linux/40302/3 "2020-11-04T17:16:40Z")
But you still keep the files in your home directory (~), rather than a system wide location? And does that allow the Linux system to pick up on the icon and make use of it? ---
**Author:** ![peter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/278dde/32.png) [@peter](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/peter)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 6:32pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/best-practices-for-8-1-designer-launcher-install-on-linux/40302/4 "2020-11-04T18:32:21Z")
I'm going to answer my own question here. The designerlauncher.desktop file is a file that specifies where an application exists and how a Linux desktop such as Gnome (or other [freedesktop.org](http://freedesktop.org) compliant applications) can start it from an icon. These desktop systems assign icons to applications by registering each application's ".desktop" file. There are 2 main locations where the ".desktop" file should be placed in order for this to occur: 1. /usr/share/applications =\> For globally accessible applications by all users 2. ~/.local/share/applications =\> For applications only accessible by the logged in user Ideally you would place the designer.desktop file in one of those two locations, and place the executables somewhere else (that somewhere being described within the .desktop file). However the designerlauncher.desktop file specifies the location of the executables relative to the location of .desktop file itself. As taken from the .desktop file the app directory is defined as being in a sub-directory within the directory where the .desktop file is located: > Exec=bash -c 'cd "$(dirname "$1")/app" && ./designerlauncher.sh &' . %k As I didn't want to: 1. Pollute the global applications directory with the designerlauncher executables 2. Rewrite the bash script to point to a different location I simply copied the contents of the tar.gz file to my local applications directory. Given that I extracted the tar.gz file to ~/Downloads directory. I did this by executing the command line: > cp -rp ~/Downloads/designerlauncher/\* ~/.local/share/applications The "r" option means recursive, and the "p" option is to preserve file attributes. With this done my Debian desktop could find the Designer Launcher application (I may have needed to log out and in again to refresh the desktop). Also just did exactly the same process for a Ubuntu based system. Ideally the app and runtime directories should not be in the same directory as the .desktop file, but for testing purposes it works for me. Next step is finding out where the designerlauncher puts the shortcuts for the projects! ---
**Author:** ![cpanici](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@cpanici](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/cpanici)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2023, 7:26pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/best-practices-for-8-1-designer-launcher-install-on-linux/40302/5 "2023-02-21T19:26:55Z")
Right, wrong, or indifferent here is what I have and it is working. Extract the tar ball, then put the designerlauncher folder in this directory: /[home]/.local/share/ignition where [home] is the home directory for your user account. Put the .desktop folder in this directory /[home]/.local/share/applications. Then, make sure the desktop file is below replacing [home] with the user home directory: [Desktop Entry] Encoding=UTF-8 Exec=/[home]/.local/share/ignition/designerlauncher/runtime/bin/java -jar /[home]/.local/share/ignition/designerlauncher/app/launcher-designer-linux.jar Icon=/[home]/.local/share/ignition/designerlauncher/app/launcher.png Name[en\_US]=Designer Launcher Name=Designer Launcher Path=. StartupNotify=true Terminal=false Type=Application Version=1.0 What I like about this is that is uses the portable java version that comes with the designerlauncher instead of mucking up your host java version. It would be super nice if Inductive Automation made some deb and rpm packages for the Designer Launcher and the Vision Client launcher. Enjoy! ---
**Author:** ![gnguyen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/41988e/32.png) [@gnguyen](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/gnguyen)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 12:29pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/best-practices-for-8-1-designer-launcher-install-on-linux/40302/6 "2023-03-30T12:29:19Z")
maybe post your request on [ideas.inductiveautomation.com](http://ideas.inductiveautomation.com) and tell people to vote 😉 Anyway, thanks for your contribution. ---
**Author:** ![miguelvegarolon](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/miguelvegarolon/32/14983_2.png) [@miguelvegarolon](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/miguelvegarolon)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2023, 12:02pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/best-practices-for-8-1-designer-launcher-install-on-linux/40302/7 "2023-07-03T12:02:02Z")
I'm running Ubuntu and something that worked for me was to extract the .tar.gz into the desktop. Once in the desktop opened the folder "designerlauncher". Then opened the terminal in the folder. In the terminal wrote : gtk-launch designerlauncher.desktop ---
**Author:** ![Tomasz\_Nerc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/47e85d/32.png) [@Tomasz\_Nerc](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Tomasz_Nerc)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2024, 3:13pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/best-practices-for-8-1-designer-launcher-install-on-linux/40302/8 "2024-07-02T15:13:14Z")
I tried everything you described in this thread, but I still have a java error when trying to open Designer. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/7/5/759e00469ec9d12da90cc2b4f4169aa3f0105754.png) ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/5/5/55506baae571d78f376a1b586764f5aae8117ce3.png) ---
