# Installing Aptana on Linux [edit]

This page describes how to set up Aptana to run on the Linux platform.

## Introduction

When running under Linux, Aptana relies on the Firefox browser. There are a few additional steps that need to be done when running.

## Instructions

Aptana Milestone 8 installs very easily on Fedora Core 6 or Ubuntu Feisty assuming you have Firefox and Sun JVM 1.5 or higher installed. You should be able to unzip the .zip file to the location of your choice and click on the Aptana executable to get going. More distro-specific instructions will be posted here as necessary.

### Running Aptana Studio on 64-bit Linux

The standalone version of Aptana Studio does not currently support 64-bit linux. To use Aptana, please install the plugin into a 64-bit version of Eclipse.

If your Eclipse installation is shared (installed via package manager into /usr/lib), give your login account root permissions on the /usr/lib/ecplise folder because running an update copies files to the /usr/lib/eclipse features and plugins directories. If you have eclipse installed as a tarball into your home dir (or any writable area), you won't need to run as root.

Some users have found the following workaround helpful:

1. Install 32 bit Sun java (in Ubuntu: sudo aptitude install ia32-libs ia32-sun-java6-bin)
2. Select this as the java version to be used (again in Ubuntu: sudo update-alternatives --config java and choose the 32 bit version

### Generic Installation Instructions

Unzip Aptana to /usr/local/aptana.

Next you will need an older version of mozilla with GTK2 and xft enabled.

Get a gtk2/xft enabled version of Mozilla 1.7.12 here:

ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla/releases/mozilla1.7.12/contrib/mozilla-i686-pc-linux-gnu-1.7.12-gtk2+xft.tar.gz

Yes, you need mozilla to get help screens and it is also used on the Aptana Startup Screen. You can actually run without it but I recommend it. That is all it is used for. That's just the way it is.

Untar the mozilla file to /usr/local/lib/mozilla.

Next create a script which will setup the aptana environment. For example, create a script called runAptana which contains an export MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME statement and points to the aptana executable file. The MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME will point to main directory where firefox is installed. The script might look like this:

    export MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME=/usr/local/lib/mozilla
    /usr/local/aptana/Aptana

Then of course make your script executable with:

    $ chmod +x runAptana

Then just run the script.

Of course you could also add the export statement to your .bashrc or .bash_profile in your home directory and then just create an icon on your desktop pointing to the Aptana executable. If you want MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME to be set system wide for all users, add it to /etc/profile (on most systems).

For more details, please see http://www.aptana.com/docs/index.php/User_talk:Kfoster

## Common Problems

One problem occurs when firefox already has the firebug plugin installed. The first time you launch a debug session in Aptana firefox will be scanned to see if a plugin Aptana uses is installed. The Aptana plugin is based on firebug and if there is an existing version already installed, the Aptana plugin and the existing plugin will conflict. Be sure to uninstall any version of firebug you have installed before running Aptana debug. Also be sure to shutdown firefox after doing the uninstall of firebug since it won't really be uninstalled until firefox is shutdown.

For more information on installation problems, please go to the Linux Install thread here http://aptana.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=134 on the forum.

Fedora users will need to remove the GNU JRE and use Sun's JRE in order for several Aptana features to work correctly.

### 64-bit machines

Aptana standalone does not work on a 64-bit Linux operating system. You will need to install it into Eclipse as a plugin.

### Error: "The bundle could not be resolved. Reason: Missing Constraint" (Fedora Core 8, IcedTea JVM)

If you get this error, you will need to change your Java Runtime Environment. Fedora Core 8 ships with a beta version 1.7 of Java. To fix, create a logical link to an earleir version of Java (preferably JRE 1.6 from Sun)

    1. ls -l /usr/local/aptana/jre
    2. /usr/local/aptana/jre -> /usr/java/jre1.6.0_03

## Related Topics

- Changing the VM used with Aptana

Retrieved from "http://aptana.com/docs/index.php/Installing_Aptana_on_Linux"

Category: AptanaHelp