Installation
First check if you meet the requirements.
The installation procedure that you need to follow depends on the type of distribution that you have downloaded. You may identify the distribution type from the name of the downloaded compressed file.
Binary Files Package
(cranks_XXX_binary.zip or cranks_XXX_binary.tar.gz)This package unpacks to yield a folder "cranks", which contains the binary files necessary for running the program. The package contents are:
- Folder "bin" containing one file "CRANKS.jar", which is the executable JAR file used to run the application
- Folder "lib" containing one file "jdic.jar", which is a library used by CRANKS (see Libraries)
- File "COPYING" containing a copy of the GNU General Public License
- File "CRANKS.html", which can be used to run CRANKS as an applet
Installation is as simple as merely unpacking the compressed package, as it already contains pre-compiled files. Use any common unzip or tar utility to decompress the files and start working right away!
Source Files Package
(cranks_XXX_source.zip or cranks_XXX_source.tar.gz)This package contains the source files which need to be compiled in order to produce the executable binaries. The package contents are:
- Folder "lib" containing one file "jdic.jar", which is a compiled library used by CRANKS (see Libraries)
- Folder "nbproject" containing the project build files, necessary for building the project using Apache Ant
- Folder "src containing all the Java source files for building CRANKS
- File "build.xml", which is the Ant build script required for building
- File "COPYING" containing a copy of the GNU General Public License
- File "CRANKS.html", which can be used to run CRANKS as an applet
The procedure for compiling the binaries from source files is:
- Unzip (or untar) the compressed package into a folder of your choice.
- Ensure that the bin folder in the Ant installation directory is on your PATH variable
- Ensure that the JAVA_HOME variable points to your JDK installation directory
- Use "ant <target-name>" to run any of the available targets. Eg: "ant compile" will compile the sources into the "build" folder; "ant jar" will compile the files and create the JAR executable in the "bin" folder; "ant release" will compile the files, build the JAR executable and will create in the "release" folder, the release packages similar to this package that you downloaded.
Notes:
- Do NOT rename or change the location of any of the files/folders in the base directory, without making corresponding changes to the "project.properties" file in the "nbproject" folder. This may lead to the Ant build script not functioning. Similarly, the JAR executable needs to find the library files at the relative path "../lib", in order to function properly.
- Since I use Sun's NetBeans IDE (http://www.netbeans.org) to edit my Java projects, I have created source packages directly from my NetBeans project folder. This means that after unzipping the package, you can directly open it as a project under Netbeans and use all the shortcuts for compiling, building, etc. Again, just as above, please take care when renaming/restructuring files if you want to ensure this compatibility with NetBeans.