Fix for missing Stata icons on Linux

Stata has a bug on newer versions of several Linux distributions, among them Ubuntu 18.04 and openSUSE ^1, in that it doesn't like the libpng that comes with the system, and shows no icons. This fix solves the problem.

The problem

Here's the original description on StataList.

Installation

This git repository was forked from Lars Vilhuber's Bitbucket repository. The main difference is that I don't like to run programs with sudo when I don't have to, so this script doesn't require sudo.

To install this:

1. Install dependencies (gcc, wget)

   sudo apt install build-essential wget
   

2. Clone this repository:

   git clone https://github.com/kylebarron/stata-png-fix.git
   cd stata-png-fix
   

3. Change the value of STATA_DIR in the stata-png-fixed.sh file to the directory with your Stata installation. For me this is ~/local/stata. (Don't include a trailing /). This folder should contain the xstata, xstata-se, or xstata-mp binary.

4. Run

   bash compile-stata-png-fix.sh
   

5. Add ~/local/bin/ to your PATH.

Clarification about use of sudo

Lars Vilhuber's linked script is better for situations where the Stata program will be used by several users. This script is easier on a single-user machine. See https://github.com/kylebarron/stata-png-fix/issues/4 for Lars' comment.

Acknowledgments

Lars Vilhuber for creating most of the original script.