Resolve on Linux

Hi all,

I know there is a Linux version of DaVinci Resolve, but I was curious about a few things...

1. Are there any specific distros known to work better or worse with Resolve? And by "better" I just mean more "out of the box" without needing a ton of tinkering. I don't mind SOME tinkering, just don't want to spend all weekend, or several days (or more) tinkering trying to get it to work.

2. Are there things (Resolve functionality) that simply don't work in the Linux version?

3. I'm currently running Resolve Studio on Windows, does the license allow me to download the studio version of Resolve for Linux to test it out?

4. Any other gotchas I should be thinking about?

Thanks!

1. There is an official Distro for Resolve. (CentOS I believe.)

2. Yes. MP4 is pretty tricky. (And that's a very common format outside of Broadcast and Cinema.)

3. Yes. The license is cross-platform.

4. Linux offers ProRes encoding, Windows doesn't. But Windows offers AAC export in MP4, whereas Linux doesn't. So your distribution needs might influence your decision.

Some clarifications:

1. It used to be CentOS, it's now Rocky Linux 8.6. If you download the Linux version of Resolve the installer comes with a PDF with more information, including the link to the official BMD standardized DaVinci Resolve environment ISO.

2. MP4 works fine. As long as you are using the Studio version and your hardware has support for H.264/H.265 acceleration it works just like on Windows for the most part. The issue is that the AAC audio codec is not supported.

4. Just using the Linux version of DaVinci Resolve Studio doesn't give you ProRes encode support. For that you need the dongle that comes with the DaVinci Resolve Advanced Panel.

Note, currently the only officially supported way of running DaVinci Resolve on Linux is by using an Nvidia GPU.

Didn't know point 4, Roger. Thanks.

[Shrinivas Ramani]

Short answer: Rocky Linux 8.6, a single good Nvidia graphics card and a stable robust hardware setup.

Longer answer: If you have a preference in distros, chances are it will work if you have competent hardware, including a recent CPU and a discrete Nvidia or AMD graphics card, and cleanly install the manufacturer recommended drivers.

From Blackmagic Design support, in each version's access notes (under Read More) you can check the minimum supported configuration for each platform.

Please also refer to the Linux Installations Instructions.pdf file inside the downloaded Linux installer package for notes on the step-by-step installation of DaVinci Resolve, the Nvidia driver (with links), other dependencies and links to a version of the recommended distro (CentOS or Rocky Linux) baked in with these drivers and dependencies can also be downloaded from the Blackmagic Design website.

These two documents should provide you a good starting point for cross-platform comparison of features:
• Codecs
• Features

Oh, and the "Internet Accounts" preferences page doesn't support signing in to all the third party options like YouTube or Frame.io. If you depend on a certain workflow integration from a third party you should also know that the Electron environment that Workflow Integrations in Resolve runs on isn't available in the Linux version (unless that's changed recently but I don't think so).

Thanks all! That's super helpful!

I've got decent/current hardware (intel 14th gen, Nvidia 4070, 64GB ram, etc.)

Sounds like I should be able to test/use Resolve without too many issues. I'll still spend a little time with the linux install docs ahead of time.

Thanks again!

in addition for some reason VST plug-ins are not supported on Linux while working on Mac OS and Windows.

I actually wasn;t able to enable any audio plug-in, be it vst or ladspa etc. that is a bit upsetting and unfortunate. Last time I checked on official website, I've got an impression that Steinberg VST plug-ins should be supported on all OSs, unfortunately not the case, although I see people use those plug-ins in apps like Reaper etc on Linux. Wish it was noted that unsupported on Linux.

H.264 export is crippled, you can export video but without audio, so for delivery will have to go with less ideal mov option or better editing friendly codecs like cineform or prores, and then use external encoder to wrap it into another container. Again would be great if it was noted that h264 export on Linux has serious limitations.

So far Resolve work really well on Kubuntu 22.04.

