How to Download and Install StarView to a Unix Platform

Click here to download the installer file sv_site_install.bin to a temporary directory on your machine.

Note: your may need to hold down the shift key while clicking to make your browser download the file (rather than try to display it in the browser).

Once the file has been downloaded, cd to the directory that you downloaded the installer to and change the permissions on the file so that it is executable by typing the command:

chmod u+x sv_site_install.bin

Run the installer by typing its name, sv_site_install.bin and hitting the return key.
You should see the following message from the InstallAnywhere installation software as it prepares to install StarView:

InstallAnywhere is preparing to install...

Please choose a Java virtual machine to run this program.
(These virtual machines were found on your PATH)
-------------------------------------
1: /usr/bin/java
2: /bin/java
3: Exit

The number of items that appear on this list will vary depending on the installation of Java on your machine. This selection is the Java Virtual Machine that the installer will use to run the install wizard (not to run StarView).

Once the install program is running, you need to answer the InstallAnywhere (IA) dialogs.
If the IA dialogs screens do not appear, you may have a Java configuration problem. Exit out of the installer (by typing control C) and define a debug environment variable by typing the following:

export LAX_DEBUG=true

Clicking next will take you through the install wizard screens.
The installer will ask you where it should install the application (StarView). You may install StarView anywhere you wish as long as there is at least 1 Megabyte of disk space there.
Along the way it will ask you for the name of the Java Virtual Machine to be used to run StarView by listing all the Java Virtual Machines (JVM's) it could find (Please select a Java VM for your application). Make sure the one you select is the one you verified was version 1.2.2 (and is not 1.2.2_06 for Solaris as this version was released with several bugs that break StarView) or later. To find out what version of java you have, from another command line type java -version. If you do not see any Java VM's listed in the selection box, click the Choose Another button and enter the JVM to run StarView. If you are having trouble with this portion of the installation, you can force the installer to use a certain JVM by typing on the command line: sv_unix_install.sh LAX_VM /usr/local/bin/java (replace this path with the full path to the JVM on your machine)
Note: The InstallAnywhere package that we use to install the program attempts to create a link to StarView in your home directory so you can run it from there. This link does not work, as the launcher assumes you execute the program from the directory in which StarView is installed. We are working on this problem. For now, please start StarView by typing the full path to the directory where you installed StarView. For example, if you installed it on /data/mymachine/me/StarView you need to type /data/mymachine/me/StarView/StarView to start the program.
After the install program is finished running, you may delete the sv_site_install.bin file as it is no longer needed.

Make sure that the StarView.jar file is not world writeable. If you have one installed, you should also make sure the Update.jar file is not world readable (so users cannot try to update StarView). This instalation includes a file called site_env.dat. This file is what StarView uses to determine how it is installed (its presence tells StarView it is a site installation).

The administrator can setup several things in that StarView needs to know about the system so users do not have to set them up individualy. These are

SMTP hostname for sending mail messages from starview. StarView submits data requests using email.
Path to the netscape startup script (if a wrapper script is used to launch Netscape, otherwise the same as the binary)
Path to the actual netscape binary.

The netscape information is used to communicate with the users netscape browser via the netscape -remote command to load help pages such as this one in a browser. It should lauch the browser from scratch if it is not running.

An example site_env.dat file would contain:

SMTPHost=poppc.stsci.edu
unix.browser.wrapper=/opt/X11R5/bin/netscape
unix.browser.bin=/opt/X11R5/lib/X11/netscape/v47/netscape

Note also that users can override these values. If they do so and misconfigure starview, the restore defaults button in evironment will reset the values to the site installation settings.

A majordomo mailserver MajorDomo@stsci.edu low traffic list called starview-updates will keep you informed of upcoming starview upgrades. Please put the line

subscribe starview-update

in the body of your email message. We will only send out messages prior to upcoming releases to warn you of the upcoming update. We highly encourage you to subscribe to this so your users will not have to request an update after finding the program will no longer run.