Dependencies and Linux Packaging

Packaging Freeplane for Linux distros

This page contains information about Freeplane requirements/dependencies and GNU/Linux packaging information for release 1.2.x and 1.3.x.

See also How to build Freeplane.

Dependencies

Package	Description	Version required	Debian Package
Groovy	Dynamic language for the JVM, used for scripting/add-ons	>=1.8.6 (2.x is recommended)	groovy (=> use groovy-all.jar to get the deps below as well!)
ANTLR	Parser Generator used by groovy	>= 2.7.7	antlr (but groovy depends on it)
Apache commons CLI	Command line parser, used by groovy.	>= 1.2	libcommon-cli-java (but groovy depends on it)
ASM	Java bytecode manipulation and analysis framework.	>= 3.3.2	libasm3-java (but groovy depends on it)
JLaTeXMath	Used for LaTeX Rendering in node extension (1.2.x) / node core (1.3.x)	1.2.x: >=0.9.7; 1.3.x: >=1.0.2	libjlatexmath-java
JSyntaxPane	Provides JEditorPane with syntax highlighting, used for groovy scripts and LaTeX (>= 1.3.x). See note below	current subversion @revision r156 including Debian patches from libjsyntaxpane-java-0.9.6~r156-5 (all versions)	libjsyntaxpane-java
SimplyHTML	Rich text editor used for editing node content / notes / ...	>=0.16.07 (latest version is recommended)	simplyhtml
Java Help	deprecated, but still used by simplyhtml	>=2.0.0?	javahelp2
Apache commons lang	Helper utilities for java.lang	1.2.x: >=2.0; 1.3.x: >=2.6	libcommons-lang-java
Apache commons IO	Helper utilities for java.io	>=2.4	libcommons-io-java
JGoodies Forms	Helper utilities for forms layout	>= 1.2.1; 1.4.x: 1.6.0 (jgoodies-forms 1.6.0 requires jgoodies-commons 1.4.0)	libjgoodies-forms-java
GNU Regexp	GNU Regexp implementation (not sure if it's used by freeplane directly, but still used by simpyhtml!)	>=1.1.4 (deprecated but still used by simplyhtml)	libgnu-regexp-java
Knopflerfish OSGi	OSGi implementation used by freeplane	>=2.3.3; Freeplane 1.3.13: >= 5.1.0 (knopflerfish 5.1.0 corresponds to knopflerfish framework 7.1.2!)	libknopflerfish-osgi-framework-java
Apache Batik	used by SVG plugin	>=1.7	libbatik-java
Rhino	Pure Java open source javascript engine, used by SVG plugin	>=1.7R	librhino-java
Apache FOP	Apache Formatting Objects Processor, used by SVG plugin	>=1.0	libfop-java
Xerces2	a library for parsing, validating and manipulating XML documents, used by SVG plugin (not needed when starting from dist, but needed when starting from eclipse??)	>=2.5.0	libxerces2-java
Apache XML Commons	common code and guidelines for xml projects, used by SVG plugin	>=1.4?	libxml-commons-external-java
InfoNode Docking Windows	Used for docking windows (>=1.3.x)	>=1.6.1	libidw-java
JMapViewer	Used by openmaps plugin (>=1.3.x)	>=1.02 (patch for 1.03 is included!) warning: jmapviewer>=1.04 requires Java7!	jmapviewer
Apache commons codec	Used to encode/decode view state (>=1.3.x)	>=1.7	libcommons-codec-java (currently at 1.8)

If you want to know the mapping between freeplane jars and jars in Debian packages, check out this patch.

The copyright of each (Linux-relevant) file in the srcpure tarball can be found here.

JSyntaxPane

• unfortunately, JSyntaxpane is no longer maintained upstream
• therefore, patches are in one of two places:
  • in Freeplane: freeplane_plugin_jsp/ (currently the LaTeX support)
  • as quilt patches in the Debian package
• In order to fix bugs in JSyntaxPane, add patches, create+upload the package and commit the jsyntaxpane.jar from the package to freeplane.git

Build-time dependencies

• all of the dependencies above are build-deps too
• junit, ant, jdk
• 1.3.x: jflex for compiling latex.flex (LaTeX syntax highlighting for JSyntaxPane)
  • LaTeXLexer.java must be built from latex.flex at package build time

Miscellaneous

• of course mac stuff can (and must) not be built
• freeplane_plugin_uispec4j/ can be ignored
• freeplane_plugin_help/ is no longer needed, can be ignored
• jortho.jar is built from JOrtho_0.4_freeplane/
• launch4j is Windows-only

