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Installation

This guide shows you how to install and set up Validate on your system.

The fastest way to get started:

  1. Download and unpack the package
  2. Run Validate:
% validate-4.0.8/bin/validate --help

If that doesn't work, check the System Requirements. To make Validate available from anywhere on your system, see Configuring the Environment.

Download Validate from GitHub (available as .zip or .tar.gz).

Where to install:

  • Unix/Linux/Mac: /usr/local is typical
  • Windows: C:\Program Files is typical

Unpack the file:

% unzip validate-4.0.8-bin.zip
# or
% tar -xzvf validate-4.0.8-bin.tar.gz

Note: If tar fails with path length errors, use GNU tar or the .zip file instead.

This creates a validate-4.0.8 directory containing:

  • README.txt - Getting started guide
  • LICENSE.txt - Software license (TSPA - publicly available for anyone to use)
  • bin/ - Scripts to run Validate
  • doc/ - Full documentation (open index.html in a browser)
  • lib/ - Java JAR files
  • resources/ - Registered context products list from PDS

If Validate doesn't run right away, check these requirements:

Requirements:

  • Java 17 or higher (tested with OpenJDK 21.0.8)
  • Must be 64-bit Java (not 32-bit)

Check your Java version:

% which java
/usr/bin/java

% java -version
openjdk 21.0.8 2025-07-15
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 21.0.8)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 21.0.8, mixed mode, sharing)

Look for 64-Bit Server VM in the output. If you don't see it, you need 64-bit Java.

Windows users: The default Java installer on Windows installs 32-bit Java. If you get heap size errors, you need to install 64-bit Java.

If Java isn't installed or is the wrong version, download it from https://openjdk.java.net/install/.

To run Validate from any directory, add it to your system PATH:

Add Validate to your PATH:

For Bash (add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_profile):

export PATH=${PATH}:/usr/local/validate-4.0.8/bin

For C-Shell (add to ~/.cshrc):

set "PATH=${PATH}:/usr/local/validate-4.0.8/bin"

Optional: Set JAVA_HOME

If Validate can't find Java, set JAVA_HOME:

For Bash:

export JAVA_HOME=/path/to/java/home

For C-Shell:

set JAVA_HOME=/usr

The JAVA_HOME path should contain a bin subdirectory with the java executable.

Add Validate to your PATH:

From the command prompt:

C:\> set Path=%Path%;C:\Program Files${project.artifactId}-4.0.8\bin

Set JAVA_HOME:

C:\> set JAVA_HOME=C:\Program Files\Java\jdk-21.0.8

The JAVA_HOME path should contain a bin subdirectory with java.exe.

For permanent environment variables, see Windows System Properties.

If the startup scripts can't auto-detect the installation directory, you can manually set it:

For Unix/Linux/Mac scripts: Replace the auto-detection code:

SCRIPT_DIR=`dirname $0`
PARENT_DIR=`cd ${SCRIPT_DIR}/.. && pwd`

with a hardcoded path:

PARENT_DIR=/usr/local/validate-4.0.8

For Windows batch files: Replace:

set SCRIPT_DIR=%~dps0
set PARENT_DIR=%SCRIPT_DIR%..

with:

set PARENT_DIR=C:\Program Files${project.artifactId}-4.0.8

Test that Validate is working:

% validate

Type 'validate -h' for usage

If you see this message, you're all set!