Note, on linux, if you have Nvidia hybrid graphics, you must launch Resolve exclusively on Nvidia card, it appears Resolve doesn;t recognize hybrid graphics on Linux and if you use Nvidia on demand mode, it won't see Nvidia card unless you will manually tell it to be launched on Nvidia card. Your Distribution of choice may have an option for picking which cards should be used to launch the app, KDE unfortunately doesn;t have that option, so I had to make a script that would tell it to be launched using Nvidia card.

1. You can also use Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. It works perfectly here.

4. If you use a keyboard and/or an O.S. in non en-US environment, your DaVinci project may be corrupted in the database. I lost a whole project because of that. BMD never fixed it.

4. Avoid AMD graphic driver which is a piece of sh*t.

4. Avoid AMD graphic driver which is a piece of sh*t.

Hello,
Could you elaborate more on this? I am planing to go all AMD for my future system as I am so tired of Nvidia's crap. Are AMD graphic in general problematic or it;s just because OpenCL in Resolve is less preferred and most features best work on Cuda?

H.264 export is crippled, you can export video but without audio, so for delivery will have to go with less ideal mov option or better editing friendly codecs like cineform or prores, and then use external encoder to wrap it into another container. Again would be great if it was noted that h264 export on Linux has serious limitations.

Just to be a little bit more precise, H.264 is a video codec, there are no limitations on that (in the Studio version). It's the AAC audio codec that isn't supported (in any container).

I'm currently running Resolve Studio on Windows...

With your hardware, just stick with that!

4. Avoid AMD graphic driver which is a piece of sh*t.

Hello,
Could you elaborate more on this? I am planing to go all AMD for my future system as I am so tired of Nvidia's crap. Are AMD graphic in general problematic or it;s just because OpenCL in Resolve is less preferred and most features best work on Cuda?

Hello, I have talked about all that in other threads. I also *want* (dunno if that translates to 'will') to go with an AMD gpu because of Linux support - but, I'll also use Windows. I installed/used DR in Windows already - with a Nvidia gpu. I sold my nvidia gpu though - it only had 10gb so I thought I might as well sell it while it still has value - and now planning a future gpu purchase with more vram - dunno if I'll need more - just thought of doing so.

Anyway, I digressed. I've researched the AMD gpu/Linux dilemma - to summarize (in a nutshell) - it seems/sounds really complicated. DR needs certain components and in Linux - some of them can be free/open source but also requires closed source 'stuff' - so, a hybrid of sorts. I explained this, just yesterday, in fact. Nobara (based on Fedora) and Arch Linux seem to have the most info about using DR in Linux. I plan on using/trying Nobara. Rocky Linux, based on Red Hat (same as Fedora but using more bleeding edge/recent software versions/packages) - officially has support for DR - but, I think it should work in Nobara.

It works in Ubuntu 22.04 (dunno about more recent versions), too, apparently - I think it's just a matter of having all the required software components and versions installed - it needs both related OpenGL and OpenCL packages - so, research all that. AMD - definitely sounds like more work configuring and making sure you have everything installed that DR requires. Using an Nvidia gpu is easier for using DR but then you get the potential inconvenience of the Nvidia stuff with Wayland and other issues. It's a toss up, imho.

It may have been said before but with Linux and Resolve, you're going to have to spend 30k on a control surface before ProRes is enabled. I prefer Linux for everything that I do, but at least with Mac, you'll get ProRes as it's native to Mac.

4. Avoid AMD graphic driver which is a piece of sh*t.

Hello,
Could you elaborate more on this? I am planing to go all AMD for my future system as I am so tired of Nvidia's crap. Are AMD graphic in general problematic or it;s just because OpenCL in Resolve is less preferred and most features best work on Cuda?

Many of us had troubles when installing their driver. It makes DaVinci running with bugs about GUI display. For example, we had to wait a few minutes until the timeline and the stills load completely. Just forget OpenCL for DaVinci optimizations and full features.

OT: I saw a BMD job listing where they were looking for a Vulkan developer. Hopefully that can improve the situation compared to OpenCL.

