Skip to content

Linux

This section describes the steps required to install the Canvus client on Linux.

Note

On Linux, the Canvus client requires 64-bit Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (vanilla install — no extra dependencies need to be added by hand). The .deb package pulls in everything it needs from the standard Ubuntu archive.

Install Canvus client

To install the Canvus client, follow these steps:

  1. Browse to the MultiTaction Downloads page:

    a. Register on the MultiTaction apps web site: https://apps.multitaction.com/ b. Launch a browser on the designated host computer and log on to the MultiTaction Cornerstone web site (see step 1.a). c. Browse to the Downloads page: https://apps.multitaction.com/mt-canvus/canvus-downloads.html

  2. Download the Canvus client .deb package for Ubuntu 24.04. The file name has the form mt-canvus-client-<version>.deb.

  3. Open a terminal in the directory where you downloaded the package. First refresh the package index so apt can resolve the bundled dependencies from the Ubuntu archive, then install the .deb:

    sudo apt update
sudo apt install ./mt-canvus-client-<version>.deb

    Always use apt install ./<file>.deb (not dpkg -i). apt reads the Depends: field from the package and pulls in every required system library from the standard Ubuntu archive in one transaction. dpkg -i will leave the install half-finished if anything is missing.

    Replace <version> with the actual version string from the downloaded file.

  4. The Canvus client is installed under /opt/mt-canvus-<version>. The package also registers a desktop entry, application icon, AppArmor profile (required for the embedded browser sandbox on Ubuntu 23+), and dynamic linker cache.

Verify the install

Run the following checks to confirm the package and its dependencies are in place:

# Package status — should print "Status: install ok installed"
dpkg -s mt-canvus | grep -i ^Status

# Dependency check — should produce no output if all dependencies are satisfied
sudo apt-get check

# Optional: confirm no shared libraries are missing at runtime
ldd /opt/mt-canvus-<version>/bin/mt-canvus-app | grep "not found" || echo "All libraries resolved."

If dpkg -i was used by mistake

If the install was attempted with dpkg -i and complained about unmet dependencies, fix it with:

sudo apt-get install -f

This pulls in every missing dependency declared by the package and completes the install.

Upgrading

To upgrade, install the new .deb the same way. apt will replace the previous package.

Removing

To remove the client, run:

sudo apt remove mt-canvus

Start or stop Canvus client

This section describes how to start and stop the Canvus client.

To start Canvus client:

  • Launch MT Canvus from your desktop applications menu, or

  • Run the launcher script from a terminal:

    /opt/mt-canvus-<version>/bin/mt-canvus.sh

Use mt-canvus.sh, not mt-canvus-app directly

The package also installs the raw binary at /opt/mt-canvus-<version>/bin/mt-canvus-app. Do not run that binary directly. It will fail or misbehave because it depends on environment setup that only the launcher performs:

  • sets LD_LIBRARY_PATH to the bundled libraries under /opt/mt-canvus-<version>/lib
  • sets OPENSSL_MODULES for the bundled OpenSSL providers
  • starts pulseaudio and reloads the uvcvideo kernel module for camera support
  • launches mt-canvus-daemon alongside the app and supervises it
  • passes the required runtime flags (--use-pulse-audio, crash-dump upload URL, CEF GPU blacklist override)
  • writes log files to ~/MultiTaction/canvus/logs/

Always launch via mt-canvus.sh or via the desktop entry (which itself calls mt-canvus.sh).

To stop the client:

With the Canvus client window focused, press CTRL-Q on the keyboard.

After the Canvus client has started, log entries record client activity. For details about where to find the log files, see client-log-file.

Activate your license

You can now proceed to activate your Canvus client license. See client-licensing for details.

Configure Canvus Connect (optional)

If you are using Canvus Connect, you can specify the Canvus Connect servers the client can connect to. See client-configure-canvus-connect.

Configure network proxy (optional)

The Canvus client uses the http_proxy and https_proxy environment variables to determine if a network proxy should be used. If a network proxy is required, you can configure it by adding the environment variables to the /etc/environment file.

Tip

For example, if your proxy address is proxy.example.com:1080 you would add the following lines to /etc/environment:

http_proxy=http://proxy.example.com:1080
https_proxy=https://proxy.example.com:1080

You need to re-login or restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

Further customization (optional)

You can further customize the Canvus client by modifying its client-configuration.