**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2024, 3:34pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/best-practices-for-8-1-designer-launcher-install-on-linux/40302/9 "2024-07-02T15:34:31Z")
In `~/.ignition/clientlauncher-data/` there should be a `designerlauncher.log` file. In that, there will be a log message that says "Starting Java with the following parameters: ..." Upload the designerlauncher.log file. Copy the full command and paste/run it in a separate terminal and then provide the full output here. ---
**Author:** ![Tomasz\_Nerc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/47e85d/32.png) [@Tomasz\_Nerc](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Tomasz_Nerc)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2024, 9:10pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/best-practices-for-8-1-designer-launcher-install-on-linux/40302/10 "2024-07-02T21:10:48Z")
I don't see subfolder /clientlauncher-data/ in /.ignition/ folder. There is only empty subfolder /install/ inside. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/3/0/30858620fb7e5266e39a9e28c3148a06aa100483.png) ---
**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2024, 9:13pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/best-practices-for-8-1-designer-launcher-install-on-linux/40302/11 "2024-07-02T21:13:24Z")
Hmm, are you looking on the same system and under the same user that the Designer Launcher application is being run from? ---
**Author:** ![Tomasz\_Nerc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/47e85d/32.png) [@Tomasz\_Nerc](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Tomasz_Nerc)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2024, 9:22pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/best-practices-for-8-1-designer-launcher-install-on-linux/40302/12 "2024-07-02T21:22:47Z")
Exactly. There is only one user on this system: ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/8/7/87e4834e2e9560325452dbe12cebe59be7027e4f.png) ---
**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2024, 9:43pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/best-practices-for-8-1-designer-launcher-install-on-linux/40302/13 "2024-07-02T21:43:28Z")
Well, in this screenshot you're logged in as root, not your user. Looked under `/home/root/.ignition`? ---
**Author:** ![Tomasz\_Nerc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/47e85d/32.png) [@Tomasz\_Nerc](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Tomasz_Nerc)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2024, 9:46pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/best-practices-for-8-1-designer-launcher-install-on-linux/40302/14 "2024-07-02T21:46:31Z")
Additional info: I checked this on 2 different VM (Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and 22.04 LTS). Gateway ver: 8.1.42. Java ver: openjdk version "21.0.3" 2024-04-16 OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 21.0.3+9-Ubuntu-1ubuntu120.04.1) OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 21.0.3+9-Ubuntu-1ubuntu120.04.1, mixed mode, sharing) ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2024, 9:52pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/best-practices-for-8-1-designer-launcher-install-on-linux/40302/15 "2024-07-02T21:52:16Z")
Don't run as root. Expand the tarball into your actual home directory. Run `/home/$whatever/designerlauncher/app/designerlauncher.sh`, as $whatever, not as root. Don't run as root. (My daily driver is Kubuntu 20.04, soon to be 22.04. I do this all the time, on bare metal.) FWIW, I replace Ignition launcher shortcuts with `.desktop` files in this format: ```python [Desktop Entry] Encoding=UTF-8 Version=1.1 Path=/home/philip/designerlauncher/app/ Type=Application Terminal=false Icon=/home/philip/.ignition/clientlauncher-data/images/DesignerIcon.png Name=Designers Exec=/home/philip/designerlauncher/app/designerlauncher.sh -Dapp.home=/home/philip/.ignition/clientlauncher-data ``` ---
**Author:** ![Tomasz\_Nerc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/47e85d/32.png) [@Tomasz\_Nerc](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Tomasz_Nerc)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2024, 10:12pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/best-practices-for-8-1-designer-launcher-install-on-linux/40302/16 "2024-07-02T22:12:24Z")
It seems that in the meantime my colleague solved the problem. I changed owner of /.ignition/ by: ```python sudo chown -R tomaszn .ignition ``` After that, Designer opens without any problem. I haven't performed any operations as root before. I only logged in as root in the terminal when I was looking for the log file. My colleague did the same test and had the same java error. Changing permissions for /.ignition/ helped. ---
**Author:** ![Trey\_Gretzinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/848f3c/32.png) [@Trey\_Gretzinger](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Trey_Gretzinger)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2025, 11:45pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/best-practices-for-8-1-designer-launcher-install-on-linux/40302/17 "2025-03-27T23:45:40Z")
This worked for me, thank you! ---
**Author:** ![chaoliang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ba8739/32.png) [@chaoliang](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/chaoliang)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2025, 10:40pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/best-practices-for-8-1-designer-launcher-install-on-linux/40302/18 "2025-07-22T22:40:42Z")
```python sudo chown -R tomaszn .ignition ``` It solved my Java error.