How to fix Gephi on Mac OS & Windows
Update: This post was updated from the original to add Windows information.
Oh geez, Gephi is all sorts of broken. :-(
I was helping with the Analyzing Networks with Gephi session at NICAR Conference 2015, and it seemed like folks were running into a consist error with Gephi. When a user would try to launch it, the loading screen would appear, then disappear. It was silently failing mid-launch.
The problem is Gephi needs Java 6 (also know as 1.6) OR Java 7 (aka 1.7). However, now many machines are Java 8. Turns out, this was on both Windows and Mac — not all though.
To fix this, we will download and setup Java 6 or 7, and point Gephi to that version of Java. The rest of the applications on your machine will use Java 8.
Instructions are below for both Mac and PC (scroll down).
Fixing Gephi on Mac
- Download and install Java 6.
- Remove the Application Support folder for
rm -r ~/Library/Application\ Support/gephi- Edit your Gephi conf file.
In your terminal:
nano /Applications/Gephi.app/Contents/Resources/gephi/etc/gephi.confAdd this line:
jdkhome=”/System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk/Contents/Home”Save the file — Ctrl+X, then select ‘y’ when prompted at the bottom.
Fixing Gephi on Windows
Follow these instructions.
HOWEVER, there are a couple of things you should know…
- From step 1: Oracle’s website is confusing if you don’t know Java, because there are so many options. Download the Java SE Development Kit 7u75 — Windows x64 Windows x86.
- From step 2: You might have problems finding the java folder. From a post on “missing java files”:
“There are 2 versions of Java. The 32bit version installs in Program Files (x86) and the 64bit installs in Program Files. You can download both version from this site, but don’t know if that will fix your problem. You can have both versions on the same system.”
Conclusion
Now, try to launch Gephi again. If you followed the steps and it fails, file a ticket. (Although it they seemed to be a little behind. in responses.)
If Gephi launches and you want to play more with Gephi, look over the NICAR Tutorial notes and data for ideas. Happy social networking analysis!