H.264 export is crippled, you can export video but without audio, so for delivery will have to go with less ideal mov option or better editing friendly codecs like cineform or prores, and then use external encoder to wrap it into another container. Again would be great if it was noted that h264 export on Linux has serious limitations.

Just to be a little bit more precise, H.264 is a video codec, there are no limitations on that (in the Studio version). It's the AAC audio codec that isn't supported (in any container).

Apologies, somehow I concentrated on h.264 codec when what I had in mind and wanted to tell is that mp4 container can't be exported with sound, at least on my version it is grayed out. No audio options available at all.

Mov on the other hand at least offers other types of audio codecs to choose from.

oh, okay, I see now, it is upsetting news then, I was kind of hoping that AMD solved their issues.
After all, heard many positive reviews and stories that AMD on Linux got jacked and works really well and doesn;t come with a lot of limitations and issues that Nvidia has, but I suppose these people use very different software and their needs are different and that is why they had far better experiences.

Although it is strange, I would have thought that Resolve had to work really well with Radeon graphics as if I am not mistaken, that is what used to be in Mac computers, before M chips were introduced.
Kind of hoped that Unix drivers would have lots of similarities.

Anyway, good to know, this information might help avoid troubles in the future. Or at least what to watch out.

mp4 container can't be exported with sound, at least on my version it is grayed out. No audio options available at all.

Yes, that's because BMD follows the specification that says the mp4 container can only have AAC audio (and a few others), which the Linux version of Resolve doesn't support.

The thing is, there's been reports that the mp4 specification now does officially allow PCM audio. Cameras have recorded PCM audio in mp4s for years. Let BMD know you want it in the feature request subforum. Unlike AAC there's no licensing issue with adding PCM support.

Lots of great follow-up conversation and gotchas. Thanks!

I'm mostly just exploring a switch to linux (which I've tried in the past). Beyond Audio/Video editing, I work in IT and do a good bit of coding, data science, AI stuff...and just looking at the dev tools on linux. Plus, most of the systems at work are linux, so I'm also looking to get more consistent keyboard time on linux.

On the hardware side, I've been waiting/wanting AMD to be more competitive, but right now Intel processors with their iGPU seems to perform better than just about any AMD chip (I can't afford a threadripper) and for both video as well as AI, Nvidia/CUDA is simply better supported and better performing. Though I'm not a fanboy of either, so if AMD can compete, I'd happily change on my next build.

Some clarifications:

1. It used to be CentOS, it's now Rocky Linux 8.6. If you download the Linux version of Resolve the installer comes with a PDF with more information, including the link to the official BMD standardized DaVinci Resolve environment ISO.

2. MP4 works fine. As long as you are using the Studio version and your hardware has support for H.264/H.265 acceleration it works just like on Windows for the most part. The issue is that the AAC audio codec is not supported.

4. Just using the Linux version of DaVinci Resolve Studio doesn't give you ProRes encode support. For that you need the dongle that comes with the DaVinci Resolve Advanced Panel.

Note, currently the only officially supported way of running DaVinci Resolve on Linux is by using an Nvidia GPU.

I'll probably use DR in Windows but I like the option of using it in Linux - can you elaborate on this a bit?
Is the support better because more ppl or users have Nvidia cards or the program is just tuned moreso for Nvidia or?
My gpu choices are probably going to be a 3090, 7900 xt or maybe a 4070 Ti - the 7900 xt clicks the boxes of sufficient vram, good Linux support and if some gaming - pretty decent - and a current gen card. The 4070 Ti clicks the latter 2 only - vram is pretty low at 12gb and Linux support is questionable - there's good/bad points in Linux. The 3090 has sufficient vram but the rest are only in the 'good' category - Linux support is good/bad but the gpu is older gen and warranty will be less than the other 2.

As Shrinivas noted, they do support AMD on Linux as well. I think perhaps the misunderstanding comes from the fact that the BMD Linux PDF details the Nvidia driver installation but does not mention AMD at all.

