Installation

JabRef itself can be either installed using the installer or just running the portable version. You get these files from http://downloads.jabref.org/.

On Windows, the installer automatically downloads the OracleJDK (i.e. Java). You can also install it manually as described here.

Places do download JabRef

Official Download Mirrors

Other mirrors NOT updated/maintained by JabRef team

Installation Commands

JabRef 5.x

JabRef 5.x is shipped with a lightweight Java runtime environment that includes only the Java dependencies JabRef uses. There are two major ways of obtaining JabRef for your platform.

Using Prebuilt Binaries

For stable versions, head to https://downloads.jabref.org, choose the installer and run it. On Windows, you can use the chocolatey package manager and execute choco install jabref to get the latest version. On Ubuntu, you can use snap install jabref to get the latest stable version from snapcraft.

In case, you want to take advantage of the latest features, you can use pre-built binaries crafted from the latest development branch.

To use the prebuilt binaries, visit http://builds.jabref.org/master/ and download the packaged binaries (e.g., dmg files for MacOS and exe files for Windows), run them and follow the instructions. We also provide generic archive files (e.g., tar.gz files for Linux and MacOS, and zip files for Windows) which can be downloaded and extracted. Inside the archive files you will find a bin subdirectory which contains the binary needed to run JabRef (i.e., JabRefMain for Linux and MacOS, and JabRefMain.bat for Windows).

Building From Source

This method is mainly for package maintainers and users who would like to build the latest snapshots of JabRef directly from the source. If you want to setup JabRef for development, follow the instructions for Setting up a workspace

To build JabRef from source, you first need to have a working Java Development Kit 13 (JDK 13) and Git installed on your system. After installing the two requirements, you open a terminal window (i.e., a command prompt) and type the following:

git clone --depth=10 https://github.com/JabRef/jabref
cd jabref
./gradlew assemble
./gradlew jlink

In a nutshell, you clone the latest snapshot of JabRef into jabref directory, change directory to jabref, initialize and update all the submodules (dependencies) of JabRef, assemble them to be built via JDK 13, and finally build and link them together.

The output should be the build/image subdirectory that contains the JabRef binary with all of its Java dependencies. To start JabRef, you need to run bin/JabRefMain (in Linux and MacOS) or bin/JabRefMain.bat (in Windows) under build/image subdirectory.

JabRef 4.x

JabRef 4.x requires JRE 8 (and does not run at JRE 9 onwoards)

JavaFX is not included in every Java runtime environment or development kit. Therefore, we highly recommend to use Oracle Java 8. JavaFX is included since Java 1.8.0_60. The other official support for JavaFX is OpenJDK with the external library OpenJFX. Unfortunately, the installation is not always straight forward. Therefore, we only recommend this if you know what you are doing. In case you want to use OpenJDK with OpenJFX in general you should follow this instructions. For Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, 18.04 LTS and 20.04 LTS head to the section Installation Commands.

Verify Java Installation

In case you already have a Java version installed - or you closely followed the steps below, you can check your Java version by typing the following command into your command line interface:

java -version

It is possible having multiple Java versions at the same time. On debian based Linux distributions set your preferred Java version using the following command:

sudo update-alternatives --config java

and choose it by typing the number matching the Java version.

Your Java version should look like this, depending on your operating system and JDK/JRE:

Oracle Java 32-Bit:

Java version "1.8.0_x"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.x)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client  VM (build 25.x, mixed mode)

Oracle Java 64-Bit:

Java version "1.8.0_x"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.x)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.x, mixed mode)

OpenJDK 32-Bit:

OpenJDK version "1.8.0_x"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_x)
OpenJDK Client VM (build 25.x, mixed mode)

OpenJDK 64-Bit:

OpenJDK version "1.8.0_x"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_x)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.x, mixed mode)

If this does not report to be a product from Oracle (for instance tells you that it is a GCJ VM) even if you have installed the Oracle JVM then you need to change your setup. In the following, the installation is documented for Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, CentOS, Windows, and MacOSX.

Ubuntu and Oracle Java

This applies for both 32bit and 64bit and both Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, 16.04 LTS, 18.04 LTS and 20.04 LTS.

Install Oracle JDK:

  1. Download the Linux files (e.g. Linux_X64) from https://java.com/en/download/linux_manual.jsp

  2. Unpack the archive

    Note: You can already start JabRef now. Just enter into terminal: "/home/USER/Downloads/jre-8u251-linux-x64/jre1.8.0_251/bin/java -jar /home/USER/Downloads/JabRef-4.3.1.jar" (The path has to match your folder structure)

  3. Register your JRE system-wide

  4. Move the java folder to your preferred location (e.g. /usr/java). The folder structure should look like "/usr/java/jre1.80_251/bin"

  5. Edit "bashrc" with: sudo gedit ~/.bashrc

  6. Insert the following lines and save the file (adjust JAVA_HOME if neccessary):

    export JAVA_HOME=/usr/java/jre1.80_251 export PATH=${PATH}:${JAVA_HOME}/bin

  7. Log out and in to your system

  8. Verify your java version (see above): java -version

  9. Start JabRef with: java -jar Path/to/JabRef.jar

Have a look for further instructions.

