This page discusses the known supported Linux platforms for Jaxer. This page also includes installation instructions and special procedures for certain platforms.

Supported Linux Platforms

Jaxer 1.0.x is built to run with most current Linux distributions that are Debian or Fedora based.

Jaxer on 64bit Architectures

We are excited to announce the first release of Jaxer with support for 64-bit architectures. As our development and testing continues, we'll post updates here. We look forward to the widespread usage of the binary and any reports on issues you may encounter

If you are running a "server" or "headless" version of Linux, you might need to install a number of X/graphical libraries. Our standards-based Mozilla core has dependencies although there is no actual rendering on screen.

The simplest way to resolve this would be to install Firefox using your package manager, for example yum, which is capable of downloading and installing any required libraries.

Notes on 64bit configurations

The default configuration for maximum limit on stack size, total memory etc is site specific. If your Jaxer server crashes with an "Out of memory" exception, you may have to increase the default appropriately. A simple way to do this would be to set no maximum limits for the Jaxer process ("ulimit -s unlimited".)

Installing a Standalone Jaxer Server

These instructions describe how to get the sand-boxed version of Linux up and running. The sand-boxed install includes its own Apache instance, which should not interfere with an existing Apache install. You can download the Linux version of Jaxer from the Jaxer download page.

Quick Instructions

mv Jaxer_package_withApache.zip /opt
cd /opt
unzip Jaxer_package_withApache.zip
chmod -R a+x AptanaJaxer

In /opt/AptanaJaxer/Apache22/conf/httpd.conf, set "ServerName localhost" and add "User <user-name>" where <user-name> is the user under which you want Apache to run.

Detailed Instructions

1. Download the Jaxer_package_withApache.zip file from the Jaxer download page to the host where Jaxer will be installed.
2. Move this file to /opt and move to this directory on the command-line.
3. Unzip the file using "unzip Jaxer_package_withApache.zip" on the command-line. This will create an /opt/AptanaJaxer directory.
4. Open up access privileges on AptanaJaxer using 'chmod -R a+x AptanaJaxer'.
5. Edit /opt/AptanaJaxer/Apache22/conf/httpd.conf:
   • Find the line that looks like "#ServerName www.example.com:80"
   • Remove the leading "#" and change "www.example.com:80" to "localhost". The line should look like "ServerName localhost"
   • Move to the end of the file and add "User <user-name>" where <user-name> should be replaced with the user you wish Apache to run under. It is advised that you do not use root as the user name
   • Save the file

Configuring Jaxer for Outside Access

By default, the Jaxer Standalone installation only allows connections from 127.0.0.1 and localhost. The instructions below describe the configuration changes needed to open up access to other machines, if so desired.

• Edit /opt/AptanaJaxer/jaxer/confs/jaxer-linux.httpd.conf
• Change all instances of "Deny all" to "Allow all" except for the last section for /jaxer-include/ and save the file. Note that jaxer-include contains files that may be loaded by your pages on the server. Since these files may contain sensitive information, the directory should not be accessible outside of the server.
• Edit /opt/AptanaJaxer/jaxer/framework/config.js
• Find the line near the bottom containing "REWRITE_RELATIVE_URL". Uncomment this line, change the URL to "http://localhost:8081" and save the file. Note that the port needs to match the port Apache is using. The port may be omitted entirely if Apache is using port 80.
• You will need to stop and start Jaxer to activate these changes if Jaxer is already running.

Running Jaxer

• Move into /opt/AptanaJaxer/scripts and type "./start.sh" on the command-line
• Jaxer should be up and running. The easiest way to see Jaxer running is by navigating to "http://localhost:8081/aptana/" in your favorite browser. You should see something like the following.

Validating Your Jaxer Installation

To validate that Jaxer is correctly installed on your system, click the Server Diagnostics link in the sidebar to run the diagnostics application. If everything is correctly installed and configured, your the page should look like the one below:

Review the Installed Content

Click the Samples and Tools link in the sidebar to view our bundled sample applications. The source code for the sample applications is shipped with the system and is located in the /opt/AptanaJaxer/jaxer/aptana folder. Use these examples to learn how to put together your own Jaxer applications.

Troublehshooting

This section gives tips for common troubleshooting issues.

CentOS 5.1 Issues

On CentOS 5.1 if you get a stream of "Jaxer creation failed" messages when running start.sh from the command line, then you may need to install the sqlite and firefox-devel packages. You can do that with the following commands:

• yum install sqlite
• yum install firefox-devel

Fedora 8 Issues

On Fedora 8 if you get an error message about a missing libexpat.so.1 library, then you will need to create a symlink where libexpat.so.1 points to libexpat.so.0.

Community Involvement

We've been working with volunteer beta testers within the Jaxer community to add support for Linux. Since the various Linux platforms have so many nuances, some platforms could still have some issues. We invite you to participate in the Jaxer forums to lets us know how we can improve Linux support and the Linux installation process. You can help us determine which platforms to focus on next by placing your vote on the forums: http://forums.aptana.com/viewtopic.php?t=4844. Likewise, if you have Jaxer running on a distro not listed on this page, let us know so we can add it to the list.