Installing and updating

Ettin Edit runs on 64-bit Windows and 64-bit Linux (X11 or Wayland). Every release is on the releases page.

Windows

Download one of these:

• ettin-edit-<version>-setup.exe, the installer. Run it and pick:

  • Install for me only, which needs no administrator rights, or Install for all users.
  • A desktop shortcut (optional).
  • Edit with Ettin Edit in the right-click menu of every file in Explorer.
  • Open with entries for 33 common text and code file types.
  • Adding Ettin Edit to the PATH, so ettin-edit file.txt works in a terminal (optional).

  Ettin Edit then appears in the Start menu. Remove it from Settings > Apps like any other program.

• The .zip, if you'd rather not install anything. Extract it anywhere and run ettin-edit.exe. Your settings still go to %APPDATA%\EttinEdit (see Files, folders and the command line).

Linux

The packages add Ettin Edit to your application menu with its icon, and offer it in Open With for text files. Software centres such as GNOME Software, KDE Discover and Ubuntu's App Center show its licence (MIT), website, release notes and age rating.

Getting updates on Debian and Ubuntu

From 1.4.0 the .deb also adds the Ettin Edit package repository, which lives next to this manual on GitHub Pages. After that, your software updater (or sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade) installs new versions like any other app, and the software centre no longer says "No software repository included". Install the 1.4.0 .deb by hand once if you have an older one.

The repository's settings are in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ettin-edit.sources. Delete that file to stop getting updates this way.

To add the repository without downloading the .deb first:

sudo curl -fsSLo /usr/share/keyrings/ettin-edit-archive-keyring.gpg \
  https://tharkis.github.io/Ettin-Edit/apt/ettin-edit-archive-keyring.gpg
sudo curl -fsSLo /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ettin-edit.sources \
  https://tharkis.github.io/Ettin-Edit/apt/ettin-edit.sources
sudo apt update && sudo apt install ettin-edit

The .tar.gz needs the usual desktop libraries, which almost every desktop already has: OpenGL and, on X11, libxkbcommon-x11. On Debian or Ubuntu: sudo apt install libxkbcommon-x11-0 libgl1.

Building the Arch package yourself

From a copy of the source code:

cd packaging/arch
makepkg -si

Building from source

Install Rust from https://rustup.rs, then in the source folder:

cargo build --release      # the program is target/release/ettin-edit
cargo run --release -- notes.txt

Updating

On Debian and Ubuntu, the .deb's package repository brings updates through your software updater (see above). Everywhere else, and on Debian and Ubuntu too if you like, Ettin Edit updates itself:

Help > Check for Updates… (also on the toolbar's Home tab) asks GitHub whether there's a newer release. If there is, it shows what changed and an Update Now button. Ettin Edit downloads the file that matches how you installed it, checks it against the SHA-256 checksum GitHub lists for it, and installs it:

When it's done, Restart Now closes Ettin Edit and starts the new version. It closes the way File > Exit does, so you're asked about unsaved changes (or they're kept, if Preferences remembers them), and your open files come back. Later keeps working with the old version until you next start Ettin Edit (with the Windows installer, it installs the update when you close Ettin Edit). Your settings, themes and plugins are kept.

The password prompt comes from pkexec. Without it, Ettin Edit shows the command to run in a terminal instead, with a Copy button. A copy built from source, or one in a folder you can't write to, can't update itself; the dialog says so and offers the download page. If the download doesn't match its checksum it isn't installed.

Downloads wait in ~/.cache/ettin-edit/updates on Linux (%LOCALAPPDATA%\ettin-edit\updates on Windows) and are removed by the next update.

Ettin Edit also checks by itself once a week and only speaks up when there's something new. Turn that off with Help > Check for Updates Automatically, or in Preferences under Files and Startup. The check sends nothing about you or your files; it only reads the public list of releases.

Coming from NixPad

Ettin Edit used to be called NixPad. The first time Ettin Edit starts, it copies your NixPad settings, session, backups, themes and plugins to its own folder, and plugins written for NixPad keep working. The old folder is left alone, so you can delete it when you're happy.