Question Can jpegtran, optipng and gifsicle be installed?

[Chris Dempsey]

Server operating system version

Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS

Plesk version and microupdate number

Obsidian 18.0.52 Update #3

As per the Title can jpegtran, optipng, gifsicle be intalled in the following environment?

• Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS on aarch64
• Plesk Obsidian 18.0.52 Update #3
• full root access is available

These are required by a Wordpress Plugin my client wishes to use - EWWW Image Optimizer.

I believe the correct method is

sudo apt install libjpeg-progs
sudo apt install optipng
sudo apt install gifsicle

Using libjpeg-progs here as jpegtran is not available in the apt library.

Are there any reasons this would interfere with the default Plesk configuration or operation? For example will Ubuntu still update as required, and include the new libraries in the update routine?

Are there any other considerations I should be aware of? For context there are about 70 other websites on the server and I have little experience with Linux.

For example would it be better to build and install these manually instead of from the apt repository? I understand the latest versions are available to download direct from the vendors and the apt repository may be a few minor versions out of date. I'd be nervous about attempting this in a production environment though.

Thanks

 

[Peter Debik]

Are there any reasons this would interfere with the default Plesk configuration or operation?

No, it will most likely not interfere.

... and I have little experience with Linux.

In that case it might be a good idea to have a staging server where you can test such scenarios. By practical experience I can only recommend to have such a playground, I've been using one for years and it really helped to build knowledge and to test things risk-free. Don't test on production systems.

 

[Chris Dempsey]

I may have undersold myself slightly in saying I have little experience with Linux. Out of a dozen servers I operate all are Linux except one.

In saying this I meant to emphasise not having anything like the level of knowledge most participants here have.

No, it will most likely not interfere.

This is the part which concerns me ie. most likely as opposed to will not.

Given that it's a production server I won't be pushing the button unless I know for sure installing non standard components will run as expected.

Lack of experience not withstanding, I also think it most likely won't interfere with Plesk, however it is within the realms of possibility Plesk would see the foreign component and uninstall it.

I was really hoping I wouldn't have to build a standalone server for this particular client as the Plesk Wordpress Toolkit would be very useful in this case.

Appreciate your help.

 

[Peter Debik]

Plesk will not uninstall your add-ons, but it is thinkable that the component brings in updates and dependencies on other operating sytem components that again are needed by Plesk. Changing such other components could break Plesk.

 

[Chris Dempsey]

That's exactly what I needed to hear.

I'm not aware of otpipng or gifsicle having dependencies however to get access to jpegtran the only option I know of in the apt repository is libjpeg-progs which is a wrapper for several related packages. There's definitely scope for that to impact a component required by Plesk.

Next option is to upload the binaries to the Subscription web space and see if they can be called with the php exec function.

 

[Chris Dempsey]

@Peter Debik I uncovered the source of the issue.

The current version of jpegtran is dependent on libjpeg.so.9 however my Plesk server only has libjpeg.so.8.

The previous version of jpegtran can't be compiled on aarch64 architecture.

Are there any options to install libjpeg.so.9, or compile the current version of jpegtran for aarch64? Or does this fall back to your previous comment Changing such other components could break Plesk?

Any suggestions would be appreciated, but it looks like we've exhausted all options now.

 

[Peter Debik]

I am afraid that this is not predictable and needs to be tested.