Version 6.0 jabref_6.0_arm64.deb not starting

I downloaded jabref_6.0_arm64.deb and run it on gdebi on a raspi5 running debian13(trixie) (Linux neprodi 6.6.63-current-bcm2712 #1 SMP PREEMPT Mon Nov 25 16:19:55 UTC 2024 aarch64 GNU/Linux).

it runs without an error, two icons are appearing in my MATE menu, but nothing happens. It seems it tries to install in /opt, which is not present on a standard debian installation.

i also observed, that the sha256 checksum of the download and the one plublished differes. i have 6a9a1ef428a71eec3973b09c44bf45e5e165533a36f16344ac8934d779ae25b4

whereas the published value is 8636cc8d0ee31907338216629658aad44bc6a73e1f310b64c17739f1fc05412e

what is wrong? what can i do to get a running jabref on an arm64 architecture?

Thanks for the feedback, seems like you hit a bug. I could just reproduce this in a VM. I will try to fix this

i did ask chatgpt and got: Visit the official nightly/dev builds index at:
:right_arrow: https://builds.jabref.org/main/ JabRef Builds

and did not much thinking about the label “nightly/dev builds” - and was very pleased to see the arm64.deb (too pleased, obviously). the version alpha installs, but fails when executed with “Exception in thread “main” java.lang.IllegalStateException: Missing embedded postgres binaries”, this seems to be a common issue and I am not sure, how to avoid it. what is the best way? i would appreciate, if you can point me to the appropriate help page! thank you! andrew

Happy New Year!

The issue is now fixed: https://builds.jabref.org/main/

Thank you - it worked perfectly and installed properly!

Same issue here on x86_64 (not arm64), so this seems to be a broader Linux packaging problem, not
specific to the arm64 build.

My environment:

After installing the 6.0 .deb package, there is no GUI window and no desktop entry that works.
The application does not start visually — it appears to either crash silently or run headless
with no error output.

I tried:

  1. Launching from the Applications menu — nothing happens
  2. Running jabref or JabRef from the terminal — no GUI appears
  3. Checking /opt/JabRef/ and /usr/share/jabref/ for launcher scripts — found the .desktop file
    but no working binary in the expected location

Given that:

  • JabRef 5.15 works normally on the same system
  • Java 21 is available system-wide
  • The issue affects both arm64 (original poster) and amd64 (my case)

This suggests a packaging issue in the 6.0 .deb rather than a platform-specific bug. Is there a
known workaround or an alternative installation method for 6.0 on Linux?