Installation

There are different ways to get Gitools running:

• Directly from the web using Java Web Start
• Installing locally and executing it
• Compiling the source code

Java Web Start

Java Web Start is a technology that allows running Java applications directly from the web. This method is very convenient to evaluate the tool, but when used for daily work and to use big amounts of data is better to install it manually.

In the main page of Gitools there is an orange button that says Launch. Simply click on it and the application will be downloaded and executed automatically.

It is very easy to use but sometimes the internet navigator doesn't know how to communicate with Java and launch the application. You can use the following terminal command to launch it:

Installing locally

You can download the last version of Gitools from http://www.gitools.org/download.php

You will get a zip file that can be installed and executed in any of the Windows, Linux and Mac OS X operating systems.

The first thing to do is to uncompress the zip file into some folder. Use your preferred application for this, usually doing click or double click over it will start the application that will allow you to uncompress it.

Once uncompressed you will get a folder like gitools-1.5.0-bin (the version number could be different depending on which version you downloaded).

That's all, you have already installed Gitools in your computer if you only want to work with the graphical interface.

To run Gitools graphical interface go inside its folder and you will see that there is another folder called bin, open it and you will see some files inside, depending on your operating system you will have to click or double click one of the following files:

• Windows: gitools.bat
• Mac OS X: gitools
• Linux: gitools

If you want to be able to execute Gitools commands from the terminal you will need to configure the way your operating system finds commands from the terminal (usually it is an enviroment variable called PATH). Read the detailed installation instructions for your operating system below:

Windows

1. You need to have java installed. Go to this website to download and install; http://www.java.com/en/download/You
2. http://www.java.com/en/download/You need to add path of java after set up; go here to do this: http://www.java.com/en/download/help/path.xml. This will tell your computer where to find the java program add these two paths:  c:\java-directory\bin  and c:\java-directory\lib  where c:\javadirectory will be the place where java is installed and  where the bin and lib directors are found in the java installation directory. 
3. You need to add the path of the Gitools bin directory also  in order to run the Gitools in the same path variable ( just like you added the other two paths) add  c:\gitoolsdirectory\bin and c:\gitoolsdirectory\lib  to the path variable. All path variables must be added to existing path (be careful not to delete anything which is already there) and separate each new path with a semicolon.  The new path can be added to the front of the existing path followed by a semicolon to separte other existing entries.
4. To run the Gitools; just click on the gitools.bat file. You can make a shortcut for this file by righclick and say send to 'desktop' and it will creat a shortcut on your desktop for future use.

Linux

Imagine that you have uncompressed the zip file into /opt/gitools-1.5.0-bin, then you can define the PATH variable in the ~/.bashrc file adding a line like this:

Start a new terminal and you should be able to run Gitools graphical interface typing:

Mac OS X

Imagine that you have uncompressed the zip file into /opt/gitools-1.5.0-bin, then you can define the PATH variable in the ~/.profile file adding a line like this:

Start a new terminal and you should be able to run Gitools graphical interface typing:

Memory configuration

Gitools is a Java application, and by default it starts with the default memory requirements stablished by most of the Java applications (usually 256 Megabytes). But most probably you will need more than the default, you will realize this when you obtain an exception like this:

java.lang.OutOfMemoryException

There is a way to configure the memory limits for Gitools the same way that Java does, using the option -Xmx. But this configuration should be specified through an enviroment variable called GITOOLS_JAVA_OPTS. Let's see some examples of how to do this with different operating systems:

Windows

Right-click the My Computer icon on
your desktop and select Properties.
Click the Advanced tab. Click the
Environment Variables button. Under System Variables, click New.
Enter the variable name as GITOOLS_JAVA_OPTS.
Enter the variable value as follows for 2 GB: -Xmx2g.
Click OK.
Click Apply Changes.

Linux

Imagine that you want to use 1024 megabytes of memory for Gitools, then edit the ~/.bashrc file adding a line like this:

You can also specify 2 gigabytes like this:

Mac OS X

Imagine that you want to use 1024 megabytes of memory for Gitools, then edit the ~/.profile file adding a line like this:

You can also specify 2 gigabytes like this:

Source code

Go here to know how to download the source code and compile it.