Ubuntu and OpenJDK

Just install JavaFX by executing sudo apt-get install openjfx.

For Ubuntu 18.04 and newer, openjfx uses the Java version 11 which is currently not supported by JabRef. Hence, use an older version (does not work with Ubuntu 20.04 anymore):

  1. If you accidently installed the new version, remove it with sudo apt purge openjfx.

  2. Install an older version with sudo apt install openjfx=8u161-b12-1ubuntu2 libopenjfx-jni=8u161-b12-1ubuntu2 libopenjfx-java=8u161-b12-1ubuntu2.

  3. To prevent the software updater from installing the newer not supported version, mark it to be not updated with sudo apt-mark hold openjfx libopenjfx-jni libopenjfx-java.

This also works for Linux Mint 19.1 Tessa which is based on Ubuntu 18.04.

Debian Jessie 8 and Oracle Java

Using the ppa

  1. Add repository: sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/webupd8team/java/ubuntu trusty main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list'

  2. Add GPG key: sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys EEA14886

  3. Update package list: sudo apt-get update

  4. Install: sudo apt-get install oracle-java8-installer

Based on: http://tecadmin.net/install-java-8-on-debian/

Directly from Oracle

  1. Download tag.gz-file from the Java SE Development Kit 8 Downloads site

  2. Navigate to the folder where you downloaded the tar.gz-file

  3. Create package with make-jpkg jdk-[Version]-linux-x64.tar.gz including the most recent Java version instead of[Version]

  4. Get root access with su

  5. Install with dpkg -i oracle-java8-jdk_[Version].deb

Fedora 23 and Oracle Java

  1. Download rpm-file from the Java SE Development Kit 8 Downloads site

  2. Navigate to the folder where you downloaded the rpm-file

  3. Install: rpm -ivh jdk-8u101-linux-x64.rpm

  4. Upgrade: rpm -Uvh jdk-8u101-linux-x64.rpm

  5. Set alternatives: alternatives --config java (choose Oracle version)

Recent JabRef builds are available at https://build.opensuse.org/package/show/home:cornell_vrdc/jabref3.

Fedora and OpenJDK

  1. Install OpenJDK: sudo dnf install java-1.8.0-openjdk

  2. Install JavaFX (actually OpenJFX): sudo dnf install openjfx java-1.8.0-openjdk-openjfx

  3. Download the JabRef-[version].jar from the JabRef Website.

  4. In the folder of the jar-file run java -jar JabRef-[version].jar

Warning: To install JavaFX, it is not sufficient to just install the openjfx package. Warning: There is a bug in openjfx in Fedora 29. JabRef versions newer than 4.3.1 will not work with OpenJDK and Fedora 29 until this is fixed. See also issue 4473.

CentOS 6 or 7 and Oracle Java

  1. Download rpm-file from the Java SE Development Kit 8 Downloads site

  2. Install with sudo yum localinstall jre-[Version]-linux-[BIT].rpm include the most recent Java version for [Version] and i586 or x64 for [BIT] depending on your OS version

openSUSE

The necessary Java packages can be installed via "1-click installs":

  1. OpenJDK

  2. java-openjfx

Arch and Manjaro

Two packages are available in the Arch User Repository (AUR):

  1. jabref: The current release

  2. jabref-latest: The latest version from the GitHub master branch

Both packages install precompiled jar files and add a command and a .desktop file to the OS.

Windows and Oracle Java

The "modern" way:

  1. Install chocolatey by following the steps described at https://chocolatey.org/install

  2. Execute choco install jre8

At any time, you can update to the latest Java runtime environment by executing choco upgrade all.

The "old" way:

  1. Download exe file from the Java SE Development Kit 8 Downloads site

  2. Run installation wizzard

Mac OS and Oracle Java

  1. Download dmg-file from the Java SE Development Kit 8 Downloads site

  2. Run installation wizzard

Troubleshooting

See the FAQs.

Freezes when running JabRef

Some users with macOS Sierra have reported freezes when using JabRef. Apparently, adding a host mapping for 127.0.0.1 seems to solve these issues.

Random freezes have also been reported on several Linux distributions. It seems that the GTKLookAndFeel is causing these problems and selecting a different look and feel class under Options -> Appearance -> Look and Feel solves the problem.

JabRef and OpenOffice/LibreOffice integration

The connection from JabRef to Libre Office requires some office related jar-archives to be present. The Windows installer for OpenOffice/LibreOffice automatically installs the required libraries. For Linux you have to install the package libreoffice-java-common.

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