QuArK runs pretty well on Linux systems, given a bit of patience. Make sure to check out WineHQ's AppDB to see what versions of QuArK have been tested to work with what version of Wine.

Here's how to get started.

Wine (Wine Is Not an Emulator) is a nifty bit of programming that allows for Windows binaries to run on a Linux/Unix platform through the use of a compatibility layer. This extra layer of programming lies between the binaries and the operating system, and it 'tricks' the executable into thinking it is running on a Windows machine. If you don't have Wine, you'll need to obtain it from http://www.winehq.org. I used Wine release 20030911, but any of the newer versions will work. Wine release 20031118 is the most recent version at the time of this writing. Of course, you will need Wine to be compiled with OpenGL support, both for QuArK to display the OpenGL 3D window. This article at Linuxgames.com is the best I know of for compiling Wine with OpenGL support, and I am not going to take the time to re-write what has already been written (the article also explains how to install Half-Life).

Update: Newer versions of Wine (often distributed with your Linux distribution) work too, and often have OpenGL enabled by default. In other words, your distribution-supplied copy should work fine, and if you compile it yourself, just make sure that no OpenGL-libraries are missing (see the output of the "configure" compilation step).

After following the above steps, you should have a working Wine install with OpenGL compiled and functioning. There are many versions of QuArK available, and most if not all will work with Wine. The one issue is that versions are available with an installer (.exe), or as a zip archive (.zip). The installer that comes with QuArK 6.4 does not work with Wine. The zip archive are simply a zipped up copy of the QuArK file tree, and these work perfectly. Some older versions of QuArK will work as well, but may require a separate download of Python.

For QuArK 6.3 and earlier, you'll need to install the Python package. If you are using an older version of Wine, ignore the link for  python1.5b.exe  given on the QuArK home page. Its installer does not work with Wine. Instead you'll need the full Python 1.5.2 libraries from the official Python website.

Using the installer:

Open a terminal window, move to the directory you downloaded the file to, and run the installer.

$ cd /path/to/quark
$ wine quark_v6.3.0.EXE

You can put the file anywhere you want, but it is probably easiest to use the default place it the installer suggests.

Using the archive:

Open a terminal window and unzip the the file to the desired location.

$ unzip quark-win32-.zip

The QuArK installer by default will create a shortcut on your Linux desktop. To run QuArK manually, follow the next steps:

Example: My Wine directories are located in my  /home  folder under Wine.

cd /home/slight/Wine/C/QuArK\ 6.3/
wine QuArK.exe

Note: Older versions of QuArK and Wine seem to only function correctly when you to cd into the install directory in a terminal and run the executables by hand.

Note: In some distributions, the Wine folder is hidden by default. Check  /home/user/.wine  instead.

Configuring QuArK under Wine works in the same way as configuring QuArK under Windows. As many compilers and game play tricks with paths, you may need to install (or symlink) them to Wine's "C" drive, and configure QuArK to use them from there.

If you are getting weird behaviour, make sure Wine is configured to emulate "Windows XP".