Creatives on Linux have just a handful of Adobe Photoshop alternatives to pick from, and while they are good, most people just can't move away from Adobe's Creative Cloud (CC).
I say this with confidence because whenever we post a Linux-focused QnA or "switch to Linux today" type of post on our socials, we see people complaining how Adobe's software doesn't run on the platform. This is their main justification for sticking with Windows or macOS, btw.
Sadly, there's not much anyone other than Adobe can do on this matter, or so we thought.
What's Happening?
Source: PhialsBasement (the video is very lossy).
A developer who goes by the username PhialsBasement has made patches for Wine that address the issue of Adobe CC not working on Linux. Basically, he fixed how Wine handles some JavaScript and XML code that Adobe's installers use.
This has been tested with the installers for Photoshop 2021 and 2025, with these patches being submitted to Valve's bleeding-edge fork of Wine. But, as Valve's Kisak points out, these changes first need to be submitted to Wine upstream, and if it is accepted there, it could be backported to Proton.
Posting an update to the above, the developer has revealed that he also got Adobe's Collection installer running via their Wine patch. Most Adobe apps can be installed now, with Adobe XD and Fresco being the only ones that don't work since they are UWP apps.
If you want to try this, you will have to grab the pre-built binaries from the developer's GitHub. Also, the installation experience is one thing, but running the apps themselves is another, so keep that in mind.
And while it's still early to say whether this will make it into Wine officially, this should rekindle some hope for Linux users and users-to-be who have been missing Adobe's creative suite on the platform.
Suggested Read 📖: Free and Open Source Alternatives to Adobe Photoshop
Ankush Das
