If DXO could do Linux then I could delete windows tomorrow.
Me too, I promise! .
I would desperately love to switch away from Lightroom. I use Linux as my only OS and it is stable, highly performant, and extremely satisfying to use. I can get most Windows software working, but DxO is a no-go. Please accept my upvote!
This would be a time to strike for DxO, in my opinion. So many people are so DEEPLY dissatisfied with Microsoft and Adobe and and DxO/Linux combo would be absolutely killer, and so many people would switch. PLEASE!
Hey @Ruzgfpegk!
It seems you were able to make PL8E work on CachyOS. Would you care to share your method or point to an howto?
Many thanks in advance!
@Wariole Hello! No, sadly I didn’t succeed.
I just tried again today with the latest versions of Wine (11) and the PL8 installer on a dedicated Bottles instance (with the dotnet48 and webview2 dependencies injected, plus vcredist2019 and vcredist2022 that some describe as needed by webview2), and the installer stopped while trying to install an unnamed dependency (as can be seen when the installer is launched via a terminal in the Bottles options).
I tried to launch the PL8 version already installed on my legacy Windows partition (after uninstalling Wine Mono from the Bottles instance to avoid conflicts with dotnet48, and putting the mscoree override as “Native then Builtin”) but I guess if the binary hasn’t been properly installed in the “space” that runs it then some things break.
Maybe finding the missing dependency from the installer would be enough to let it continue (by running wine for the installer through strace?) but I have to admit that, as stated above a few months ago, despite having spent >1K euros in DxO licences over a decade since the OpticsPro days (renewing every product at almost each version), as they didn’t make it more or less easy for me to keep paying them for something I can use then I just learned to use other software instead: having a smooth experience in my everyday PC usage is more important to me.
Thank you very much for your effort and sorry about the reopening of the rabbit hole 
As you know, there might also be a slight patriotic stubbornness in trying to stick to PL…
A Linux version of DxO would be “nice”, but even then the same hardware issues that plague Windows users would still be present. I “play” with Linux, but use Mac for anything “real”. The “average” PC is a Petri dish of random hardware and drivers that make me wonder why people would choose it (in today’s) world with the proven efficiency of Apple Silicon. For those few windows apps that one can’t live without, Parallels VM to run Windows on a Mac works flawlessly, but trying to run something as resource hungry as photo editing software in a VM in Linux is self flagellation. It seems to me that the more promising avenue for those who want to migrate entirely to Linux would be to petition the developer community behind Dark Table to work on their U I so that it is approachable to more users. They do have some good technology but it hides behind a draconian interface that bewilders most of us mere mortals.
There is much more at play than simplicity or efficiency here… like privacy, digital sovereignty, or simply fighting planned obsolescence. You might not care about these, but many do.
And just to clarify, I was not talking about porting PL to Linux or even run it inside a VM, but using the perfectly working compatibility layer that we have today thanks to proton/wine/bottles, etc. (have a look at SteamOS, Bazzite or CachyOS to see how usable these things are nowadays).
At this stage, we are probably only missing a little bit of documentation (listing the dependencies) and experimentation to get it to work on modern Linux distros.
@Ruzgfpegk was pretty close!
I’ve skimmed through this thread given its length, and one of the arguments that keeps cropping up is that it’s virtually impossible for DxO to switch to Linux given its size and number of employees.
I won’t get into a debate about the accuracy of the figures quoted by various parties, but if what I’ve read is true, DxO employs around a hundred people.
Nor will I take the time or energy to argue about the following example; it’s simply a lead for proponents of this theory to explore:
Take a look at SideFX and their Houdini software (not a photolab competitor at all !).
After a quick search, I found:
The number of employees at SideFX Software varies depending on the source and reference date, with estimates ranging from 146 to 222 employees in 2026. Recent data (2026): Several sources indicate around 220 to 222 employees, spread across several continents.
So roughly double that of DxO.
Have a look and see what can be achieved by that number of people (I think you’ll agree that Houdini is far more complex than Photolab, that Houdini is evolving at breakneck speed compared to Photolab, and that Houdini runs on all major platforms - yes, I put linux in major platforms - and there is absolutly no difference of software between platforms !)
Here’s a link for those interested : How fast can evolve a softwave with 200 employees (What’s new in Houdini 22) so what’s new in one year of development :
And, by the way, they’ve just completed their transition to QT.
I have to add Houdini is a very stable software (even if they add one year with little glitches when switching from openGL to vulkan - the year when both were coexisting - but not a big deal, openGL only option was without glitch for those with glitches with vulkan - which seems way more low level than openGL).
I won’t respond to this post. It’s just a point to consider.
And as second argument against linux I see : and yet so few people are interested in this.
This topic as been seen 29.1k time for now !!! (against around 100, 200 time (?) for common subjects).
But don’t worry. I am confident that even though DxO staff isn’t taking part in the debate, he’s following what’s happening on his forum.
Worried that my opinion is reinforced by confirmation bias, I asked a neutral party about my opinion that iPad Pro/Pencil would be a better target for a new PL platform release.
Here’s what Dr. Know told me:
Q: Would releasing a version of Photolab on Linux be a profitable move for DxO? Wouldn’t a version of Photolab running on iPad Pro have a better chance at profitability?
A: Releasing a native version of DxO PhotoLab for Linux would almost certainly be a financial loss for the company, while an iPad Pro version presents a significantly stronger business case.
