How to run Inkscape on Mac Leopard

Posted in Mac, Tutorials, leopard, macbook, tips on May 14, 2008

If you like Inkscape (an open source alternative to Adobe Illustrator) and have a Mac with Leopard; you will figure that it after installation it will not work. It will say that font caching might take time, but never start. It’s because of a simple bug, with a simple solution. Just open a terminal (Applications/Utilities) and type this, followed by an enter;

mkdir ~/.fontconfig

After that it should start normally.

And a note: Latest snapshot doesn’t seem to work. Just grab the latest stable package.

These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Slashdot
  • Technorati
  • email
  • Facebook
  • Furl
  • Google Bookmarks
  • LinkedIn
  • Mixx
  • Netvouz
  • NewsVine
  • Pownce
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • TwitThis

Trackback URI | Comments RSS

36 Responses to “ How to run Inkscape on Mac Leopard ”

  1. # 1 Ferhat Ayaz Says:
    May 29th, 2008 at 10:39

    Thanks! This was very helpful. I wonder why Inkscape can not simply create the folder if it does not exist.

  2. # 2 Nilo Says:
    June 10th, 2008 at 19:12

    Thanks a lot! I had almost resigned to using Inkscape only on PC

  3. # 3 Henk Kleynhans Says:
    June 11th, 2008 at 16:50

    Thanks! Sorted me out!

  4. # 4 joeyo Says:
    June 15th, 2008 at 17:29

    Many thanks. Your blog post just saved my day!

  5. # 5 Nancy Says:
    June 16th, 2008 at 23:06

    Thank you so much. Saved my day too!

  6. # 6 ak19 Says:
    June 17th, 2008 at 17:49

    dear, no words, 2 min. and inkscape works on; why inkscape.org don’t notice this simply terminal bug solution in the download of the leopard dmg versions? ak19/Milan/Italy

  7. # 7 Doreen Says:
    June 20th, 2008 at 2:16

    Thanks! This works a treat. I was about to dump Inkscape!

  8. # 8 Melissa Says:
    July 5th, 2008 at 2:07

    Wow, thanks! After days of sadness thinking I couldn’t use Inkscape, your post has renewed my love of life!

  9. # 9 József Says:
    July 6th, 2008 at 21:13

    Juhhe!
    Such a great help! Thanks! Works great.

  10. # 10 Bernhard Says:
    July 13th, 2008 at 16:54

    Just works. I wonder why the Inkscape people can not fix this.

  11. # 11 Muggie Says:
    July 14th, 2008 at 4:06

    Woot! I have it back up!

  12. # 12 Robert Says:
    July 14th, 2008 at 22:31

    Hi!

    Just what I needed. Thx.

  13. # 13 Wouter Says:
    July 21st, 2008 at 16:44

    Thanks for sharing. Saved me a lot of trouble!

  14. # 14 Martin Says:
    July 22nd, 2008 at 22:29

    thanks, that was what I needed.

  15. # 15 Pascal Says:
    July 29th, 2008 at 22:35

    Thanks

    It works now.

  16. # 16 Come risolvere un problema di inkscape su Leopard « Blog Archive « Macbiters Says:
    August 1st, 2008 at 15:24

    [...] bloggy.kuneri.net] Share [...]

  17. # 17 J Money Says:
    August 2nd, 2008 at 8:27

    Thanks man, I do appreciate this.

  18. # 18 Michael Sharman - chapter31 » Blog Archive » Getting Inkscape (0.46) to run on Mac Leopard Says:
    August 10th, 2008 at 0:35

    [...] A quick google later found the solution from Kuneri Bloggy. [...]

  19. # 19 Julius Says:
    August 14th, 2008 at 15:31

    Absolutely brilliant.
    Thanks a million
    Best wishes
    Julius

  20. # 20 Grace Says:
    August 28th, 2008 at 8:31

    OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

  21. # 21 ritsgirl Says:
    September 3rd, 2008 at 5:26

    Thank you very much.
    I’m very happy now.

  22. # 22 Anna Says:
    September 8th, 2008 at 23:58

    tanks a lot!!!!! As I can use Inkscape on my mac now, I am 100% happy with my new MacBook, thanks!!!

  23. # 23 Rob Says:
    September 10th, 2008 at 17:35

    Thanks so much! I was about to give up on the Mac version of Inkscape. Odd that the Inkscape dev team hasn’t picked up on this, yet. Someone has told them, right? Chances are, it’s a one-line fix.

  24. # 24 Georg Says:
    September 12th, 2008 at 7:27

    IT IS WORKING!!! It is great to have people like you who a) have the technical knowledge and b) are happy to share it with ‘us’! Thanks!

  25. # 25 Ed T. Says:
    October 30th, 2008 at 22:40

    A huge thanks to you!! I had never tried inkscape but downloaded it from their website on the advice of a friend.

    I was saddened to see it didn’t work (I waited ten minutes for the ‘font building’). Then searched the net and your site popped up.

    30 seconds later and I’m in Inkscape drawing away!

    THANKS!!!

  26. # 26 Bram Faems Says:
    October 31st, 2008 at 15:38

    I get ‘Permission denied’ when i enter it into terminal? Any ideas?

  27. # 27 DG Says:
    November 28th, 2008 at 18:19

    @ Bram Faems:
    Type:
    sudo mkdir ~/.fontconfig

    It will then first ask your password before proceeding with the execution.

  28. # 28 Rakesh Ravindran Says:
    December 19th, 2008 at 19:55

    Thank you very much for your great solution!!

  29. # 29 daniel Says:
    January 15th, 2009 at 12:57

    i love u boy

  30. # 30 Phil Says:
    March 18th, 2009 at 17:33

    little bug, simple fix. Thanks. Would have taken me hours to figure that out.

  31. # 31 Gaetans Says:
    April 8th, 2009 at 12:01

    YEAH DUDE!

  32. # 32 PapaSue Says:
    April 14th, 2009 at 23:07

    This helped. Now if you could tell me how to get the shortcut keys to work!

  33. # 33 Lucreative.eu Says:
    July 10th, 2009 at 14:54

    Yeah! Thanks alot!

  34. # 34 bricolage.108 Says:
    August 6th, 2009 at 22:56

    Thanks for this.

  35. # 35 C BROWN Says:
    August 29th, 2009 at 11:35

    you are great……that did it

  36. # 36 Ras Says:
    September 12th, 2009 at 9:32

    I just tried this and it didnt help. From https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/424124 i found out that i had to do the following:

    rm .fontconfig/*
    sudo rm /opt/local/var/cache/fontconfig/*

    as well. Then it worked

Speak your peace!

←
→