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 2000, XP, 2003

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. 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.

• 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 g++'

• (Open)Suse

   Open a terminal and type:
   su -c 'yast -i gcc-c++'

• Other Linux distributions

   Look in your distribution's CD for packages called gcc, and gcc-c++ or g++.

• MacOS X

   Read http://www.tech-recipes.com/mac_system_administration_tips726.html

Perl

You must have Perl 5.8.2 or newer installed. 5.8.1 or earlier are not 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.

• 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'

• Other Linux distributions

   Download it from http://www.perl.org/

• FreeBSD

   Open a terminal and type:
   cd /usr/ports/lang/perl5.8
   su -c 'make install'

• MacOS X

   Read http://developer.apple.com/internet/opensource/perl.html

• Windows

   Install 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:

cd /usr/ports/devel/p5-Time-HiRes su -c 'make install'

Other operating systems or Linux distributions Download the Time::HiRes source code from CPAN and compile and install it.

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:

cd /usr/ports/archivers/p5-Compress-Zlib su -c 'make install'

Other operating systems or Linux distributions Download the Compress::Zlib source code from CPAN and compile and install it.

GNU readline

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 that the file must end with an empty line)
  2. Save the file as readlinetest.c in your home folder.
  3. 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'

Ubuntu Open a terminal and type:

sudo apt-get install libreadline5-dev

Debian Open a terminal and type:

su -c 'apt-get install libreadline5-dev'

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)
  3. Type:

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

MacOS X note: do not install Readline from Fink! That won't work. FreeBSD Open a terminal and type:

cd /usr/ports/devel/readline su -c 'make install'

Python

Python must be installed. 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

cd /usr/ports/lang/python su -c 'make install'

MacOS X 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:

cd /usr/ports/ftp/curl su -c 'make install'

Other operating systems or Linux distributions Install libcurl from source by downloading it from the Curl homepage.

Running OpenKore

Download

First, download the OpenKore source code. You may also want to download the default configuration/table files and the field pack if you haven't done so already.

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 options

--control=PATHS

Directories with control files, delimited with ";"

--tables=PATHS

Directories with table files, delimited with ";"

--plugins=PATHS

Directories with plugins, delimited with ";"

--fields=PATH

Directory with field files

--logs=PATH

Directory where logs will be saved

--config=FILENAME

--mon_control=FILENAME

--items_control=FILENAME

--shop=FILENAME

--sys=FILENAME

Location of different control files

--char-log=FILENAME

--storage-log=FILENAME

Location of different log files

--interface=INTERFACE

See Category:Interfaces

--lockdown

Disable potentially insecure features

--no-connect

Initialize OpenKore, but do not connect to any servers

--help

Display help for command line options

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:

1. define HASH_FUN_H <ext/hash_fun.h>

and replace with:

1. define HASH_FUN_H <backward/hash_fun.h>

Precompiled binaries

On Windows, you can use start.exe, which contains perl interpreter and modules.