[Shrinivas Ramani]

To clarify, while we take steps to ensure that Resolve on Linux can run on multiple distros and non-Nvidia graphics platforms, we primarily test, support and provide instructions for DaVinci Resolve assuming a Rocky 8.6 and a modern discrete Nvidia graphics card environment.

The feature and codec documents above, for example, are based on Rocky 8.6 platform with a modern discrete Nvidia graphics systems.

As fellow enthusiasts, we do experiment and sometimes offer help like this for non-standard platforms.

But formal support is still limited to CentOS/Rocky 8.6 + modern Nvidia graphics cards.

I'll probably use DR in Windows but I like the option of using it in Linux - can you elaborate on this a bit?
Is the support better because more ppl or users have Nvidia cards or the program is just tuned moreso for Nvidia or?
My gpu choices are probably going to be a 3090, 7900 xt or maybe a 4070 Ti - the 7900 xt clicks the boxes of sufficient vram, good Linux support and if some gaming - pretty decent - and a current gen card. The 4070 Ti clicks the latter 2 only - vram is pretty low at 12gb and Linux support is questionable - there's good/bad points in Linux. The 3090 has sufficient vram but the rest are only in the 'good' category - Linux support is good/bad but the gpu is older gen and warranty will be less than the other 2.

CES starts this week and rumors are that Nvidia will announce a 4070 Super Ti that will have 16 GB of VRAM for $800-$850. That's what I'm holding out for for my new PC build. I was thinking 4090 but it's hard to justify double the price for 8 GB more vram. I'm a Windows user but Win 11 has me migrating to Ubuntu so I'll likely be trying Resolve out there. I haven't gotten there yet so not sure what the status is for linux support in this case, but I have an Nvidia Orin Nano for machine learning and it's native OS for all the Nvidia software is Ubuntu.

But formal support is still limited to CentOS/Rocky 8.6 + modern Nvidia graphics cards.

Thanks for the clarification. It's a bit confusing that AMD is listed in the minimum system requirements when there's no formal support for it. How would a user know?

Minimum system requirements for Linux

• Rocky Linux 8.6 or CentOS 7.3
• 32 GB of system memory
• Blackmagic Design Desktop Video 10.4.1 or later
• Discrete GPU with at least 2 GB of VRAM
• GPU which supports OpenCL 1.2 or CUDA 11
• NVIDIA/AMD Driver version – As required by your GPU

Hi all,

I know there is a Linux version of DaVinci Resolve, but I was curious about a few things...

1. Are there any specific distros known to work better or worse with Resolve? And by "better" I just mean more "out of the box" without needing a ton of tinkering. I don't mind SOME tinkering, just don't want to spend all weekend, or several days (or more) tinkering trying to get it to work.

I personally use Debian and PopOS (Debian/Ubuntu based) using this project to run Resolve out of Docker (although Podman is fully supported too).

https://github.com/fat-tire/resolve

2. Are there things (Resolve functionality) that simply don't work in the Linux version?

The biggest beef (as documented on this thread) is import h264 video in general -- and even if you have Studio, AAC audio is not supported -- and that's a problem for cell phone recorded clips. The Resolve container packaging project has a compile/build option to give your a software h264 software encoder (x264) that, arguably, does a better job than the NVIDIA encoder -- but that doesn't solve the import issue.

3. I'm currently running Resolve Studio on Windows, does the license allow me to download the studio version of Resolve for Linux to test it out?

I'm using the USB fob option and I run Studio on Windows / Mac / Linux with no problems - same fob(s) -- but you can't SHARE the fob between two running instances at the same time.

The container packaging project above does something that's pretty much impossible on other platforms, you can run multiple versions of Resolve (and/or Studio) on the same machine. They all play nicely together. I'm able to test new versions of Studio with ease as opposed to on Mac or Windows.

4. Any other gotchas I should be thinking about?

Thanks!

