Installing and Running OmegaT

Note: 1.8.X below indicates the latest stable 1.8 release of OmegaT.

Linux (Intel) users

Windows users

MacOSX users

Other systems - Solaris SPARC/x86/x64, Linux x64/PowerPC, Windows x64

Command line launching

Building OmegaT from source


Linux (Intel) users

Which package to download?

Do you have a Java implementation compatible with SUN's Java 1.4 JRE?

Yes: 

download OmegaT_1.8.X_Without_JRE.zip. This package can be used on any platform where a Java 1.4 JRE compatible JRE is installed.

No / I don't know:

download OmegaT_1.8.X_Linux.tar.gz. This package is bundled with SUN's Java Runtime Environment. This JRE will not interfere with other Java implementations that may already be installed on your system.

OmegaT installation

To install OmegaT, simply unpack/untar the downloaded file. This will create an omegat/ directory in the working directory in which you will find all the files necessary to run OmegaT. To untar the .tar.gz file:

$ tar xf downloaded_file.tar.gz

Adding OmegaT to your menus (KDE) or panels (Gnome)

KDE users

You can add OmegaT to your menus as follows:

Gnome users

You can add OmegaT to your panel (the bar at the top of the screen) as follows:

Running OmegaT

Once OmegaT is installed, you can launch it directly from the command line, you can create a script that includes launch parameters for the command line or you can click on OmegaT.jar to launch it directly. Methods differ depending on the distribution. Make sure that your PATH settings are correct and that .jar files are properly associated with a Java launcher.


Windows users

Which package to download?

Do you have a Java implementation compatible with SUN's Java 1.4 JRE?

Yes:

download OmegaT_1.8.X_Windows_without_JRE.exe. This package can be used on any Windows platform where a Java 1.4 JRE compatible JRE is installed.

No / I don't know:

download OmegaT_1.8.X_Windows.exe. This package is bundled with SUN's Java Runtime Environment. This JRE will not interfere with other Java implementations that may already be installed on your system.

OmegaT installation

To install OmegaT, double-click on the program you have downloaded, and follow the instructions

Adding OmegaT to the start menu or desktop

During the installation, the setup program asks you whether you want to create a folder in the start menu, and whether you want to create a shortcut on the desktop and in the quick launch bar.

You can still create a shortcut afterward, by dragging OmegaT.exe to the desktop or start menu to link it from there.

Running OmegaT

Once OmegaT is installed, you can click on OmegaT.jar to launch it directly or you can launch it directly from the command line.

The simplest, however, is to execute the OmegaT.exe program. The launch parameters in this case will be read from the OmegaT.l4J.ini file, residing in the same folder as the exe file and which you can edit to reflect your setup. The following INI file will reserve 1GB of memory, request French as the user language and Portugal as the country:

# OmegaT.exe runtime configuration
#
# To use a parameter, remove the '#' before the '-'
# Memory
-Xmx1024M
# Language
-Duser.language=FR
# Country
-Duser.country=PT
# Anti-aliasing (Java 1.4 and 1.5 only)
#-Dswing.aatext=true
# Entity expansion for XML (Java 1.4 only)
#-DentityExpansionLimit=400000


MacOSX users

Which package to download?

Download OmegaT_1.8.X_MacOSX.zip.

OmegaT installation

Double click on OmegaT_1.8.X_MacOSX.zip to unpack it. An OSX disk image (OmegaT.dmg) will mount itself and will display 2 files: documentation.html and OmegaT.app. Copy the two files to a suitable folder (e.g. Applications, in which you can create an OmegaT folder). Once you have done this, you can delete the OmegaT_1.8.X_MacOSX.zip file.

Adding OmegaT to the Dock

Add OmegaT to the Dock by dragging and dropping the file OmegaT.app on the Dock.

Running OmegaT

Double-click on OmegaT.app or click on its location in the Dock

If you want to change the Java launch parameters from the command line, you are advised to use the package available for "Other systems", see below. It is also possible to directly modify the Info.plist file located inside the OmegaT.app package.


Other systems

Which package to download?

OmegaT is available bundled with a SUN Java JRE for Linux (Intel x86) and Windows platforms. Users of other platforms (Linux PowerPC, Linux x64, Solaris SPARC/x86/x64, Windows x64 etc) must have a running compatible Java JRE on their system to be able to use OmegaT.

Do you have a Java implementation compatible with SUN's Java 1.4 JRE?

Yes:

download OmegaT_1.8.X_Without_JRE.zip This package can be used on any platform where a Java 1.4 JRE compatible JRE is installed.

I don't know:

open a terminal and type "java -version". If a "command not found" or similar message is returned, it is likely that Java is not installed on your system.

No:

obtain a Java JRE for your system (see below) and download OmegaT_1.8.X_Without_JRE.zip. SUN provides JREs for Solaris SPARC/x86 (Java 1.5) and for Linux x64, Solaris x64, Windows x64 (Java 1.5): http://java.sun.com/products/archive/. IBM provides JREs for Linux PowerPC:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/jdk/linux/download.html
Follow the installation instructions of the package you need.

