[solved - sort of]:Re: Anyone running IBM SPSS Statistical software on FreeBSD?

[R Skinner]

Well I have good news, and bad news. After several days of pulling this 
apart to make it work, I have some results.

Good news is the linux version could (in theory) be made to work on 
FreeBSD - possibly even natively, as it uses java and python as far as I 
can see. With some work (and intense hacking) I believe it could be 
possible.

Bad news is IBM couldn't really give a shit. Even their supposedly 
"supported" linux version (with the exception of probably their own) 
they couldn't give a straight answer to save their life. It was use the 
installer as is or take a hike.

The installer is some ridiculous software to make a linux installation 
like a a windows install (why?). It runs java, and requires the genuine 
oracle java version. The packaged version is 64 bit, not 32 though, so 
it will never work. Use the script to get the environment variables, it 
will store that in a few places (and do the same job several times 
over). One file you need is env.properties, the other is temp.lax 
(installer property file). So this is the cmd line you're after:

$actvm $options $lax_nl_java_launcher_main_class $propfname 
$envPropertiesFile $cmdLineArgs

Where $actvm is the oracle java, $options is '-cp $CLASSPATH' which 
would be just what is in the install dir, $lax_nl_launcher_main_class is 
found in the properties files, $propfname is the temp.lax, 
$envPropertiesFile is the env.properties; there are no command arguments 
that I'm aware of - as far as IBM is too. Could be a silent version (no 
gui) but there is no way to really know without some serious looking 
through 3k+ lines of script. You also want to ensure that LANG=C and 
java home is set correctly before running.

Having done that, the main piece of code you want is under disc1, which 
is a zip file. Inside that you will find a tar.gz that is what you 
really want as that is the actually app. The rest just sets up env and 
other stuff.

Incidentally, it appears IBM has hardwired the java version in the 
script so that it can't be overridden by a preinstalled version - same 
with python in the java installer too (why?).

And that is as far as I got. I ran out of time and steam to get this to 
go, but I did get the installer working up to the point where it started 
a script to install the app.

Hope that helps someone else down the track :)

Now I might just use the linux version under VBox or wine it.


On 07/19/14 11:49, Sam Fourman Jr. wrote:
> A few years back, I ran the windows version under wine and it worked fine.
>
>
> On Fri, Jul 18, 2014 at 8:41 PM, R Skinner 
> <rocky at herveybayaustralia.com.au 
> <mailto:rocky at herveybayaustralia.com.au>> wrote:
>
>     The joys of study....
>
>     I'm in a course that requires the use of this IBM statistics
>     software (SPSS), and hooray for IBM - finally someone who gets the
>     real world of computing in this day and age! :-D - they have a
>     linux version. About time the course providers got it through
>     their heads that Winblows is on the way out...
>
>     Anyway, the specs require linux 2.6.18 and GCC 4.3 and libc++ -
>     basically what I think might possibly run on FreeBSD (IBM seems to
>     think so too). Just wondering about any real world use though? Any
>     hiccups or problems?
>
>     Cheers
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>
>
>
> -- 
>
> Sam Fourman Jr.