The Case Against Linux Profitability
Creating and maintaining a Linux version of a premium, hardware-intensive application like PhotoLab carries immense development costs with a very low ceiling for return on investment.
Price Resistance: Purchasing the core pieces of the PhotoLab suite costs roughly $350 to $400 USD. Linux is typically run on a subset of computers that historically lean toward open-source or freeware applications. It is highly unlikely that a large enough segment of that user base would pay a premium price to make the port cost-effective and profitable.
Small Target Market: While Linux usage is growing in enterprise and tech sectors, its share of the mainstream professional photography market remains incredibly small.
Support Overhead: Linux is highly fragmented across different distributions and display servers. Ensuring software stability, updating hardware drivers for AI denoising, and providing customer support across this fractured ecosystem would require massive resources that a small company like DxO cannot easily spare.
The iPad Pro Advantage
Industry consensus suggests there is a much better business case for developing PhotoLab for the iPad Pro. The platform directly aligns with premium creative workflows and modern consumer spending habits.
Proven Creative Market: The iPad Pro is firmly established as a professional tool for photographers. Competitors like Adobe Lightroom, Capture One, and Affinity Photo have already proven that mobile creatives are willing to pay for high-end, touch-optimized editing environments.
Unified Hardware and OS: Unlike the fragmented Linux landscape, iPadOS provides a single, highly optimized hardware target. Apple’s unified memory architecture, Metal graphics API, and Neural Engine would provide a clear development path for porting DxO’s computationally intensive DeepPRIME technologies.
Monetization Culture: The Apple ecosystem has a deeply ingrained culture of paying for premium applications, ensuring a much higher conversion rate for software sales compared to the Linux ecosystem.
Despite the stronger business case for the iPad, DxO has not yet released a mobile version of PhotoLab, continuing to focus its limited resources entirely on its macOS and Windows desktop applications.
You could add that a Mac Silicon runs efficiently without noise and heating.
My old MBP Intel was suffering with 3 photos to develop 5 years ago ; today my M1 process 300 photos without a noise.
I don’t read the threads about issues on PC but there are very few on Mac.
Exactly and in every blog I see it is the same. I get why people use Windows in corporate environments (as I did before retirement), but for any high graphic demand, those PC “boxes” are kitchen sinks full of random components. Good enough for spreadsheets, but lousy for photo editing. My last Intel Mac would burn the skin off your legs in about 10 minutes if not insulated by a lap table or other protection. I have a Dell Latitude refurbished from some corporate use to “play” with linux. As to be expected, it also fries anything in contact. I don’t “love” paying the Apple “premium” but you really do get what you pay for in this environment and they pretty much last forever.
Sorry for my ignorance : who/what is dr know ? (hope it is not an AI thing. They tell what we want them to tell when insisting the right way).
And I think this is not the crossover thrash punk band from Oxnard.
Are you kidding ???
Sorry but here you’re in my professional domain. I can assure you that in companies working in cutting-edge graphic design, PCs running Windows (or Linux) are by far the most widely used (for special effects in film, game development, etc.). Not Macs.
(I’m not talking about companies in the printing industry).
I’m far removed from these childish squabbles between Mac and PC, but I can’t let such nonsense go unchallenged.
Don’t speak about what you don’t know.
When it comes to cutting-edge work - for better or worse, it doesn’t matter, don’t open a discussion on this - PCs are overwhelmingly the ones used. And Linux is gaining more and more ground.
And I would add they are very reliable for this !!!
Companies with hundreds of employees that upgrade their workstations every two years to always have the most powerful systems wouldn’t be that wrong !!!
Yes it is an AI, Gemini Pro to be specific.
I wanted to have a play on words with the source rather than use the by now old noun “AI”. Dr. Know is an all-seeing oracle/tourist attraction in the Stanley Kubrick movie A.I. Artificial Intelligence. The character was voiced by Robin Williams. I always liked that bit of the film. It also makes me think of the James Bond movie "Dr. No’ and I like that.
It’s also the name of a terrible metal rock band.
Oh … YES !!! Indeed.
Sorry to have offended your tender sensibilities as a self-avowed apex practitioner of digital technology! Those of us who breathe normal oxygen do, however, hear the constant drone of laments over the lack of compatibility of their PC bundles of crap hardware and drivers with all sorts of photo editing software. For those of you in the vanguard of premier hardware and pursuit of linux technology, I wish you well. We will be happy to benefit from improved linux capability with apps that we all value like DxO. As a mortal consumer of commercial software, I’ll stick to what works and welcome all the improvements in linux that you intend to provide.
30 years + of production experience doesn’t match your description (when I begun, silicon graphics and dec alpha (for batch render) were the best graphic stations), but what can you do ? Try to make sense of the nonsense you’ve written however you like.
For high graphic demand as you told, PC are by far the most used. And people who choose that know their job.
No offense. But I couldn’t let such nonsense slide.
In an effort to introduce some civility, I think our comments are at a point of disconnect. You have seemingly based yours on very professional grade graphic workstations which were never a part of my reference to “Windows Boxes” (which I would think most objective readers would realize). To be clear, I was (always) referring to “off the shelf consumer grade PCs”…280 million of which worldwide are non upgradeable to Windows 11 and incidentally creating a welcome uptick in enthusiasm for Linux. You have an impressive background on a plane well beyond the non professional users who have populated numerous forums and blogs with their frustrations and compatibility issues. Any yes, in total numbers there most likely will always be more users of Windows than Mac or Linux, but of those three NORMAL platforms, I think Mac users have the best user experience.