Changes for 1.3.x

• Debian: require openjdk-7-jre as the only JRE (Depends:) because JMapViewer requires it anyway and jdk6 is not in jessie?
• launch4j => windows only
• latest JSyntaxPane (..r156) required (LaTeX syntax highlighting)
  • is ...r156 correctly pulled as a dependency (as opposed to r148!)????
• new plugin "Openmaps integration", new dependency JMapViewer
• new feature "Docking Windows", with new dependency IDW
• new command line option -U (include in man page!)
  • also mention latex in core, openmaps integration, workspace plugins in 1.3.x manpage
    • workspace plugin has been disabled for 1.3.x!!
  • bump up version in man-page!
• make sure that srcpure does not contain *.class, *.exe, *.dll, ...
• build LaTeXLexer.java before build target runs
• remove /etc/kde3/magic/freeplane.magic
• install a 48x48 icon (http://standards.freedesktop.org/icon-theme-spec/icon-theme-spec-latest.html)?
• how to fix 80_no_update_check.patch??
• fix http://lintian.debian.org/tags/menu-icon-uses-relative-path.html (freeplane package) (fixed in 1.2.23-2)

Changes for 1.4.x

• gradle build system
• three new dependencies for ribbons
• knopflerfish upgraded

Icons

Freeplane 1.2.x and 1.3.x come with a single icon for files + application (freeplane_framework/build/freeplane.{svg,png}), while Freeplane 1.4.x _might_ have two icons (like on Windows):

• for files / mime types: freeplane_framework/build/freeplane.{svg,png}
• for the application: freeplane_framework/build/freeplane_app.{svg,png}

Distro-specific information

See this search link for older packages.

Debian / Ubuntu

Current release for Debian/Ubuntu is 1.3.12, maintainer is Felix Natter <fnatter@gmx.net>. It's now in testing/"jessie". This is the release that will be in Debian jessie stable. See versions in Ubuntu.

The packaging source code is maintained in Git repos:

• http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=pkg-java/simplyhtml.git
• http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=pkg-java/freeplane.git

See the table on the top of the page for Debian git/svn packaging repos of some dependencies.

Mageia Linux

Current release is 1.3.11, maintainer is Hartmut Goebel <h.goebel@crazy-compilers.com>.

The packaging source code is available at:

• https://github.com/htgoebel/freeplane-mageia

Arch Linux

Current Release for Arch Linux is 1.3.12, maintainer is Leonidas Spyropoulos <artafinde at gmail dot com>

The package is available in AUR:

• https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/freeplane

The PKGBUILD is maintained at github:

• https://github.com/inglor/pkgbuild/tree/master/freeplane

Fedora

TODO: where is it?

OpenSuSE

see this link

Guidelines for adding/upgrading dependencies (Gradle, >= 1.4.x)

With the introduction of the gradle build system, most dependencies are downloaded from maven.org, you need to specify only name, group and version (search maven.org to get these information):

 'commons-io:commons-io:2.4'

However, not all dependencies are available via maven, so some dependencies need to be added to git (like SimplyHTML, IDW, JSyntaxPane, JMapViewer) => Therefore, we differentiate between maven and local dependencies:

Maven Dependencies

Example:

 'commons-io:commons-io:2.4'

• sources will automatically be downloaded and attached by gradle
• of course maven dependencies should be preferred over dependencies added to git

Local (git) dependencies

Example:

 // from flatDir "localGitDepsRepository":
 compile ':SimplyHTML-0.16.09'

(you might need to add directories to "localGitDepsRepository" in toplevel build.gradle)

• prefer a versioned release over a (git-) snapshot
• commit a versioned jar: <package>-<version>.jar
• make sure to add <package>-<version>-sources.jar (Eclipse source attachments are automatically picked up by the gradle build system if they match this naming pattern)
• use the flat file repository for source attachments to work (see existing libraries like SimplyHTML)

Common things to consider for all dependencies

Unfortunately, some linux distros like Debian/Ubuntu do not allow to simply download dependencies from maven at build time, so any dependency (maven or local git) need to be packaged separately => every new dependency means more work for package developers. Therefore, please discuss your intent to add a dependency on freeplane-developer.

• make sure that the dependency does not require a newer version of java than freeplane currently does (i.e. JMapViewer 1.05 would require Java7)
• prefer a library that is actively maintained
• document the exact upstream version and where it can be downloaded (usually in a commit message)