Thoth is an all-Java software implementation. There are no software dependencies on other astronomical packages or libraries. However, you will need to have a recent version of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) installed on your machine. This version of Thoth was compiled with javac 1.8.0_333-b02. Thoth can be run with a higher Java version because of Java's forward compatibility.

ATTENTION: This version of Thoth now requires Java 1.8.0_333-b02 or higher to run properly. Built the Thoth.jar file on a MacBook Pro laptop under macOS Big Sur, Version 11.7.4 using apache-ant-1.9.16 and JDK 1.8.0_333. The Thoth.jar file is platform-independent, of course, and can be run on any computer with available Java 1.8.0_333-b02 or higher, such as Windows, Macs, Linux, etc.

To use Thoth, you will need to set up a default database connection. To do this, you need to download the following files and then copy them to your home directory (which is a location that is looked up by the software and commonly denoted as ~/ on non-Windows machines):

thoth.run.properties

thoth.query.deliveries.properties
thoth.query.exposures.properties
thoth.query.jobs.properties
thoth.query.nights.properties
thoth.query.procimages.properties
thoth.query.rawimages.properties
thoth.query.sdqa.properties
thoth.query.versions.properties

These are plain-text files, which you can edit as needed (more on that below). The first file gives an example of how to connect to four different databases. If the first file is to contain passwords, then file permissions must be set so that only the user can view its contents. The database connections are numbered in the first file for differentiation. The second set of files (thoth.query.*.properties) contain canned database queries organized under different names (denoted by the wildcard character *). The names can be changed to those that make sense to the user. The idea behind the second set of files is that users will want to create a similar set containing commonly-used queries for all of their own databases.

The first time Thoth is executed, it will create a hidden directory in the user's home directory, called ".Thoth". Once this has been done, the user may choose to move thoth.run.properties and thoth.query.*.properties to ~/.Thoth as a means of decluttering ~/. Note that upon start up of a new Thoth session, the aforementioned properties files are, by default, loaded from the user's ~/.Thoth hidden directory. Thoth also makes, by default, a database connection to ~/.Thoth/thoth.db (a SQLite scratch database created by Thoth, the purpose of which is discussed in the software documention), which is a connection that does not need to be listed in the thoth.run.properties file.

The thoth.run.properties file contains database-connection settings. You need to know the name of the database to which you want to connect, your database account name, and password if required. In the example thoth.run.properties file above, none of the database connections actually require a password, and only two of the database connections acturally require an account name. Specific differences in specifying the database URL for Windows are explained at the end of the Windows section below.

Except for Thoth packaged as a double-click Mac application or as a double-click Windows application, Thoth is launched via the Thoth.csh script on UNIX-based machines, which contains

#! /bin/csh

echo "THOTH_ARCH=$THOTH_ARCH";
echo "THOTH_HOME=$THOTH_HOME";

if ($THOTH_ARCH == "MAC") then
    java -mx4096M -Xdock:name="Thoth" -Xdock:icon=$THOTH_HOME/Thoth.app/Contents/Resources/Thoth.icns -jar ${THOTH_HOME}/Thoth.jar
else
    java -mx4096M -jar ${THOTH_HOME}/Thoth.jar
endif

For Windows machines, there is a Thoth.bat file, which is similar in functionality to the UNIX-based Thoth.csh file.

If you will be using Thoth.csh or Thoth.bat to launch the software, you must set the following environment variables:

THOTH_ARCH
THOTH_HOME
PATH

If the platform-specific instructions below do not work for your particular machine, you might try modifying Thoth.csh (or Thoth.bat in the case of Windows) to include the required environment settings at the very top of the file.

If, when running Thoth, you get out-of-memory errors, you might try modifying -mx4096M to a larger value (this specifies the heap size). For Mac users running Thoth as a double-click application, you can similarly edit the -Xmx4096M specification in "/Applications/Thoth.app/Contents/Info.plist" to allocate more memory.

The easiest way to install Thoth on a Mac is to download the *.dmg file, double click on it to bring up the Thoth folder (if it doesn't open up by itself), open up another Finder window and change directories to the Applications folder, and then drag the Thoth icon to the Applications folder.

This method of Thoth installation will result in a double-click Mac application, which you can add to your dock for convenient access to Thoth as a single-click application.

Finally, if you want to install Thoth in a location different from /Applications or you want switch GUI options in the *.dmg package that you downloaded, then you will need to change Thoth's environment settings. To change Thoth's environment settings, you simply do the following:

1. Drag Thoth icon to your home directory (commonly denoted as ~/);
2. Edit the settings in "~/Thoth.app/Contents/Info.plist" as appropriate (search for the dictionary with key "LSEnvironment" at the end of this file, and make your changes there); and then
3. Drag Thoth icon to your installation directory of choice.

Installation instructions for tar file:

     cp Thoth_v5.9.tar /Applications
     cd /Applications
     rm -rf Thoth_v5.7 (if you installed it here last time)
     tar xvf Thoth_v5.9.tar
     rm Thoth_v5.9.tar

Now, you need to set up your environment. If your default shell is bash, add these lines to your .bash_profile file:

     export THOTH_ARCH=MAC
     export THOTH_HOME=/Applications/Thoth_v5.9
     export PATH=$THOTH_HOME:$PATH

     setenv THOTH_ARCH MAC
     setenv THOTH_HOME /Applications/Thoth_v5.9
     setenv PATH ${THOTH_HOME}:${PATH}

Execution instructions:

1. Bring up a new terminal window.
2. Change to a working directory.
3. Execute the following command in the new terminal window:

     Thoth.csh

Installation instructions for tar file:

     cp Thoth_v5.9.tar ~/Applications
     cd ~/Applications
     rm -rf Thoth_v5.7 (if you installed it here last time)
     tar xvf Thoth_v5.9.tar
     rm Thoth_v5.9.tar

Now, you need to set up your environment. If your default shell is bash, add these lines to your .bash_profile file:

     export THOTH_ARCH=LINUX
     export THOTH_HOME=~/Applications/Thoth_v5.9
     export PATH=$THOTH_HOME:$PATH

     setenv THOTH_ARCH LINUX
     setenv THOTH_HOME ~/Applications/Thoth_v5.9
     setenv PATH ${THOTH_HOME}:${PATH}

Execution instructions:

1. Bring up a new terminal window.
2. Change to a working directory.
3. Execute the following command in the new terminal window:

     Thoth.csh

     cp Thoth_v5.9.tar ~/Applications
     cd ~/Applications
     rm -rf Thoth_v5.7 (if you installed it here last time)
     tar xvf Thoth_v5.9.tar
     rm Thoth_v5.9.tar

     export THOTH_ARCH=SOLARIS
     export THOTH_HOME=~/Applications/Thoth_v5.9
     export PATH=$THOTH_HOME:$PATH

     setenv THOTH_ARCH SOLARIS
     setenv THOTH_HOME ~/Applications/Thoth_v5.9
     setenv PATH ${THOTH_HOME}:${PATH}

     Thoth.csh

C:\>java -version

java -version
java version "1.8.0_333"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_333-b02)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.333-b02, mixed mode)

databaseUrl2=jdbc:sqlite:C:\\Databases\\russ.db

C:\Databases\russ.db