Installation

About WordNet » Frequently Asked Questions » Installation

Q. (Windows) When I run the installer for WordNet, I get the installation program for another, unrelated program.

A. This is a problem with InstallShield, we think. For now, the workaround is to move the installer WordNet-2.1.exe into an empty folder and try again.

Q. (Non-Windows) While running make install, I get an error when installing the HTML documentation.

A. The error should be similar to the following:

/bin/install: `wnutil.3WN.html' and `/usr/local/WordNet-3.0/doc/html/wnutil.3WN.html' are the same file make[3]: *** [install-htmlDATA] Error 1
make[3]: Leaving directory `/usr/local/WordNet-3.0/doc/html
make[2]: *** [install-am] Error 2
make[2]: Leaving directory `/usr/local/WordNet-3.0/doc/html'
make[1]: *** [install-recursive] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/local/WordNet-3.0/doc'
make: *** [install-recursive] Error 1

The build process is intended to be run from a temporary directory which is different from the directory to which WordNet will be installed. So, don't extract WordNet-3.0.tar.bz2 to /usr/local/WordNet-3.0 if you intend to install it to the default location. Instead, extract it to a temporary location (e.g. your home directory). Once WordNet is installed successfully, you can remove the directory.

Q. (Linux) WordNet gives me shared libraries errors.

A. If you receive the error :

wishwn: error while loading shared libraries: libtk.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

you need to create some symbolic links- some Linux distributions no longer have the links for backward compatibility that are necessary for running WordNet. You need to set up the appropriate links. The commands will be similiar to:

cd /usr/lib
ln -s libtk.so libtk.so.0
ln -s libtcl.so libtcl.so.0

Note that the first argument to each ln command may require a version number. (e.g. ln -s libtk84.so libtk.so.0)

Q. (Windows) I installed to a non-default location, and get error messages.

A. For the browser to function properly, it must know where you installed WordNet. The installer is supposed to set up some environment variables which tell the browser where to find the WordNet files. If these variables are not set properly, it will by default try: %PROGRAM%\WordNet\(version) (where %PROGRAM% is C:\Program Files on U.S. English systems.) The variables that need to be set are (assuming you install to D:\Other\WordNet)

WNHOME = D:\Other\WordNet
WNSEARCHDIR = D:\Other\WordNet\dict

Q. (non-Windows) I installed to a non-default location, and get error messages.

A. You may need to set your PATH variable to include WordNet's /bin directory. (also see: (I installed to a non-default location, and get error messages.) and (How do I set an environment variable?))