Moksa RootHow To Get, Install, and Run Moksa

Step 1. Get a Java Virtual Machine

Moksa is written in Java. Therefore, you must have a Java Virtual Machine installed on your machine before you can run Moksa.

Political Aside

There are many Java Virtual Machines (JVM's) on the Internet. However, please don't use Microsoft's JVM. Java is a very cool language, and Microsoft is doing everything they can to destroy it (it's a threat to their monopoly of the operating system market).

Note that Moksa is not guaranteed to work on Microsoft's JVM, but it is guaranteed to work on any Java 1.2-compliant JVM, as specified by Sun/Javasoft

If you need a JVM, go to the JDK 1.2 Home Page. It's free!. All you need to run Moksa is the runtime environment. To modify Moksa's source, you'll need the full JDK 1.2. Java environments are available on a wide range of platforms, although Java is supported best on Solaris and Win32 (Microsoft Windows platforms).

Moksa currently requires JDK1.2 (now known as the Java 2 Platform, version 1.2 -- just to consume consumers, I'm sure), or higher. This may change. Mail me if you have comments on this.

Step 2. Download the Moksa Distribution

(In the following, I have removed file sizes. Things were changing too often to update them. File sizes will return when Moksa changes less frequently)

Once you have a JVM, you can install Moksa. You can download Moksa here:

  1. Moksa Full Distribution -- This includes binaries, source code, docs, and some meager samples

Step 3. Install Moksa

First you need to unzip the distribution. You will need a Zip utility which can deal with long filenames, such as InfoZip (which I use), or WinZip (if you must). Warning: Early versions (2.04g and earlier) of PKUnzip will not work, as they truncate filenames. It appears that they have newer versions these days (they're at www.pkware.com, if you care) that handle long file names, etc, but I've not tried them.

Here is how you'd use InfoZip to unzip the package

C:> unzip moksa.zip

Step 4 (Optional): edit CLASSPATH

After you've unzipped the Zip file, you can edit your CLASSPATH to include the distribution JAR file.

For example, if you've extracted the Zip file to your 'c:\moksa' directory, you could edit your CLASSPATH thusly (You might want to put this in your system startup file, or wherever your JVM has you editing your CLASSPATH (in NT it's found in System Properties, I think)):

C:\> set CLASSPATH=%CLASSPATH%;c:\moksa\moksa.jar

Step 5. Run Moksa

(Note that the following instructions assume that you're running a Micro$oft operating system. Unix, Mac, and other users can run Moksa also, with minor variations on the notes below. Mail me if you have any questions or problems working with Moksa)

Using MoksaProlog: the Moksa Prolog interpreter

To make sure that Moksa installed properly on your system, type:

C:\moksa> java -jar moksa.jar testInstall.prolog

You can type this for help:

C:\moksa> java -jar moksa.jar -help

If you've placed 'moksa.jar' in your CLASSPATH, you invoke Moksa like this:

C:\moksa> java com.svincent.moksa.MoksaProlog -help

Using Prologc: the Moksa Prolog compiler

There is a rudimentary compiler shipped with Moksa which compiles Prolog source files into Java classes. It can generate Java source, for your own edification and amusement, or generate bytecodes directly.

To use, go to the directory where the source file is (currently necessary, unfortunately), and type something like:

C:\moksa> java com.svincent.moksa.Prologc myPrologSource.prolog

To learn more about Prologc, you can type:

C:\moksa> java com.svincent.moksa.Prologc -help

Step 5. Enjoy!

Sorry the documentation's so scarce right now. I'm just trying to stick it out on the Net quickly, and my tech writer hasn't come on-line yet.

Moksa can be found at http://www.svincent.com/moksa/

Comments, criticisms, carefully crafted cacophonies? Mail me.

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