Lucene Build Instructions

Basic steps:

Install OpenJDK 11 (or greater), Ant 1.8.2+, Ivy 2.2.0
Download Lucene from Apache and unpack it
Connect to the top-level of your Lucene installation
Install JavaCC (optional)
Run ant

Step 0) Set up your development environment (OpenJDK 11 or greater, Ant 1.8.2+, Ivy 2.2.0)

We‘ll assume that you know how to get and set up the JDK - if you don’t, then we suggest starting at https://www.oracle.com/java/ and learning more about Java, before returning to this README. Lucene runs with Java 11 and later.

Like many Open Source java projects, Lucene uses Apache Ant for build control. Specifically, you MUST use Ant version 1.8.2+.

Ant is “kind of like make without make's wrinkles”. Ant is implemented in java and uses XML-based configuration files. You can get it at:

https://ant.apache.org

You'll need to download the Ant binary distribution. Install it according to the instructions at:

https://ant.apache.org/manual

Finally, you'll need to install ivy into your ant lib folder (~/.ant/lib). You can get it from http://ant.apache.org/ivy/. If you skip this step, the Lucene build system will offer to do it for you.

Step 1) Download Lucene from Apache

We‘ll assume you already did this, or you wouldn’t be reading this file. However, you might have received this file by some alternate route, or you might have an incomplete copy of the Lucene, so: Lucene releases are available for download at:

https://www.apache.org/dyn/closer.cgi/lucene/java/

Download either a zip or a tarred/gzipped version of the archive, and uncompress it into a directory of your choice.

Step 2) From the command line, change (cd) into the top-level directory of your Lucene installation

Lucene's top-level directory contains the build.xml file. By default, you do not need to change any of the settings in this file, but you do need to run ant from this location so it knows where to find build.xml.

If you would like to change settings you can do so by creating one or more of the following files and placing your own property settings in there:

~/lucene.build.properties
~/build.properties
lucene-x.y/build.properties

The first property which is found in the order with which the files are loaded becomes the property setting which is used by the Ant build system.

NOTE: the ~ character represents your user account home directory.

Step 4) Run ant

Assuming you have ant in your PATH and have set ANT_HOME to the location of your ant installation, typing “ant” at the shell prompt and command prompt should run ant. Ant will by default look for the “build.xml” file in your current directory, and compile Lucene.

If you want to build the documentation, type “ant documentation”.

For further information on Lucene, go to:

https://lucene.apache.org/

Please join the Lucene-User mailing list by visiting this site:

https://lucene.apache.org/core/discussion.html

Please post suggestions, questions, corrections or additions to this document to the lucene-user mailing list.

This file was originally written by Steven J. Owens puff@darksleep.com. This file was modified by Jon S. Stevens jon@latchkey.com.