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Installing Cinelerra on Fedora 8

So, I have this bit of video from one of my old bands that I want to post on my blog, but it needs to be cut and spiced up before it is ready for public consumption. I could use one of the many DV editors available for Windows XP, but made a pledge long ago to use open source software as much as possible. Cinelerra is considered the top of the line open source video editors. I have been trying to use this video editing program on several different Linux OS’s but had been running into various problems. I have always been a fan of Debian based distros, mainly because of the excellent package management system call Apt-Get. But I either couldn’t get the right dependencies (64 Studio, Debian Etch) or my external hard drive, where my video is stored, wouldn’t mount (Ubuntu). I decided to give this a try using Fedora 8. I had it installed on my laptop last year and remembered that my external hard drive mounted with no problem. Now to install Cinelerra. At first I had some problems with dependencies, and found that the instructions I was using to install Cinelerra were outdated. Here is what worked for me:

If you haven’t done so, install the Livna repository.

DO NOT use the Cinelerra package at FreshRPM. This is where I ran into dependency problems. Some of the dependencies provided for Cinelerra at this repository are not currently compatible with those you will use from the newer and more up-to date Livna repository. Instead, use the Software Installer option and install one of the packages found HERE.

PS. As is usually the case when messing around with my computer, finding solutions is often trying this and that to find what works. It’s much like fumbling for a light switch in the dark. I didn’t take notes as I was working out and blogging about this was an afterthought, so I hope I haven’t forgotten anything. I noticed that I did not disable the FreshRPM repository when I successfully installed Cinelerra. If you still have dependency issues, you might want to disable it and try again.