Spotify 0.9.17 for GNU/Linux (and the upcoming 1.x beta!)

[nikreiman]

On 24 March 2015, we rolled out an update to the desktop client for GNU/Linux. For installation instructions, see:

https://www.spotify.com/download/previews/

The version of the client is 0.9.17, and it will be the final 0.9.x client released for this platform. It has been a long time since the previous release (with the prior version being 0.9.11), and for those interested in the release notes, they will be identical to those for other desktop platforms for the versions 0.9.12-17, with the addition of the following platform-specific fixes:

- The machine's hostname is shown to other devices from Spotify Connect

- A 512px icon is used for the taskbar and menubar (unity integration)

We have decided to make a final release of 0.9.x desktop so that our users can pin this package if desired. Also we will make a separate package for the 0.9.17 release so that it is easier to find in the apt repository in case users need to revert to the prior version.

*EDIT*: The 0.9.17 package is now available, it is called spotify-client-0.9.17. If you don't want to receive the 1.x version, you can install this package instead (note that it both provides and conflicts with the spotify-client package).

Going forward, the official Linux beta will be released very soon! There are already some unofficial beta links floating around the forum, but so far we have not published a deb package to our official apt servers yet. We have been very busy getting 1.x out the door and sadly have not had as much time to devote to the GNU/Linux releases as we would like. Also, it has been unfortunate that we have not been better at keeping up with releases for this platform in general, but we have taken some steps to improve this for future releases.

Specifically, this means:

- We will be releasing a regular tarball file alongside our debian package for the benefit of non-debian users

- Spotify client releases will be made available for GNU/Linux users at the same time as users on other platforms

- We will also make a public `testing` apt repository to house unstable beta builds for testing

- However, we do not have a 32-bit version of the client available now. This is difficult for us to do for a number of reasons, but we will consider doing this if there is enough demand from the userbase.

[f_b]

Great! Is there an "offical" repo where we can get the beta yet?

[titomb345]

Does the Linux client automatically update? I want to ensure that my Spotify experience will NOT be ruined by this "update".

Do I have to do some bull**bleep** like I did on Windows to keep it from autoupdating?

[ryanpcmcquen]

It all depends on how you install it on Linux. If you do not have the repo set up and you ONLY download the .deb (installing it manually), there will be no way for it to update.

[am4c130d]

@muammar

All of those packages are from standard Debian Jessie/Sid.  My install is mostly Jessie, with a bit of Sid.

I quit using debian-multimedia once Kodi/XBMC got added to the standard repos, and because I had some conflict issues every now and again.  It took a bit of unpicking at first, but it has been simpler since.

[am4c130d]

@nikreiman

I am not sure whether that would work - but I neither know the Spotify-client nor the differences between the libavXXX verisions, so apologies if this is hopelessly wrong. 

I currently have libavformat53 and libavformat56, as well as libavcodec53 and libavcodec56 installed.  Prior to getting Spotify to play my local files, I had both libavXXX56 packages installed, but only one of 53 packages.  The fact that both are around suggests to me, that something is different enough for the Debian team to keep both about, and it appears the Spotify-client wants the specific version as well.  The recommend statement indicates

libavcodec53 or libavcodec52 or libavcodec-extra-53 or libavcodec-extra-52

So I don't know if libavcodec54 is a newer version of libavcodec53, or an older version of libavcodec56 or something entirely different.

As for recommended - thanks, that probably explains it.  I typically stick with Synaptic or aptitude and rarely use apt-get - which may be why the recommended packages weren't installing for me.  I am not sufficiently steeped in the details of dpkg and APT to know if that is really the reason.  Thanks.

[olejon]

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@f_b wrote:

Great! Is there an "offical" repo where we can get the beta yet?

---

@f_b No, but you can always get the latest deb here at the bottom of the page: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/spotify-beta/

I wouldn't recommend it, though. It's version 1.0.1 and it lacks many things. Try it in a VM if you are curious.

[olejon]

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@titomb345 wrote:

Does the Linux client automatically update? I want to ensure that my Spotify experience will NOT be ruined by this "update".

Do I have to do some bull**bleep** like I did on Windows to keep it from autoupdating?

---

@titomb345 If you are running Ubuntu, check out this link to disable auto-updating:

https://github.com/olejon/spotcommander/wiki/DowngradeSpotify#disable-auto-updating

[f_b]

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@olejon wrote:

---

@f_b wrote:

Great! Is there an "offical" repo where we can get the beta yet?

---

@f_b No, but you can always get the latest deb here at the bottom of the page: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/spotify-beta/

I wouldn't recommend it, though. It's version 1.0.1 and it lacks many things. Try it in a VM if you are curious.

---

Great, thanks!

Btw, how's progress on making SpotCommander compatible with v1.x?

[sleeksorrow]

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@f_b wrote:

Great, thanks!

Btw, how's progress on making SpotCommander compatible with v1.x?

---

(Ole Jon, the developer of SpotCommander may correct me) As of now, Spotify 1.x is missing core functionality that is needed by SpotCommander. Mainly this is the dbus communication that's not there yet. As far as I remember, Ole Jon has already stated somewhere in this huge thread, that as soon as this is available, SpotCommander will probably just work then, and if not, I am sure there will be an update soon after that.

[sleeksorrow]

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@olejon wrote:

I wouldn't recommend it, though. It's version 1.0.1 and it lacks many things. Try it in a VM if you are curious.

---

I would not recommend installing the debian package as well. But just for the archives, I want to add, that I successfully used dpkg-deb --extract to extract the files in the package, then moved everything from [extractfolder]/usr/share/spotify/ to /opt/spotify-beta and ran ./Spotify in this folder.

