How to install GNU Cash on Linux
Are you looking for a free, open-source alternative to Quicken or other proprietary finance apps to use on your Linux PC? Try out GNU Cash. It’s a free, easy-to-use money management tool that will allow you to track your finances, loan payments, and more. Here’s how to install it on Linux.
Ubuntu installation instructions
The GNU Cash app is installable on Ubuntu through the “Universe” software repository. However, “Universe” isn’t enabled on all Ubuntu operating systems by default. So, we will demonstrate how to turn it on manually.
sudo add-apt-repository universe
After adding the “Universe” software repository to your computer, it is time to refresh Ubuntu’s software sources. To do that, make use of the following apt update command below in a terminal window.
sudo apt update
Once your software sources are up to date, Ubuntu will have access to the “Universe” software repository. At this point, you can easily install the GNU Cash application on Ubuntu using the apt install command below.
sudo apt install gnucash
Debian installation instructions
On Debian Linux, installing the GNU Cash application through the “Main” software repository is possible. Currently, the app is supported on Debian 11, Debian 10, as well as Debian 9, and Debian Sid. To start the installation, open up a terminal window on the Debian desktop.
With the terminal window open, use the su command to log into the root account. Once you’ve logged into the root account, you can make use of the apt-get command below to install the GNU Cash package onto your computer.
Note: If you’ve enabled Sudo on your Debian PC, execute sudo before the command below rather than logging into the root account.
apt-get install gnucash
The GNU Cash app on Debian is considerably out of date compared to other Linux operating systems. While this shouldn’t affect your ability to use the program to its fullest, you will miss out on feature updates.
If you’re not a fan of using older versions of programs on Debian, consider following the Flatpak or Snap installation instructions to get GNU Cash working, rather than the Debian instructions. Or, consider updating to Debian 11 as the programs on it are newer.
Arch Linux installation instructions
On Arch Linux, there are two ways to get GNU Cash working. The first (and most straightforward way) to do it is through the “Community” software repository. The second way of installation is through the Arch Linux AUR. We’ll cover both in this tutorial.
To install GNU Cash on Arch Linux through the “Community” software repo, start by launching a terminal window on the desktop. Once the terminal is open, enable the “Community” repo in your Pacman.conf file. Then, execute the command below.
sudo pacman -Syy gnucash
AUR
To install the GNU Cash app through the AUR, you must first use the Pacman command to install both the “Git” and “Base-devel” packages onto your computer.
sudo pacman -S git base-devel
After setting up the two packages, you must install the Trizen AUR helper. This program will make it so that you can download and build the source code for GNU Cash automatically rather than by hand.
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/trizen.git cd trizen makepkg -sri
With the Trizen app set up on your Arch Linux PC, you can download and install the latest Trizen AUR helper application on your computer with the command below.
trizen -S gnucash-git gnucash-docs-git
Fedora installation instructions
The GNU Cash application is available to Fedora Linux users via the “Main” software repository. To start the installation process, open up a terminal window. Once the terminal window is open, use the dnf install command to get GNU Cash working.
sudo dnf install gnucash
Not a fan of the Fedora Linux version of GNU Cash? Consider following along with the Flatpak or Snap package instructions below.
OpenSUSE installation instructions
The GNU Cash application works on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed, as well as 15.2 and 15.1 through the OpenSUSE Oss software repository. To start the installation, ensure you have the OpenSUSE Oss repo set up. Then, you’ll be able to install the GNU Cash application on your OpenSUSE system with the zypper install command below.
sudo zypper install gnucash
Keep in mind that some versions of OpenSUSE have an out-of-date release of GNU Cash. If you require newer features, it might be a good idea to follow the Snap or Flatpak instructions below instead.
Flatpak installation instructions
GNU Cash is available as a Flatpak package. To install it, you must first enable the Flatpak runtime on your Linux PC by following the guide. Once the Flatpak runtime is set up, use the remote-add command below to add the Flathub app store to your PC.
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
Finally, install the GNU Cash app on your Linux PC using the flatpak install command below.
flatpak install flathub org.gnucash.GnuCash
Snap package installation instructions
There’s an unofficial GNU Cash app on the Snap store. To set it up, you need to have the Snapd runtime configured. To set up the Snapd runtime on your Linux PC, follow this guide on the subject.
After setting up the Snapd runtime, the installation of GNU Cash can begin. Using the snap install command below, install GNU Cash.
sudo snap install gnucash-jz