OmegaT installation

To install OmegaT, simply unpack the OmegaT_1.8.X_Without_JRE.zip file. This creates an ./OmegaT_1.8.X_Without_JRE/ directory in the working directory with all the files necessary to run OmegaT.

Installing convenient shortcuts

Follow your system's instructions to install OmegaT shortcuts in convenient places.

Running OmegaT

Once OmegaT is installed, you can launch it directly from the command line, you can create a script that includes launch parameters for the command line or you can click on OmegaT.jar to launch it directly. Methods differ depending on the distribution. Make sure that your PATH settings are correct and that .jar files are properly associated with a Java launcher.


Command line launching

Normally, it is not necessary to launch OmegaT from the command line. However, the command-line method of launching OmegaT enables aspects of the program's behaviour to be controlled by means of modifications. There are two ways of launching OmegaT using the command line.

Users of the Mac OSX package who want to control OmegaT from the command line are advised to use the package available for "Other systems". See above.

Method 1: opening a command-line window

A command-line window is also referred to as a "terminal window". On Windows it is called an "MS-DOS window" and is available from the Start Menu, inside Programs, through the "MS-DOS" item. The Mac OSX equivalent is the application Terminal located in Applications → Utilities.

To launch OmegaT, you must normally type two commands. The first of these is:

cd {folder}

where {folder} is the name of the folder, with complete path, in which your OmegaT program - specifically, the file OmegaT.jar - is located. In practice, this command will therefore be something like this:

On Windows
cd C:\Program Files\OmegaT
On Mac OSX
cd /Applications/OmegaT
On Linux
cd /usr/local/omegat

This command changes the folder to the folder containing the executable OmegaT file. The second command is the command which actually launches OmegaT. In its most basic form, this command is:

java -jar OmegaT.jar

Pay attention to the capitalization - it is important.

This method has a particular benefit of being suitable for debugging: if an error occurs during use of the program, an error message is output in the terminal window which may contain useful information on the cause.

Method 2: changing the .bat file/launch script

Method 1 is a somewhat impractical way of launching a program routinely. For this reason, the two commands described above are contained in a file (a "script", also called a ".bat file" on Windows systems).

When this file is executed, the commands within it are automatically carried out. Consequently, to make changes to the launch command, it is sufficient to modify the file. When OmegaT is launched from the file, the new commands are then executed.

Launch command arguments

The basic command has already been mentioned above. Changes to this command involve the addition of "arguments" to it. Arguments are added after the initial "java", and before the "-jar OmegaT.jar" part. Note that in Windows you can change the OmegaT.l4J.ini file to reflect your preferences.

A list of possible arguments is given below. You can have more information about the arguments by typing man java in the terminal window. man is a terminal window command that displays a manual of the selected command. Your system may or may not have a manual for the command java in your language.

User interface language: -Duser.language=XX

     

Normally, i.e. when OmegaT is launched without any arguments, the program first detects the language of the user's operating system. If a user interface in this language is available, OmegaT uses it. So, if the user's operating system is Russian and OmegaT has been localized in Russian, OmegaT is displayed with a Russian user interface, Russian menus, etc. If the language of the user's system is not available, OmegaT defaults to English. This is the standard behaviour.

The "-Duser.language=XX" argument causes OmegaT to use the language specified rather than the language of the user's operating system. "XX" in the command stands for the two-digit code of the desired language. To launch OmegaT with a French interface (for example on a Russian operating system), the command would therefore be java -Duser.language=fr -jar OmegaT.jar

User country setup: -Duser.country=XX

     

Next to the language, you can also specify the country, for example CN or TW in case of the Chinese language. To get the correct Instant start guide, you need to specify both the language and the country. This is necessary even if there's only one combination available, like pt_BR in case of Portuguese / Brazil.

Font antialiasing: -Dswing.aatext=true

     

This argument effects anti-aliasing of the fonts, thereby improving their appearance.

Memory assignment: -XmxZZM

     

This command assigns more memory to OmegaT. By default, 256 MB are assigned, so there is no advantage in assigning less than this figure. "ZZ" stands for the amount of memory assigned, in megabytes. The command to launch OmegaT with assignment of 1024 MB (1 gigabyte) of memory is therefore:java -Xmx1024M -jar OmegaT.jar

Arguments can be combined: to launch OmegaT with all the examples described above, the command would be:
java -Dswing.aatext=true -Duser.language=pt -Duser.country=BR -Xmx1024M -jar OmegaT.jar


Building OmegaT from source

Which package to download?

Download OmegaT_1.8.X_Source.zip
This package contains the source files corresponding to the released version and can be used on any system that is installed with a Java 1.4 JDK or compatible Java system. You will also need the ant utility to build OmegaT.
OmegaT uses SubVersion for the versioning control. The most recent code is available on the SVN server:
https://omegat.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/omegat/trunk

Building OmegaT

Unpack the OmegaT_1.8.X_Source.zip file and enter the OmegaT_1.8.X_Source directory or enter the ./omegat/ directory of the SVN checked out code. Check that a build.xml file is present in that directory. Then, on the command line, type:

$ ant jar release

This will create a full distribution of OmegaT in the ./dist/ directory, in which you will find all the files necessary to run OmegaT.

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