On Linux, installation is similar. The archive file containing the All-in-One package is a standard Linux tarball file. One recommendation for the Linux installers is to use Sun's Java instead of the GNU Java. The GNU Java is compliant to an older specification of Java than BIRT requires, and some features will not work correctly under Linux. Installing Sun Java under Linux can vary based on the distribution of Linux one uses and the distributor's views of the Sun license for Java. I have chronicled my experiences getting Sun Java to work under Ubuntu Linux (a free desktop-based distribution of Linux based on Debian) as well as CentOS (a free alternative to Red Hats Enterprise Linux) on my blog.

Also, based on the version of BIRT we run, we will need one of two different Java versions. For BIRT versions prior to 2.2, we will need Java 1.4, and for 2.2 and later, we will need Java 1.5. This is the same for Windows or any Unix-like operating system.

Once installed, we will extract the BIRT All-in-One archive to our target location. This will vary based on file management philosophy implied and the purpose of the system in question. For example, on a multiuser desktop system, we may choose to extract this archive to the /home/yourUserName folder so that no one except for the logged in user can have access to BIRT. If we wish to set this up on a single user desktop or set it up for multiple users, we may set this up under the /, /usr, /usr/local, or some other dedicated folder location.