Oscar Installation

Preliminary release version: 0.3.0 - March 14, 2001

Requirements

Everything needed to run Oscar is included in the release package except for Java. In order to run Oscar you must install version 1.3 of either the Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition. If you do not plan to do development, then it is not necessary to install the Java Development Kit (JDK), in that case then the Java Runtime Environment is sufficient. Java is freely available from Sun Microsystems.

Installation

To install Oscar, simply use the java command to execute the JAR file, like this (the following command assumes that you have Java in your PATH, if not you will need to type the full path to the Java executable): 
    java -jar oscarpackage.jar
Executing the JAR file launches a simple install program that prompts you for the directory of your Java installation directory (either JDK or JRE) and for the directory where you want Oscar installed. It is probably best to avoid using "space" characters in your directory names, but it should work correctly for the Windows 98 platform. Once you have selected the appropriate directories, simply select "Okay" to install Oscar. The install process automatically configures the start-up scripts; run.bat and run_nt.bat files for Windows 98/NT and run.sh file for UNIX. The following subsections go into details for each.

The Oscar release package consists of the following files:

Windows 98/NT Set-up

The run.bat (a different but similar file exists for Windows NT/2000, called run_nt.bat) file for Windows contains the following commands (reformatted for better viewing): 
echo off

rem
rem The following two lines 'set' commands should be automatically
rem assigned during install, if not, edit them to reflect your
rem Oscar installation.
rem

set JAVA_HOME="%%Java directory%%"
set OSCAR_HOME="%%Install directory%%"

rem
rem You do not need to edit the following.
rem

set CP=%OSCAR_HOME%\lib\osgi.jar
set CP=%CP%;%OSCAR_HOME%\lib\oscar.jar

%JAVA_HOME%\bin\java -cp %CP%
    -Doscar.home=%OSCAR_HOME%
    org.ungoverned.oscar.OscarShell
The install process automatically configures the first two set statements to reflect the location of your Java VM and your Oscar installation. The remaining commands sets the CLASSPATH using the -cp option and executes the Oscar shell. Important: For Windows NT/2000, do not install Oscar into a directory containing a space or else the run-script will not work.

For more information on using Oscar, read usage.html.

UNIX/Linux Set-up

The run.sh script file for UNIX-based systems contains the following commands: 
#!/bin/sh

#
# Edit the following two lines to reflect your set-up.
#

java_home=%%Java directory%%
oscar_home=%%Install directory%%

#
# You don't need to edit the following line
#

CP=${OSCAR_HOME}/lib/osgi.jar
CP=${CP};${OSCAR_HOME}/lib/oscar.jar

exec ${java_home}/bin/java \
    -cp ${CP} -Doscar.home=${oscar_home} \
    org.ungoverned.oscar.OscarShell
The install process automatically configures the first two set statements to reflect the location of your Java VM and your Oscar installation. The remaining commands sets the CLASSPATH using the -cp option and executes the Oscar shell.

For more information on running Oscar, read usage.html.

Using Oscar

For information on using Oscar, refer to usage.html. If you have comments or suggestions, feel free to contact me at heavy@ungoverned.org

Richard S. Hall