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Installing E 0.8.25n on Linux (gtk-x86)

Installing The Java Runtime

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Installing E

Unpack the binary distribution into the directory in which you wish to install E. For concreteness only, let's say you installed E in the directory "/ehome". Please read the /ehome/README.txt file (the README.txt file in the directory at the top of the unpacked binary distribution) and follow the instructions. When you're done, you should have an "eprops.txt" file (E configuration preferences) and a "rune" file (a bash driver script). For reference, here are my "eprops.txt" and "rune" files after I tried to get these to work on my system. When you try to run the "rune" driver from a bash shell, or similarly, when you try to run a *.e file as an executable, if you see the error

declare: unknown option: `-a'

this means your version of bash is too old. You should upgrade. See Bash Dependencies.

Let's say you want to run the "elmer.e" script. If you cannot obtain an adequate bash for your platform, you can ignore the "rune" driver script and invoke java yourself.

$ java -jar -De.home=/ehome /ehome/e.jar /ehome/scripts/elmer.e files...

If you do obtain an adequate version of bash, the "rune" driver should work, and you should be able to say

$ rune /ehome/scripts/elmer.e files...

If your system also has "/usr/bin/env" (as all modern *nix systems seem to these days) and you install a copy of the "rune" driver on somewhere on your PATH, then you should be able to say

$ /ehome/scipts/elmer.e files...

And finally, if you put "/ehome/scripts" on your PATH (recommended), then you can simply say

$ elmer.e files..

and get the same effect. Or, you can manually invoke E without any scripts in order to get an E shell:

$ java -jar -De.home=/ehome /ehome/e.jar --interact
? 2 + 3
# value: 5

? #<Ctrl-D>

That last line indicates that you can exit the E command line interpreter by typing the Control-D character, as with many other Unix programs.

You should now proceed to the E Tutorial.