CAT-Tools/OmegaT/User manual/Installation and Configuration

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Installation and Configuration[edit | edit source]

Installation[edit | edit source]

Installation involves three stages:

  1. Java Installation (if not already installed)
  2. OmegaT Installation
  3. OmegaT Configuration (UNIX/optional)

Java and OmegaT can be installed in any order. Configuration is not essential on UNIX based platforms, but it will make launching the application more user-friendly for those that require it.


Java Installation[edit | edit source]

The computer being used to run OmegaT must have a Java Runtime Environment(JRE) installed on it--IT WILL NOT WORK WITHOUT ONE INSTALLED!

If uncertain as to whether or not a JRE is installed, install OmegaT first and then test to see if it works (see OmegaT Installation). If nothing happens, or error messages are returned, the Java Runtime Environment is almost certainly not installed. In which case, please obtain one and install it first.

Please note that JRE is available in the form of both a standalone product (J2RE) or as part of the Java Software Developer's Kit(J2SDK).

Mac users: On Mac OS X, a JRE is pre-installed and configured. This is the only platform that does not require the user to install a JRE. Depending upon the OS X version installed, an old JRE version may be the only one available. If OmegaT does not work, make sure to run Software Update from the Apple Menu to get the latest JRE available for the OS X version. OmegaT is known to work on OS X from OS X 10.2 to the most recent OS X 10.3.9 update. It has not yet been tested on OS X 10.4 but should work too. In case the system has been updated to OS X 10.3.9 and problems occur, be aware that a special update is necessary to make Java application run on this OS X version. Run Software Update and install the required package. Earlier versions of OmegaT (namely 0.97) are known to run on the MRJ for Macintosh OS 9. OmegaT version 1.4 or greater will not run on this platform. To run an OmegaT 0.97 version, download the MRJ for Mac OS9 from the Apple website at http://www.apple.com. OmegaT 0.97 is an obsolete version and this documentation makes no further reference to it.

UNIX users (includes Linux & Solaris): type java -version at a command prompt in a console or terminal program. The version installed will be returned(if Java is installed as an executeable in your shell path).

Windows users: check which version of JRE, if any, is installed with Start(button)/Windows key > Settings > Control Panel. If a JRE is already installed, a control panel dialog labelled "Java(TM)2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition 1.x.y_z” or similar (with x, y, z representing some version numbers) will be present. Note that OmegaT cannot be used on any version before Windows 98 due to the fact that the JREs available on that platform are not recent enough.

For both UNIX and Windows, please note that as of this writing the current Java version is in the 1.5 range (stable version). Please upgrade to a newer version if it is not very recent. A J2RE or J2SDK can be downloaded from the links below. They are free (note the license conditions), but the naming conventions may make finding the right version a little confusing. The correct version for a particular platform (Linux, Solaris, Windows, etc.) is mandatory. The download size and final installation disk space required for a JRE should be taken into consideration before proceeding. The download sizes are approximately 14 MB and 32 MB, for J2RE and J2SDK, respectively. Required disk space for installation may be as much as 2 to 3 times larger than the downloaded installation file or package.

1.4.x versions of OmegaT should work with any JRE version from 1.2 upwards. However, it is recommended to have the latest JRE version installed, older versions of Java may not support certain features.

As an alternative to J2RE the J2SDK can be installed. The J2SDK developer's kit contains its own copy of J2RE, as well as support for Java software development.

UNIX and Windows users can download the Java Runtime Environment from:

Sun (all platforms) at http://java.sun.com/getjava/index.html

Blackdown (Linux) at http://www.blackdown.org/java-linux.html

Installation instructions for JRE can be found on the website where it is downloaded from or accompanying the downloaded file or package once it has been opened or unarchived. Important Notes:

Sun regularly changes the names of its products--possibly to confuse its customers. So, all JRE above version 1 are known as Java 2, hence the Java Runtime Environment is now J2RE. The Java Runtime Environment is also known as the Java Virtual Machine, or JVM. On Macintosh, it also is known as the MRJ. The developer's kit has been known as the Java Developer's Kit(JDK), Software Developer's Kit(SDK), and now as J2SE, J2EE, and J2ME, according to the version. At least, I think so. But I am among the confused.

Other related (or not so related) forms of Java exist:

   * Java for embedded web browser applications (i.e. via plugins);
   * JavaScript scripting language for webpages (technically unrelated to Java).

Neither of these forms of Java will enable OmegaT to run.


OmegaT Installation

All Platforms

A generic OmegaT archive is available for installation. This version of OmegaT works on Linux, Solaris, Mac OS X, and Windows (and possibly others). See System Requirements also. Simply extract the contents of the archive into a directory. The archive may be in *.zip, *.tgz, or *.tar.bz2 form. UNIX and Mac (Stuffit) users should have no problem with most of these formats; Windows users may not necessarily have a utility for the latter two (recent WinZip versions will probably work with or .tgz file formats; other file compression programs may work also). For more platform specific packages see the relevant sections. Linux

RPM packages are starting to become available on the sourceforge site.