As you have read on this thread, AMD support is questionable. I'm doing some further testing on that now. I have a new 780M iGPU that I'm about to put through its paces. To be safe, I would stick with NVIDIA for the short term.

I installed Resolve on a Arch Linux Distro not problem but the problem is all my clips are from GoPro cams or other devices that use AAC audio.

I don't understand why Linux is the red headed step child of Resolve.....While using it I thought there was something wrong with the install because audio didn't work, it wouldn't even play it.

Its a huge hassle to have extract the audio and convert it, then put everything into a quicktime container for upload to Youtube.

There are also menu items that look like they work and then you go into them and everything is blank... no dialog box or anything saying "Not Supported in Linux"

Put a little more effort in and bring the Linux Version up to the same level as Windows and Mac please....
Find a way to allow us to add in the AAC support via a Shared Object or something that we could compile if the licensing is too much.

I installed Resolve on a Arch Linux Distro not problem but the problem is all my clips are from GoPro cams or other devices that use AAC audio.

I transcode all my source footage to ProRes with a simple right-mouse-button click via ffmpeg and a script for my Cinnamon desktop, so I don't care about AAC or unsupported codecs. I also use Handbrake to render my Target to h.264 or h.265, so no problem there as well. I only wish that Resolve and Handbrake could work together via an API or something. But I digress ...

I don't understand why Linux is the red headed step child of Resolve.....While using it I thought there was something wrong with the install because audio didn't work, it wouldn't even play it.

I jumped ship years ago from Win to LinuxMint. Using (and installing) Resolve without big problems, Updates run smooth and since I do use editor-friendly formats editing and compositing all is fine. Never had one crash if I remember correctly.

Its a huge hassle to have extract the audio and convert it, then put everything into a quicktime container for upload to Youtube.

It is not, I can assure you. Just re-think your workflow.

There are also menu items that look like they work and then you go into them and everything is blank... no dialog box or anything saying "Not Supported in Linux"

Can you give an example?

Put a little more effort in and bring the Linux Version up to the same level as Windows and Mac please....

It is already afaik. For me the Linux version is even superior in terms of stability and ressource-efficiency but that's just my subjective opinion.

Find a way to allow us to add in the AAC support via a Shared Object or something that we could compile if the licensing is too much.

That would be nice, really. But on the other hand I transcode my material anyway - it just makes editing much easier.

That would be nice, really. But on the other hand I transcode my material anyway - it just makes editing much easier.

Being forced into transcoding source footage sucks, especially when the transcoded copies can get huge in size. It would be nice if BM would let the community know what the exact beef is -- or maybe drop hints with some example code on how to create a generic media importer and then we could take over.

I do believe it would be worth placing Debian or Ubuntu as supported OS, I mean, it is kind of the most popular Linux distro and impression is that most DR users use ubuntu/debian based systems, with few exceptions of Arch Linux users. Centos, if it still exist, is far less mainstream OS, while Redhat might be used by few bigger production studios, majority of DR users are on more user friendly Linux distributions like Ubuntu. And of course it would be great if AMD graphics cards could get more love.

After all, BMD managed to wrap things for Apple M chips and I believe that it must have been far more challenging than giving more attention towards AMD graphics support than it is currently. Not to mention Apple seems to be bleeding clients. Windows is that one thing forced on people and given first chance, so many people would drop it at a heart beat.
Why not use Linux as a more open environment to kick things higher than ever? Since AMD is/was keen on supporting open source initiatives, that partnership could have been spectacular. Imagine being not limited by closed codes and other obstacles that come with Windows and Mac OS...

Neverteless it is great that BMD made DR available on more Linux distros, even if they are not officially supported. At least on Ubuntu based system it runs well.

Something that hasn't been mentioned is that VST plugins don't work on Linux. So if you have any audio plugins that you were hoping to use, soz.

[quote="Shrinivas Ramani"]Short answer: Rocky Linux 8.6, a single good Nvidia graphics card and a stable robust hardware setup.

