# 2 questions that involve Linux **URL:** \ **Category:** Help\ **Created:** [August 24, 2020, 1:07am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/2-questions-that-involve-linux/634 "2020-08-24T01:07:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![philhoward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@philhoward](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/philhoward)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 1:07am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/2-questions-that-involve-linux/634/1 "2020-08-24T01:07:56Z")
now that i will fall back to doing a fresh install of 5.1.3 i was wondering if there is a way for a non-root user to install Gramps for themselves in there own home directory space instead of having root doing it. also, i am wondering how easy it is to move a bunch of trees (databases) to a different userid. or would i need to export them and have the new userid import them? Ubuntu 18.04.5, Python 3.6.9 ---
**Author:** ![emyoulation](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/emyoulation/32/67_2.png) [@emyoulation](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/emyoulation)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 1:27am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/2-questions-that-involve-linux/634/2 "2020-08-24T01:27:42Z")
Since you’re going to be moving from 4.x to 5.1.3, you will have to export anyway. (This is to favilitate moving from BSDDB database backend to SQLite.) So set the destination and just do the XML export earlier. THEN do the fresh install. ---
**Author:** ![kingrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@kingrat](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/kingrat)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 3:11am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/2-questions-that-involve-linux/634/3 "2020-08-24T03:11:23Z")
I grabbed the source using git and unpacked it to ~/bin/gramps5 . Instructions for grabbing from git are here: [https://gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php/Linux:Build\_from\_source#Download\_the\_source\_from\_Git](https://gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php/Linux:Build_from_source#Download_the_source_from_Git) After that, you will need to make sure all the dependencies are installed: [https://gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php/Linux:Build\_from\_source#Install\_dependencies\_for\_Gramps\_4.x](https://gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php/Linux:Build_from_source#Install_dependencies_for_Gramps_4.x) After that, you can run from the command line. I made a .desktop file for Gramps and pinned it to the Ubuntu dock. The key line in the .desktop file is: Exec=env GRAMPS\_RESOURCES="~/bin/gramps5" PYTHONPATH="~/bin/gramps5/gramps:$PYTHONPATH" ~/bin/gramps5/Gramps.py I don’t remember exactly what Gramps uses the GRAMPS\_RESOURCES variable for, but the addition to PYTHONPATH meant python looks for python source files in the Gramps directory before other places. Phil. ---
**Author:** ![philhoward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@philhoward](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/philhoward)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2020, 12:12am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/2-questions-that-involve-linux/634/4 "2020-08-25T00:12:27Z")
> [@kingrat](#): > > GRAMPS\_RESOURCES just guessing… it is probably where it finds executables it runs by expressing a full path. it probably should use a more meaningful name like GRAMPS\_PATH or GRAMPS\_EXEC. then there should be one for a resource library that would normally be a /lib/ subdirectory or a /share/ subdirectory. this can include things like large data that might sometimes be needed, collections of images, and so on. there should be default values with the environment variables overriding them and command line options overriding those. ---
**Author:** ![anon9092048](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bcef8e/32.png) [@anon9092048](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/anon9092048)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2020, 12:40am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/2-questions-that-involve-linux/634/5 "2020-08-25T00:40:08Z")
> [@philhoward](#): > > just guessing No need to guess, relevant entry in the user manual: **[GRAMPS\_RESOURCES](https://gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php/Gramps_5.1_Wiki_Manual_-_Command_Line#GRAMPS_RESOURCES)** The environment variable **GRAMPS\_RESOURCES** is the path to Gramps builtin resources files. You should only change this if you are using Gramps from source code or a custom environment. An indicator that you need to set this variable is if you receive one of the following errors: - Encoding error while parsing resource path - Failed to open resource file - Resource Path {invalid/path/to/resources} is invalid - Unable to determine resource path ---
**Author:** ![philhoward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@philhoward](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/philhoward)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2020, 12:50am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/2-questions-that-involve-linux/634/6 "2020-08-25T00:50:14Z")
thank you. i haven’t gotten into the manual, yet. i wanted to see how intuitive the UI was designed before i do that. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/gramps/original/1X/2ac1e712b7adf612e31ca08a55419f4cf37c0158.png) [@system](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 6:49am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/2-questions-that-involve-linux/634/7 "2020-10-11T06:49:09Z")
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