JOSM/Installation

JOSM installation is very simple. Let's just remind ourselves of the JOSM installation steps (as given in JOSM/Guide):

• Step 1: Download a jar file : josm-tested.jar
• Step 2: Double-click on the jar file
• Step 3: There is no step 3!

Don't like jar files? Click this java web-start link instead.

Barely an installation procedure at all! However this may not always work. This page gives more details about system requirements, links to help you understand how the JOSM application runs, how to set it up most effectively, and how to troubleshoot various installation problems.

Contents 1 Requirements 2 Download 3 Start JOSM 4 Per platform instructions 5 Troubleshooting 5.1 JOSM seems to start okay, but the window is blank

Requirements

In order to run JOSM on your computer you'll need:

• Java 1.6 or higher

(Often JAVA is already installed. If not, Install JAVA)

• 256 MB RAM or more
• a display resolution of 1024×768 or higher (800×600 won't be much fun)
• a graphic adapter with 2D acceleration turned on is recommended.

Download

Simply download the JOSM jar file, which can be found on the JOSM homepage or by clicking the following...

In the unlikely event, that the JOSM site is down, you can try to use one of the mirrors:

• http://www.ostertag.name/osm/josm
• http://svenanders.openstreetmap.de/josm
• http://www.openstreetmap.jp/mirrors/josm
• http://gis-lab.info/programs/josm

The choice between "tested" or "latest" may depend on whether you are keen to help with testing the latest features. josm-tested is a "stable" version of the application, meaning it has been baselined at a stable point of development. josm-latest is a version with all the latest features but also all the latest bugs. Working with josm-latest is helpful to the project (you can help report bugs and suggest features). Currently it can also be more trouble-free due to the way plugin versions are managed. Note that josm-tested will try to load the latest version of any plugins if you automatically install/upgrade them, and these may then complain about needing a later version of josm! At some point we hope to improve the release process for new plugins.

Start JOSM

The jar file needs to be passed to the Java 1.5 runtime. Usually you can just double click on the josm.jar file in GUI Operating Systems.(Windows, Mac OS X, some Linux distributions) If it doesn't work or if you need to set options, see How to run a Java application.

JOSM can need quite a lot of memory. Java's default maximum is fairly stingy. Set an option -Xmx256m to extend usable memory

Options to enable 2D graphic accelerators (ex. -Dsun.java2d.opengl=true ) are recommended.

Per platform instructions

JOSM is a java application. It can run anywhere where java can run, but there are peculiarities on various platforms and operating systems. We could create specific instructions on the following sub-pages.

• JOSM/Linux
• on FreeBSD JOSM is available at ports/astro/josm
• JOSM/Windows
• JOSM/Mac

For Ubuntu installation there is more information at the Ubuntu documentation's JOSM page.

For running JOSM from a flash disk:

• JOSM/HOWTO/Run from flash disk with Java

Troubleshooting

JOSM seems to start okay, but the window is blank

If you have the fancy, compiz/beryl graphics stuff enabled, then this may happen. The solution is simple, add the following line to the user profile:

export AWT_TOOLKIT="MToolkit"

or put this in the "Run Application" dialog:

compiz --replace && export AWT_TOOLKIT=MToolkit

---

This also happens under tiling window managers such as ratpoison and stumpwm with Java 1.5 and 1.6 VMs (no problem with IcedTea/Java 1.7). It seems like josm demands to adjust its geometry in a certain way and when it can't panics.

• This workaround is not needed for OpenJDK 1.6 with StumpWM git as of 2009-02-28.

A workaround is either to launch JOSM under Xnest, or in a separate X server. To start ising Xnest:

Xnest :1 -ac -geometry 1280x1024
DISPLAY=:1 java -jar josm-latest.jar

You may also need a window manager, this example uses fluxbox:

Xnest :1 -ac -geometry 1280x1024
fluxbox -display :1
DISPLAY=:1 java -Xmx1024m -jar josm-custom.jar

Similarly, to launch under Xephyr (an alternative to Xnest):

Xephyr :1 -ac -screen 1280x1024
DISPLAY=:1 java -Xmx1024m -jar josm-latest.jar

One could also export the AWT_TOOLKIT variable above but that doesn't seem to work for certain things, e.g. the download dialog is zero-sized.

To use another instance of the X server (a dedicated $DISPLAY for josm):

X :1
fluxbox -display :1
DISPLAY=:1 java -Xmx1024m -jar josm-latest.jar

Now you can switch between displays using Ctrl+Alt+F7 and Ctrl+Alt+F8.