The RPM should be compatible with all RPM based Linux distributions. By default, the OmegaT package will install itself in the directory /opt/omegat. This is in accord with the Linux Filesystem Hierarchy Standard(FHS) which specifies that all non-essential (non-system related) applications be installed under /opt. If an /opt directory does not exist the installation RPM will create it. Note that system administrator privileges are required to install the package. Contact your system administrator if it cannot be installed. Please note that this differs from the other installation methods in that it is a system-wide installation. As such, each user will have their own OmegaT preferences file in their home directory distinct from all other users. In this way separate users can log in and have their own preferences rather than relying on a single preferences setup for all users. Mac OS X

OS X users can download a Mac OS X package that automatically installs a Mac OS X bundle into /Applications/. As usual, the final installation directory can be modified if desired. Windows

Windows users can download a Windows binary installer OmegaT_1.4.x_setup.exe and just run it. In this case, the installer creates a shortcut to launch OmegaT from the Start > Programs menu. OmegaT Configuration (UNIX only)

If installation on a UNIX based system is done by using the generic archive, and you are not very familiar with the platform, perform the following to make launching of OmegaT more user-friendly:

Save the following Bash shell script content as a text file:

  1. !/bin/bash

cd <OmegaT> <java>/java -jar OmegaT.jar

where <OmegaT> is the directory containing the file OmegaT.jar and <java> is the directory containing the J2RE binary (the file named java). If the Java path variable is set, it is not necessary to specify this directory, and java -jar OmegaT.jar is sufficient to launch the program. Specifying the directory is necessary if the Java path variable is not set, and also if the system has more than one version of Java installed and a specific version needs to be used to launch OmegaT.

If Bash is not the default shell program change the first line of the script to reflect this (e.g. for Korn shell use #!/bin/ksh in place of #!/bin/bash )

Save the script as OmegaT, omegat, or under whatever name is preferred. Then set the file permissions of the script to executable (e.g. via $ chmod u+x OmegaT in a shell, or if using Konqueror, context menu > Properties > Permissions > Exec). OmegaT can then be launched from the command line by typing the name given to the script. To launch from the desktop, create an icon and set it to execute the shell script file. OmegaT Execution Mac OS X

If the Mac OS X bundle has been installed, simply click on the OmegaT icon located in the install directory. In the case where only the standard Java files have been downloaded and installed, simply click on the OmegaT.jar file in a Finder window. OmegaT can also be launched from the Terminal (in a way similar to the command line under Linux). See the UNIX configuration and execution sections for more information. UNIX

If a generic archive was used for installation then try these instructions to launch OmegaT. For RPM install under Linux executing OmegaT from a shell is enough to launch the application (no default desktop menu entry is available yet).

Execute java -jar OmegaT.jar from the command line. Observe the exact type case of OmegaT—the capitals are important.

If Java has not been configured to detect the location of the OmegaT files, change directories to the directory containing the file OmegaT.jar.

If the Java path variable is not set, specify the complete path first. If neither of the above have been done, a routine to launch the application might look something like this for installation from the generic archive: cd /home/<user>/<OmegaT install directory> <JRE directory>/bin/java -jar OmegaT.jar

for user Joe Blow, archive installation directory OmegaT, and JRE directory /usr/jre1.5

this would be cd /home/joeblow/OmegaT /usr/jre1.5/bin/java -jar OmegaT.jar Windows

If OmegaT has been installed with the help of the Windows installer (see above), it can be launched by clicking on the OmegaT 1.4.x shortcut from the Start > Programs > OmegaT menu. It is also possible to click on one of the files OmegaT.exe, OmegaT.bat, or OmegaT.jar in the file manager. Localization

The language used by OmegaT for the user interface and the user manual are set to a default value which depends on your locale and the localizations available. Only the following localizations can be used at present:

   * Belorussian (be)
   * English (en)
   * Esperanto (eo)
   * French (fr)
   * Japanese (ja)
   * Spanish (es)
   * Russian (ru)

If the language desired is not available, the default language will be used. This will default to the system locale, if it is one of the localizations available, or English when nothing else is available.

It is possible to override the default language used by OmegaT by entering the two letter language code, from the list given, to the -Duser.language java option (at the command line or in a shell script). This can be useful when using OmegaT in an environment where the default locale is not supported or is different than the one desired. For instance, starting OmegaT with java -Duser.language=fr -jar OmegaT.jar

will set the language to French regardless of whether other applications in the windowing environment are in French or not.

More specific locale settings are not supported for the localization of OmegaT at present (i.e. via the -Duser.country and -Duser.variant options passed to java).

Something else to note is the fact that for a language like Japanese it may be necessary to use a specific internationalized version of JRE from Sun to support character encodings properly. This is most likely in the case of Windows installation. Mac OS X

On Mac OS X, changing the locale can be done from System Preferences in the Apple Menu by selecting the International preference pane. Locales can be added and prioritized according to the way any application should be displayed.