This document applies not only to Linux but to all other platforms that have Java with working Swing support installed. We know it works on all flavors of Linux, on FreeBSD and on Solaris platforms, as well as on Mac OS X.

We are developing Your Freedom under Debian Linux using Sun's Java SE. The Your Freedom servers, who share a lot of the code with the client, run under Linux too, using Sun's JRE SE 6.

You need a Java runtime environment that has Swing support. Latest versions of OpenJDK will work as well but we recommend to use Sun's JRE. Many distributions ship Sun's JRE; instructions on how to install it can be found in these places:

• Debian: Install package sun-java6-bin ("apt-get install sun-java6-bin"), it's in the "non-free" directory because of Sun's license terms.
• Fedora: Instructions can be found on www.ccl.net/cca/software/SOURCES/JAVA/JSDK-1.6/
• Gentoo: Please refer to www.gentoo.org/doc/en/java.xml
• Ubuntu: www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-install-java-runtime-environment-jre-in-ubuntu.html

Generic instructions -- this is how you can install Sun's JRE if your Unix distribution doesn't supply it:

• Go to Sun's Java Download page, click on the JDK download button and get a copy of either the RPM (if your system is RPM based) or the tar file version (if not).
• RPM: Create a directory, move the file you've downloaded to it, then run "sh file.bin" with the name of the file you've downloaded instead of file.bin. This will extract a set of RPM files. Install them all using "rpm -i file.rpm".
• tar: As root, create a directory "/usr/local/java" and move the downloaded file there. cd to the directory, then run the file with "sh file.bin", with the name of the file you've downloaded instead of file.bin. This creates a directory. Figure out its name, then create a symbolic link called "current" pointing to it (ln -s dirname current, replacing dirname with the directory name). Now go to /usr/local/bin and type "ln -sf ../java/current/jre/bin/* ." and "ln -sf ../java/current/bin/* .".
• When you are done, double-check that your system is using the proper version of Java by running the command "java -version". If it doesn't tell you it's from Sun then you are not running the right version. Type "which java" to see what's going on. You might have to type "rehash" (if you are using zsh) or close your shell and re-open it. If that doesn't help, check your path settings, you should have /usr/local/bin very much to the front.

You don't really have to install anything at all, you just need to unzip the contents of the ZIP file to some folder.

• Create a suitable directory for the Your Freedom installation. You might want to choose /usr/local/freedom or whatever. Then extract the contents of the ZIP file there (using unzip). If you don't want to install it system-wide, just use a sub-directory in your home directory.

You need a graphical desktop supported by Swing; this means X11R6. Unless you are on a console or telnet connection you should be fine. There is a non-gui mode built into Your Freedom but it might no longer work, no-one has tested it for a while.

Now cd to the directory where you have unzipped the files to. Type "java -jar freedom.jar --help". You should see a list of command line options. Normally you won't need any of these, so just type "java -jar freedom.jar" to start Your Freedom, or append an ampersand to detach it from your shell window.

Yes, it does. It's documented here.