SPFE Documentation | Collections > SPFE Development > Installing SPFE Open Toolkit

Installing SPFE Open Toolkit

• Think
• Plan
• Do

 

Think

You may install the SPFE Open Toolkit in a Microsoft Windows or a Unix-like environment, including Mac OS X or Linux. The toolkit requies the Java Development Kit (JDK) to be installed. The JDK is freely available for all systems that the toolkit supports. Use these guidelines to install and test the SPFE Open Toolkit and the third-party tools it will need.

The SPFE Open Toolkit uses Java to run its build scripts. You may have the Java Runtime Engine (JRE) installed, but that's not sufficient. You will need the Java Development Kit (JDK), Standard Edition, installed.

 

Plan

 

Do

To use the SPFE Open Toolkit, you will need to execute commands on a terminal command line. You should be comfortable using commands to execute programs, to create, move, and delete files and directories, and perform other essential tasks.

In a Unix-like system, including OS X and Linux, you may use the toolkit with any command shell, such as Bash or Tcsh.

In the Microsoft Windows environment, you may issue commands using PowerShell. PowerShell aliases common MS-DOS and Unix commands to PowerShell commands, so command-line operation in that environment will be much like it is in Unix.

You may have Java installed. To check, execute java -version on the command line. If they are installed, you will get a response similar to that below.

                > java -version
                java version "1.8.0_05"
                Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_05-b13)
                Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.5-b02, mixed mode)
            

If you get a "command not found" response but know that Java is not installed, check that the install location is listed in your PATH environment variable.

Installation involves the following tasks:

• Installing the Java Runtime Environment

• Installing Python 3

• Installing the SPFE Open Toolkit

• Configuring your environment

• Testing the installation

Installing the Java Development Kit

To install the JDK, go to oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads and follow the instructions for your operating system:

• JDK installation instructions for Microsoft Windows

• JDK installation instructions for Mac OS X

• JDK installation instructions for Linux

Installing the SPFE Open Toolkit

The latest version of the SPFE Open Tookit is available on GitHub at https://github.com/mbakeranalecta/spfe-open-toolkit. Click on "Download ZIP" and unpack the downloaded archive at a convenient location.

You will invoke the SPFE build system by running either the script spfe-open-toolkit\spfe-ot\spfe.bat in a Windows environment or the script spfe-open-toolkit/spfe-ot/spfe.sh in a Unix-like environment. You may either add the spfe-ot directory to your PATH environment variable or create a separate script that sets environment variables and executes the spfe script.

Configuring your environment

Set the following environment variables to use the toolkit:

• (Required) SPFEOT_HOME: Set the full path name of the spfe-open-toolkit/spfe-ot installed directory.

• (Optional) SPFE_BUILD_DIR: Set the full path name of the directory you want the toolkit to build output. The default location is $HOME/spfebuild .

Testing the installation

Execute the commands java, and spfe to verify that they are installed in a directory listed in your PATH environment variable.

Build the SPFE Documentation that's distributed with the toolkit:

1. Open a command window and change directory to $SPFEOT_HOME/../spfe-docs/build

2. Issue the command $SPFEOT_HOME/spfe build spfe-docs-config.xml final. (If you have the spfe command on your path, you may execute it directly.)

3. Watch the program log printed to the screen. If successful, it will conclude with the message "BUILD SUCCESSFUL."

4. Open the file $SPFE_BUILD_DIR/spfe-docs/output/index.html in a browser to view "SPFE Open Toolkit Documentation."