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Installation

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Irene Vagionakis edited this page May 11, 2026 · 42 revisions

  1. Ensure that you have Java 7 or 8 (sometimes referred to also as '1.7' and '1.8') and a Java Development Kit (JDK) on your machine, e.g. following these instructions for Windows (method 1 or 2) or these for MacOS (option 1), including the final step on javac.
    If not, download and install the JDK from http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk8-downloads-2133151.html. Of the many versions available, choose one compatible with your operating system (in most cases, the one labelled “x64 Installer” for Windows or “x64 DMG Installer” for MacOS).

  2. Get the EFES software: either download the ZIP from https://github.com/EpiDoc/EFES/archive/master.zip or clone from Github (or from your own fork of the repository) if you have an account already.

  3. If you downloaded the ZIP file, unzip it in a directory of your choosing (e.g. on your Desktop), changing the folder name from 'EFES-master' to 'EFES'. See below on including EpiDoc Stylesheets in your EFES install.

  4. Open up your Command prompt/Terminal:

    1. Windows: in the search box in the Start menu type: cmd
    2. GNU/Linux or MacOS: in the search box in the Menu bar on top type: terminal

  5. Start the EFES build process, navigating to your EFES folder (a) and then running a script that will start Jetty, a lightweight web server that is pre-configured to run all EFES components (b):

    1. Windows:

      1. navigate to your EFES folder typing the following command and then pressing Enter: cd Desktop\EFES
      2. type the following command and then press Enter: build.bat


    2. GNU/Linux or MacOS:

      1. navigate to your EFES folder typing the following command and then pressing Enter: cd Desktop/EFES
      2. type the following command and then press Enter: sh build.sh



At this point, many messages will appear in the Terminal, among which "Development server is running at http://127.0.0.1:9999/".

  1. Visit http://127.0.0.1:9999/ with your web browser. You’ll see a “Welcome to EFES” page (NB: be patient, since it can take dozens of seconds for server initialisation to complete)
  2. Congratulations! EFES is now all set up. You can start filling in your content. Remember to keep Jetty running on your Terminal/Command Line while working on EFES. To stop EFES: either type Ctrl+C in the Terminal or close it.
  3. In your file navigator navigate to /webapps/ROOT/content/xml/epidoc/. This is where you will put your EpiDoc XML files. When you first install EFES, this folder will contain several sample EpiDoc files to help you start off. (NB: to be able to see the files, you will need to create an RDF repository first)


To include the EpiDoc XSLT Stylesheets in your EFES instance:

  1. If you have cloned EFES using GitHub Desktop
    • Do nothing. The stylesheets will already have been cloned into webapps/ROOT/kiln/stylesheets/epidoc for you from the submodule
  2. If you have cloned EFES using Git from the commandline/terminal/bash:
    • Navigate into the EFES folder, and type the command git submodule update --init . This will clone the submodule for you as per (1) above.
  3. If you have downloaded a static version of EFES as a ZIP from Github:
    • Download the ZIP of the EpiDoc Stylesheers from https://github.com/EpiDoc/Stylesheets/, extract the ZIP archive into a new folder, and copy the contents of this folder into webapps/ROOT/kiln/stylesheets/epidoc in your EFES instance.

Troubleshooting

  • The command cd ... above will work only if the 'EFES' folder has been saved directly on your Desktop (and not, e.g., inside another folder on your Desktop); if the folder has been saved in a different position, in the command above replace "Desktop" with the actual path of the EFES folder.
  • If the Terminal returns error messages concerning authorisation problems, type the following command in the Terminal and then press Enter: chmod +x build.sh
  • If the Terminal returns error messages concerning Java, go back to step 1 and ensure that you have installed the correct Java/JDK version.
  • Sometimes to apply changes it is needed to emtpy the browser cache, or to stop and restart EFES from the Terminal.
  • To uninstall a different version of Java (e.g. 23):
    • Windows: https://www.java.com/en/download/help/uninstall_java.html
    • MacOS: in the Terminal type /usr/libexec/java_home -V and press Enter; copy the shown path; in the Terminal type sudo rm -rf followed by the previously shown path (e.g. sudo rm -rf /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk23.0.2.jdk or sudo rm -rf /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk23.0.2.jdk/Contents/Home) and press Enter; insert computer password when prompted and then press Enter again (even if nothing appears in the Terminal when typing the password)

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