Version 1.x uses a different config directory (by accident or purpose I don't know, because one is ~/.config/spotify, and the new is ~/.config/Spotify with upper case "S"), so this way the two versions don't interfere with each other. I now use 1.0.1 most of the time and just fall back to the release version if needed. Which is rare.

[nikreiman]

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@sleeksorrow wrote:

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@olejon wrote:

I wouldn't recommend it, though. It's version 1.0.1 and it lacks many things. Try it in a VM if you are curious.

---

I would not recommend installing the debian package as well. But just for the archives, I want to add, that I successfully used dpkg-deb --extract to extract the files in the package, then moved everything from [extractfolder]/usr/share/spotify/ to /opt/spotify-beta and ran ./Spotify in this folder.

Version 1.x uses a different config directory (by accident or purpose I don't know, because one is ~/.config/spotify, and the new is ~/.config/Spotify with upper case "S"), so this way the two versions don't interfere with each other. I now use 1.0.1 most of the time and just fall back to the release version if needed. Which is rare.

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We are aware of the cache directory issue and it will be fixed in the next Linux 1.x beta release.

[sleeksorrow]

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@nikreiman wrote:

We are aware of the cache directory issue and it will be fixed in the next Linux 1.x beta release.

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Oh, hehe, seems I will need a wrapper script then to link the dirs forth and back to be able to switch between 0.9 and 1.x 🙂 Very well 🙂

[muammar]

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@am4c130d wrote:

@muammar

I had the same problem on Jessie.  I think the dependencies are wrong in the .deb, as installing other packages addressed the problem for me.  libavcodec53 and libavformat53 are only recommended - not required.

Try checking if the following are installed.

libavutil.so.51 - which is part of libavutil51
libavformat.so.53 - which is part of libavformat53 (I think this was the one that was not installed in my system)
libavcodec.so.53 - which is part of libavcodec53

Hope that helps.

---

So I am updating. 

I did the following:

1) I get rid of debian-multimedia repository (this was kind of a hassle to resolve all problems by the way). 

2) I deleted the symlinks I had created in /opt/spotify/spotify-client.

3) I changed my repo from unstable to stable and I installed the following:

libavutil51
libavformat53
libavcodec53
4) I relaunched spotify, and without need of doing the symlinks it works :). 
5) I reverted my repos to point to unstable again. 

Thank you very much for the solution. !

It would be better to make spotify depend on versions of libav in debian testing at least. 

Edit (22/06/2015): your sources have to point to wheezy to install the libraries. Jessie does not have them. 

[joontje]

So, i wanted to install this on my HTPC and succeeded (xubuntu) however when i try to play music im greeted by the infamous cannot connect (4294967294) error.

I use Alsa (not pulseaudio) for handling the audio on this box because pulse doesnt work very well for transfering DTS/DTS HD/Dolby etc and alsa does.

Please dont tell me i have to install pulseaudio for it to work 😞

[ryanpcmcquen]

Works here without pulseaudio (Slackware). Try adding this file to ~/

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ryanpcmcquen/linuxTweaks/master/.asoundrc

[joontje]

That resolved the error, it plays now but no sound 😄

Could it have to do with multiple audio devices ?

aplay -l lists the following (i use HDMI)

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****

card 0: HDMI [HDA Intel HDMI], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]

  Subdevices: 0/1

  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

card 1: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC887-VD Analog [ALC887-VD Analog]

  Subdevices: 1/1

  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

card 1: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 1: ALC887-VD Digital [ALC887-VD Digital]

  Subdevices: 1/1

  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

edit: right it says right there that its device 3, i changed both lines from 1 to 3 and i get the same error again 😞

[olejon]

So for those who want Spotify up and running on Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet, you'll need libgcrypt11 which is not included in the repositories, but you can use the version from Ubuntu 14.10 successfully.

Download the deb package from here (choose between 32-bit/i386 and 64-bit/amd64):

http://packages.ubuntu.com/utopic/libgcrypt11

[turophobe]

Local mp3 playback has stopped working for me since upgrading to Ubuntu 15.04.  I have libavutil51, libavcodec53, and libavformat53 installed.  Playback fails on both 1.0.1.1062 and 0.9.17.1.g9b85d43.7-1.  I tried clearing ~/.config/spotify and ~/.cache/spotify, and am running out of ideas.

Log output:

[mp3 @ 0xb637d8bc00] max_analyze_duration reached
18:44:01.381 D [spirc_manager.cpp:710 ] GAIA: SpircManager::stpLoad, track=spotify:local:The+Beatles:Abbey+Road:Because:165, index=129, position=0, paused=0
18:44:01.381 D [spirc_manager.cpp:1883 ] GAIA: SpircManager::becomeActiveDevice
18:44:01.381 D [spirc_manager.cpp:668 ] GAIA: current state ID updated to -236668660
18:44:01.384 I [sliding_window_prefetch_strategy.cpp:329] Prefetch: looks like new context - resetting window size to 1
18:44:01.388 D [spirc_manager.cpp:668 ] GAIA: current state ID updated to -236668654
18:44:03.891 D [spirc_manager.cpp:1751 ] GAIA: TIMING(111687518) SpircManager::receiveMsg Notify (f22745033857dd94ef264a1b3b80eb97acea638e)
18:44:03.891 D [spirc_protobuf_device.cpp:146 ] GAIA: SpircProtobufDevice::onNotify (update_loaded:1)
18:44:03.891 D [spirc_manager.cpp:668 ] GAIA: current state ID updated to -236668654
 

[turophobe]

Installing libavformat54 from trusty fixed my problem.

[costgranda]

Where can i  get the tarball? i dont use debian based distros.