Linux: How to Download, Install, and Start APT

APT has a new installation system so these instructions have been updated.

*New KDE problem found with APT 18.2 and beyond.We have seen a random bug on our Red Hat Enterprise Linux release 5 test machine but only when running the KDE windowing system. The symptom is that once in while a pop up window pops up with no height - you only see the title bar. This can be frustrating because you might not know what the pop up is asking you or telling you. If you find this is happening to you you can switch to GNOME when running APT. But please report the problem to us (at help@stsci.edu) if you experience it so we can better characterize who may have this problem.

Supported Systems

The APT tools are highly graphical and interactive applications and therefore run best on a robust machine. APT will run on Redhat Enterprise, but usually works on Redhat 7.3 and higher and equivalents. APT requires a minimum of 512 Megabytes of RAM (memory), but we recommend 1 Gigabyte of RAM. Please see our memory discussion for more information.

Additional System Configuration Issues:

• The APT package has generally run fine on other versions of linux but we are only testing on Red Hat Enterprise Linux release 5 now. You definitely have to have a linux with a kernel of 2.4 or higher.
• APT is a 32-bit application. If your machine has 64-bit architecture, you will have to have the 32-bit compatibility libraries installed on your machine in order for APT to work.
• You will need Adobe Reader 5.0 or higher installed on your machine. To check your version, start Adobe Reader and select "About Adobe Reader" from the Help menu.
• You should have the web browser plugin Shockwave 5.0 or higher for viewing the training movies.
• Depending on your institution's computer security measures (firewalls, blocked ports, etc.), you may initially have communication trouble with APT. If you have any concerns please see our firewall webpage.

How to find out about new releases

We maintain a distribution list for announcing new releases of APT. This may be helpful to people who install APT for others to use. Send an e-mail to majordomo@stsci.edu which contains the line:

subscribe apt-users

1. UnInstall the previous version

To get rid of the old version: Delete the entire directory tree where you installed it. (The unix command rm -rf [directory] makes this quick because it gets rid of all the subdirectories and does not ask you about overriding permissions.)

2. Download and Install

Choose your operating system: APT contains a Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Because of this there is a different APT for each major platform. The installation page you enter next can choose the correct version for your machine for you (just click on the button that says "Download Now"). Or just choose the linux platform from the "Available Installers" table and follow the instructions.

Get the most out of your machine's memory: During installation you will be given the option of stating how much memory your machine has.

• Choose the first option if:
• your machine has less than 1 GB of memory.
• you don't know how much memory you have (memory can be determined with the "top" unix command).
• you are doing a site installation and some of your users have less than 1 GB of memory.
• Choose the second option if your machine has between 1 and 2 GB of memory.
• Choose the third option if your machine has 2 GB or more of memory.

Proceed to the Installation...

(Note that there is no longer a mirrored download site in Germany. Please let us know if you have any trouble with downloading from STScI.)

3. Start

Once you have installed APT you invoke it with a script. For instance to start APT type ./APT in the installation directory. (By default the installation directory is placed in your home directory.) Links are no longer put in your home directory automatically. If you would like to create your own link, here is is the unix command to use in your home directory to create a link named 'apt':

ln -s [your_installation_directory]/APT apt

Once the program is started you will be presented with the main APT screen.

4. Help

There is a a series of short training movies which will help get you started (there are also web pages with screen shots available on the same page). APT also has documentation available from the "Help" menu (the right most menu on the menu bar).

If you can't find what you need, please contact us at help@stsci.edu.

5. Troubleshooting

If there are problems with the installation you can turn on debug logging and sometimes that will reveal the problem. This debug log would also be useful to send us (in line, not as an attachment) if you can't figure out the problem. Contact us (through help@stsci.edu) if you have problems with installation. It would also be useful to tell us your exact flavor of linux which you can get from the commands: uname -a and more /etc/issue.

To turn debug logging on during installation: Execute these commands in the directory where you downloaded the installer (install-linux-apt.sh):

sh install-linux-apt.sh --keep --noexec

cd install-linux-apt

jre/bin/java -DTRACE=true -jar install-linux-apt.jar

To turn debug logging on while running APT: add a command line switch when you invoke APT:

./APT -debug all

Known Installation/Download Problems:

We are expecting fewer problems with this installer on linux compared to the previous one. There are no known new issues, but these old issues could, in theory, still be a problem because they are not related to the installer:

• UnsatisfiedLinkError

If you try to install APT and you receive an exception like this:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: /tmp/selfgz1222325908/jre/lib/i386/xawt/libmawt.so: libXtst.so.6: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

You may not have the required 32-bit compatibility libraries in place. APT is a 32-bit application and so these libraries are necessary if you are running on a 64-bit machine.

• APT window blank

A user running Red Hat Enterprise 5 with Gnome Desktop environment 2.16.0 found that APT came up with a blank screen (save for the Name of the program in the title bar). The problem was resolved by turning off two visual effects (Windows Wobble and Workspaces on Cube).

A user running Ubuntu 9.10 with Gnome Desktop environment also found that APT came up with a blank screen. The problem was resolved by turning off all visual effects (System>Preferences>Appearance>Visual Effect>None).

• SELinux issue

One user had trouble installing on Fedora Core 4. The error message in the debug started with:

java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError

He diagnosed the problem as being related to the SELinux feature of FC4. So he simply turned off SELinux (as root) with the command:

/usr/sbin/setenforce 0 

He said that this command must be rerun each time the computer is restarted. We do not have experience with FC4 or SELinux, so we are not aware of a more elegant solution.

• Segmentation fault

If when you bring up the APT program for the first time you may get something like:

./APT: line 1: 23262 Segmentation fault

The work around may be to edit the script called APT in the installation directory to insert:

      ulimit -s 2048 

right after the initial: #!/bin/sh

Note that issue will only apply to users that have a ulimit set very low by today's standards.

• Installing on a machine with no display

If you are a system manager attempting to install on a server that does not have a display, you will need to use the following commands to install without the interactive pop up windows:

sh install-linux-apt.sh --keep --noexec

cd install-linux-apt

jre/bin/java -jar install-linux-apt.jar -console