Linux installation and offline setup

Before you install

Close your audio host and any other applications using Studio Cucurbits plug-ins. This installer is for Linux x86_64; it does not include ARM packages.

The installation script needs Python 3 and OpenSSL. Generic archives also need zstd and tar. Install these tools through your distribution’s package manager beforehand. For an offline computer, also prepare any missing OS packages on an online computer with the same distribution and version.

Keep the product packages and shared package from the same selected release together. A bundle installs each included plug-in; the shared updater is needed only once.

Prepare offline files on an online computer

Download the Linux installation script for your product or bundle. In a terminal, use its actual filename in the command below. This downloads the required packages without installing them on the online computer.

sh <downloaded-installer>.sh --download-only ./offline-packages --format deb

Use deb for Debian, Ubuntu and Linux Mint. Use generic for other distributions. Choose the target computer’s format explicitly, even if the online computer uses a different distribution.

Copy the entire offline-packages folder to the target computer, for example on a USB drive. It contains the product packages, the required shared package, and install.sh with the release’s verification information.

cd offline-packages
sh install.sh --offline . --format deb

For generic archives, replace the final deb with generic. The script verifies the package hashes and signatures before installing, without accessing the network. The DEB installation may ask for your sudo password. Run the generic installation as your normal user.

Install manually on Debian Ubuntu or Linux Mint

Under All installers on the download page, download the product .deb and the matching studio-cucurbits-common .deb. The common package contains the Cucurbits updater. For a bundle, collect the .deb for every included product.

Before going offline, compare each file’s SHA-256 with the value on the download page. The installation script can also verify signatures without installing anything or accessing the network.

sha256sum *.deb
sh <downloaded-installer>.sh --verify-only . --format deb

For an online installation, run the command below in a folder containing only the packages you want to install. APT installs the product and shared packages together and can fetch missing OS dependencies.

sudo apt-get install --no-remove -- ./*.deb

For offline installation, ensure the OS dependencies are already installed, then use dpkg. It does not access the network.

sudo dpkg --install ./studio-cucurbits-common_*.deb ./studio-cucurbits-<product>_*.deb

For a bundle, add each product’s .deb explicitly. Plug-ins are installed in /usr/lib/vst3/Studio Cucurbits/ and the shared application in /opt/studio-cucurbits/. If you are changing from a generic installation, uninstall that copy with its uninstall.sh first.

Install manually on other distributions

Download the product’s generic .tar.zst archive. Each archive includes the shared updater, so you do not need a separate common package. For a bundle, collect each included product’s archive.

sha256sum *.tar.zst
sh <downloaded-installer>.sh --verify-only . --format generic
tar --zstd -xf <downloaded-package>.tar.zst
sh ./studio-cucurbits-linux/install.sh

Do not use sudo. Extract each archive into its own empty folder. Plug-ins are installed in ~/.vst3/Studio Cucurbits/ and the shared updater in ~/.local/opt/studio-cucurbits/common/. The package installer checks the existing shared updater and updates it when needed. Avoid installing a generic copy of a product already installed through DEB.

After installation

Reopen your audio host and rescan its VST3 plug-ins. Offline installation installs the software; licence activation is a separate step.

If the package manager reports a missing OS library, prepare the matching distribution package and run the installation again. If a checksum or signature fails, download a fresh copy from the official downloads.