How to run OpenKore

(Un)supported Linux distributions and operating systems

OpenKore is known to not work on some live CD distributions, because they do not ship enough software. Distributions on which OpenKore does not work include:

• Knoppix
• elxLinux

On the other hand, OpenKore is guaranteed to work on at least:

• Fedora
• Ubuntu
• FreeBSD
• MacOS X
• Solaris 8
• Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, 2003, XP, 2000

It also does work on 64bit linux systems, e.g. Arch 64.

Quick start

Guides in this section assume you have default OS installations.

Windows

• Run start.exe or wxstart.exe (starts with Wx GUI) or openkore.pl (requires perl interpreter.

OS X

Version 10.8.2

• Get Apple ID if you don't have one (only needed to download Command Line Tools for Xcode from Apple's own website).
• Become Apple developer (only needed to download Command Line Tools for Xcode from Apple's own website).
• Install Command Line Tools for Xcode.
• Install Homebrew. Run brew doctor etc if Homebrew asks for it and deal with it.
• Install readline by running brew install readline.
• Run openkore.pl.

Requirements

You must first make sure that you have several things installed before you can run OpenKore.

C/C++ compiler

---

You must have a C and C++ compiler installed (this is only required to compile XSTools). GCC is installed by default on many Linux distributions, but apparently some people install Linux without GCC.

To check whether you have a C++ compiler installed, open a terminal and type:

g++ -v

If you don't get an error, then you have a C++ compiler, and you can skip to the next paragraph. If not, read the table below.

OS/distribution	Instructions
Fedora/RHEL/CentOS	Open a terminal and type: su -c 'yum install gcc-c++'
Ubuntu	Open a terminal and type: sudo apt-get install build-essential g++
Debian	Open a terminal and type: su -c 'apt-get install build-essential g++'
(Open)Suse	Open a terminal and type: su -c 'yast -i gcc-c++'
Arch	On i686, open a terminal and type: su -c 'pacman -S base-devel' or, if you're on x86_64: su -c 'pacman -S multilib-devel'
Other Linux distributions	Look in your distribution's CD for packages called gcc, and gcc-c++ or g++.
MacOS X	Install Command Line Tools for Xcode Additional information: http://www.tech-recipes.com/mac_system_administration_tips726.html

Perl

---

You must have Perl 5.12 or newer installed (actually, 5.8.x may work, but kRO serverTypes and some other features won't work). Earlier versions might not be supported! To check whether you have Perl installed (and whether it is the correct version), type:

perl -v | grep perl

If you see the Perl version number, then it is installed. If you get an error, then it is not installed, and you should read the following table.

Thread support is needed for default interface to work (otherwise, use Console::Simple interface):

perl -V | grep threads

OS/distribution	Instructions
Fedora/RHEL/CentOS	Open a terminal and type: su -c 'yum install perl'
Ubuntu	Open a terminal and type: sudo apt-get install perl
Debian	Open a terminal and type: su -c 'apt-get install perl-base'
Arch	Open a terminal and type: su -c 'pacman -S perl'
Other Linux distributions	Download it from http://www.perl.org/
FreeBSD	Perl 5.8 probably comes in default installation. Otherwise, open a terminal and type: su -c 'pkg_add -r perl5.8'
MacOS X	Read http://developer.apple.com/internet/opensource/perl.html
Windows	Install Strawberry Perl 5.12 x32 or ActivePerl

Perl module: Time::HiRes

---

You need the Time::HiRes Perl module. You can check whether you already have it by typing

perl -e 'use Time::HiRes;'

If nothing happens, then it is installed, and you can skip to the next paragraph. If you get an error, then it is not installed, and you should read the following table.

OS/distribution	Instructions
Fedora/RHEL/CentOS	Open a terminal and type: su -c 'yum install perl-Time-HiRes'
Debian	Open a terminal and type: su -c 'apt-get install libtime-hires-perl'
FreeBSD	Open a terminal and type: su -c 'pkg_add -r p5-Time-HiRes'
Arch	Open a terminal and type: su -c 'pacman -S perl-time-hires'
Other operating systems or Linux distributions	Download the Time::HiRes source code from CPAN and compile and install it. If you have CPAN: cpan Time::HiRes
Windows with ActivePerl	Install via ppm.

Perl module: Compress::Zlib

---

You need the Compress::Zlib Perl module. You can check whether you already have it by typing

perl -e 'use Compress::Zlib;'

If nothing happens, then it is installed, and you can skip to the next paragraph. If you get an error, then it is not installed, and you should read the following table.

OS/distribution	Instructions
Ubuntu	Open a terminal and type: sudo apt-get install libcompress-zlib-perl
FreeBSD	Open a terminal and type: su -c 'pkg_add -r p5-Compress-Zlib'
Arch	Install perl-io-compress from the Arch User Repository.
Other operating systems or Linux distributions	Download the Compress::Zlib source code from CPAN and compile and install it. If you have CPAN: cpan Compress::Zlib
Windows with ActivePerl	Install via ppm.

GNU readline

---

• Required only for Console::Unix interface.
• Not required on Windows.
• Use --interface=Console::Simple, Console::Curses or Wx if readline isn't available.