Longer answer: If you have a preference in distros, chances are it will work if you have competent hardware, including a recent CPU and a discrete Nvidia or AMD graphics card, and cleanly install the manufacturer recommended drivers.

Could you please detail, just as an example, "Competent hardware" for Rocky Linux to support Da Vinci Resolve Studio? CPU preferred, Optimum RAM, which NVidia card . I have a licensed Studio, and am using my Macbook pro currently but would like to move to a solid desktop system with Linux. I also have the Mini console.

Without closely reading the entire thread what you see in my signature is the Linux Setup I have working fine with DR 18 except I accidentally let Linux update to another Nvidia Driver so I get GPU failed warnings now when starting DR.

DR will work on each new start but not after sleeping the computer which I do all the time.

You do have to install these dependencies in the terminal prior to installing DR:
sudo apt install libapr1 libaprutil1 libxcb-composite0 libxcb-cursor0 libxcb-damage0

DR works almost flawlessly but has no little X or - up in the corner to minimize and the screen cannot be resized.

You can right click to un-maximize but it just shrinks the screen to about 2/3 and it's locked in the center with equal distance on all sides. This is not a big issue for me but would like to solve the issue.

DR does seem to prefer Nvidia. I would rather run AMD myself and will take a hard look prior to my next new build.

From what I see the DR recommended CentOS / Rocky 8.6 is a dying version with no more support.

[Dwaine Maggart]

Rocky Linux 8 is supported through 2029, so doesn't seem like much of a worry at the moment.

So kinda related here - does the Linux version of Resolve take advantage of AMD cards the same as nVidia - in the sense of hardware acceleration (neural engine stuff) ?

Or does is only work with nVidia and with AMD rely on CPU only?

(hope this makes sense).

Hello all,

I need some serious help as I have done much research on this thing but still I don't have a -100%- solution. I am trying to make DaVinci work flawlessly on Pop_OS(ubuntu based) and my only real issue is the panel.

I have successfully done the installation of DaVinci resolve in a Pop_OS distribution, all the servers and the database show up. The software is fast as light, the decklink is fine, graphics drivers are all good, the davinci control panels app works and shows the panel(s) BUT when entering resolve I cannot control the panel, it's not responding..whatever I do it doesn't do anything. The lights on the panel are on, the panels app shows it but inside davinci nothing works. It also cannot open the davinci panels setup app from the menu inside davinci.

It might be something about the permissions of udev for DaVinci resolve. I have made the resolve Deb as it should, installed it as it should and all things are perfect except the panels.

Last thing, DaVinci can see the dongle. So it works for this USB device inside the software but for the panel nothing (which is connected via USB). I have also checked the mini panel via Ethernet and it also doesn't work. Speed editor doesn't work too.

*For the record I've tested Ubuntu Budgie too but got the same issue with the panel.

Would really appreciate some help on that.

[Dwaine Maggart]

@Michael: If you are running a distro that has access to the proper AMD factory drivers to make an AMD GPU work with Resolve, then Resolve will use it's GPU as normal.

@Petikas: Send a Resolve Diagnostics log. It might help. Make that from the Resolve Help menu: Create Diagnostics Log on Desktop.

I managed to find a way to tweak the udev entries successfully and it could actually see the speed editor but it wouldn't do the same with the control panels.

In the end it seems that the deb file(which i installed) that was created using the DaVinci Resolve linux runner(through makeresolvedeb) was skipping some conversions.

Installing the actual davinci resolve linux runner (with chmod +x) and then installing (any) missing dependencies(which are pointed from the OS in the end of the installation), works like a charm (I really didn't expect that). At least for the latest DVR version (18.6.6 b7).

In the future it will be really useful for that runner to display a message in the end of what is missing and asking you if you'd like to install all of that. Then if clicked yes finding the dependencies and install them by itself. It will make DVR easy usable for all the major linux distros that are on the rise the last years (rocky might be the "supported" but it's not gonna help the linux community imo).

Thanks for reaching out!