In that way, to use ipod nano 5th generation on linux, we have to install on our system the latest libgpod version, this is, 0.8.2 instead of 0.8. Following are described the steps to do that on a Debian-based system, like Ubuntu, or for any Linux distribution.

Debian-based Systems:

If you are using Ubuntu or Linux Mint (probably it will work on any Debian-based distribution too) you can download libgpod4 and libgpod-common packages from here:

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/precise/+package/libgpod4

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/precise/+package/libgpod-common

Then we install the packages using dpkg (it will fail with GDebi as you have a previous version installed):

$ cd [folder where .deb files were download]
$ sudo dpkg -i libgpod-common_0.8.2-4_amd64.deb
$ sudo dpkg -i libgpod4_0.8.2-4_amd64.deb

Any Linux System:

If you can’t or you don’t want to use the .deb packages, you can always install libgpod from source. To do that, you must have git installed on your system. Then, we clone the libgpod git repository on a place of our choice (in my case, /home/javi/projects):

$ cd /home/javi/projects
$ git clone git://gtkpod.git.sourceforge.net/gitroot/gtkpod/libgpod

Then we will follow the steps on the INSTALL file:

$ cd libgpod
$ ./autoconf.sh
$ ./configure
$ make
# make install

If autoconf or configure commands give you an error message asking you for a certain package, you will have to install it and rerun autoconf or configure command in order to compile and install libgpod correctly. Last command has to be executed as root.

To finish:

In this point you should be able to add new music to your ipod from banshee, amarok, exaile, or any other music player that uses libgpod (including gtkpod),without having to use ITunes. Enjoy!