GNU readline and its associated development package must be installed. You need at least version 5.0. To check whether you have a recent enough version of GNU readline, follow the following instructions:

1. Copy and past the following text into a text editor:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <readline/readline.h>
	#if !defined(RL_READLINE_VERSION)
     	 #error "You do not have the GNU readline development headers installed!"
	#elif RL_READLINE_VERSION < 0x0500
     	 #error "Your version of GNU readline is too old. Please install version 5.0 or higher."
#endif

Note. The file must end with an empty line

1. Save the file as readlinetest.c in your home folder.
2. Open a terminal and type:

gcc -c ~/readlinetest.c

If you do not see any output, then that means you have GNU readline correctly installed, and you can skip to the next paragraph. If you do see an error message, then read the following table.

OS/distribution	Instructions
Fedora/RHEL/CentOS	Open a terminal and type: su -c 'yum install readline-devel'
Debian / Ubuntu 12.04	Open a terminal and type: su -c 'apt-get install libreadline5-dev'
Ubuntu 14.04	Open a terminal and type: sudo apt-get install libreadline6-dev
Arch	Open a terminal and type: su -c 'pacman -S readline'
OS X	Install readline with brew: brew install readline
FreeBSD	...
Other operating systems or Linux distributions	You must compile readline and install readline from source.

1. Download the readline source code from the GNU FTP. You should download the latest version (at the time this page is written, the latest version is readline-5.1.tar.gz). Save the file to your home folder.
2. Open a terminal, and type:

tar xzvf readline-X.X.tar.gz && cd readline-X.X

Where X.X is the version of the file you downloaded/

1. Type:

./configure && make && su -c 'make install'

MacOS X note. Do not install Readline from Fink! That won't work.

Python

---

Python must be installed (this is only required to compile XSTools). To check whether you have it, type:

echo 'print "Python is installed"' | python

If you get the message "Python is installed", then Python is installed, and you can skip to the next paragraph. If Python is not installed, then read the following table.

OS/distribution	Instructions
Fedora/RHEL/CentOS	Open a terminal and type: su -c 'yum install python'
Ubuntu	Open a terminal and type: sudo apt-get install python
Debian	Open a terminal and type: su -c 'apt-get install python'
FreeBSD	Open a terminal and type su -c 'pkg_add -r python'
Arch	Open a terminal and type: su -c 'pacman -S python2'
MacOS X	Download Python here.
Windows	Necessary only if you need to recompile XSTools for some reason. Download Python here

Curl development libraries

---

The Curl development libraries are needed to compile OpenKore. To check whether you have it, type:

curl-config --version

If you get "command not found" as error message, you need to install libcurl:

OS/distribution	Instructions
Fedora/RHEL/CentOS	Open a terminal and type: su -c 'yum install curl-devel'
Ubuntu	First, search for the libcurl package using the package manager. Open a terminal and type: apt-cache search libcurl Then install the latest version with this command: sudo apt-get install libcurlx-dev Where 'x' is the version number as found by the 'apt-cache search' command.
Debian	First, search for the libcurl package using the package manager. Open a terminal and type: apt-cache search libcurl Then install the latest version with this command: su -c 'apt-get install libcurlx-dev' Where 'x' is the version number as found by the 'apt-cache search' command.
FreeBSD	Open a terminal and type: su -c 'pkg_add -r curl'
Arch	Open a terminal and type: su -c 'pacman -S curl'
Other operating systems or Linux distributions	Install libcurl from source by downloading it from the Curl homepage.

Perl module: Win32::Console

(only for Windows Console interface)

• ActivePerl: Install via ppm.
• Others: Install via your Perl's package manager or CPAN.

Running OpenKore

Download

---

First, download the OpenKore source code from github.com.

Extract

---

Extract the archives as instructed on the download page.

Run

---

Open a terminal. Go the OpenKore folder. Type:

perl ./openkore.pl

And you're done. OpenKore will automatically try to compile XSTools.so, an internally used library. If compilation fails, please check the Common problems. If you still cannot, report the error on our forum.

Command Line Arguments

--help

Display up to date information about command line arguments and exit.

Common problems

Missing headers

---

Common reason why compilation fails is because of missing headers. Look in the compilation messages. Do you see a message somewhere that looks like this?

foo.h: No such file or directory

If so, then that means you didn't install all the libraries that OpenKore needs! Please go through Preparation again.

hash_fun.h

---

In file included from src/auto/XSTools/utils/perl/Benchmark.xs:1: src/auto/XSTools/utils/perl/../dense_hash_map.h:93:66: error: ext/hash_fun.h: No such file or directory

Open src/auto/XSTools/utils/sparseconfig.h, find:

#define HASH_FUN_H <ext/hash_fun.h>

and replace with:

#define HASH_FUN_H <backward/hash_fun.h>

scons: *** SCons version 2.0.1 does not run under Python version 3.2.2.

---

Open the file called Makefile, and replace every

python 

with

python2

Leave everything else as is. Make sure you have any python-2.x installed if you encounter errors (3.0 is current).

scons: *** [src/auto/XSTools/utils/perl/Benchmark.os] Error 1

---

Open the file src/auto/XSTools/utils/densehashtable.h and look for

#include "sparseconfig.h"

After that, insert the following on a new line:

#include <stddef.h>

Openkore should compile now.

Precompiled binaries

On Windows, you can use precompiled binaries, which contain perl interpreter and all modules and libraries needed.