For a better solution, what I did was this:
I extract the tarball into $HOME/forge-<version> (so for the most recent beta it was /home/demonnic/forge-1.5.4 ).
Then I create a symlink called 'forge' in my home directory to the latest version of the program:
- Code: Select all
rm $HOME/forge
ln -s $HOME/forge-1.5.4 $HOME/forge
I also made a modified version of their launcher script and placed it in my home directory, called forge.sh
- Code: Select all
#!/bin/sh
cd $HOME/forge
java -Xmx1024m -jar `ls forge-*-jar-with-dependencies.jar`
If your java 7 executable is in a different place, just specify it on the third line instead of using just 'java'. For example, my actual line looks like this:
- Code: Select all
$HOME/jdk1.7.0_40/bin/java -Xmx1024m -jar `ls forge-*-jar-with-dependencies.jar`
since I keep both java6 and java7 installed and my system defaults to 6.
make the script executable
- Code: Select all
chmod +x $HOME/forge.sh
And finally, create a launcher on your desktop by right-clicking on the desktop and choosing "Create Launcher" I believe it is, but their should be something similar in the right click menu of that's not correct. I'm not using unity for my window manager any more, as I'm not a huge fan.
Regardless, in the dialog for creating the launcher there'll be a section to fill out for the command to run. Use this:
- Code: Select all
$HOME/forge.sh
Once you save the launcher, you should be able to just double click it to launch forge. When a new version comes out, just extract it to $HOME/forge-<version> and do the linking step above with the new directory, and the launcher will start launching the new version.
It's not the most elegant solution (I've considered writing a short 'installer' script which would handle most of this for you), but in the long run I find it makes updating my version of forge easy and with a minimal amount of maintenance or fussing around to start it.
I'll be happy to answer any questions you have about the process.