Installing the software

Micro Focus offers two types of installers on UNIX and Linux - a proprietary Micro Focus installer for installing on UNIX and Linux and a standard RPM (RPM Package Manager) installer for installing on Linux.

Before starting the installation, see Software Requirements.

These are the steps to install this product:

  1. Give execute permissions to the setup file:
    chmod +x setup_visualcobol_deveclipse_9.0_platform
  2. Run the setup file with superuser permissions:
    ./setup_visualcobol_deveclipse_9.0_platform

    If you don't run this as superuser, you are prompted to enter the superuser password during the install.

    The COBOL environment is installed by default into /opt/microfocus/VisualCOBOL, (COBDIR). A full version of Eclipse, with the Micro Focus plugins already installed, is present in the $COBDIR/eclipse directory.

    To install in a different location use the -installlocation="Location" parameter to specify an alternative directory location. For example:

    ./setup_visualcobol_deveclipse_9.0_platform -installlocation="full path of new location"
    Note: You can use variables when specifying an absolute path for –installlocation. For example, the following examples are equivalent:
    -installlocation="/home/myid/installdir"
    -installlocation="$HOME/installdir"

    You can see details about which additional parameters can be passed to the install script if you enter the -help option.

Note: See Installing in an Ubuntu Docker Image Running on Windows 11 for specific installation instructions for this scenario.

SafeNet Sentinel considerations

  • The installation of this product could affect the SafeNet Sentinel licensed components running on your machine. During installation licensing is shutdown to allow files to be updated. To ensure the processes running on your machine are not affected, you need to use the -skipsafenet option, which skips the installation of SafeNet:
    . /setup_visualcobol_deveclipse_9.0_platform -skipsafenet
  • To protect the SafeNet Sentinel installation from accidental updating you can create an empty file named SKIP_SAFENET_INSTALL in /var/microfocuslicensing/ as follows:
    touch /var/microfocuslicensing/SKIP_SAFENET_INSTALL

    While the file is present, the SafeNet installer does not make changes to the installation or shutdown the running license daemons. If licensing needs to be updated later, you can rerun the MFLicenseServerInstall.sh from within the $COBDIR/safenet folder with the force command line option:

    cd $COBDIR/safenet
    ./MFLicenseServerInstall.sh force
    

AutoPass Licensing considerations

  • The installation of this product could affect the AutoPass licensed components running on your machine. During installation, the licensing shuts down to allow files to be updated. To ensure the processes running on your machine are not affected, you need to use the -skipautopass option, which skips the installation of AutoPass:
    ./setup file -skipautopass
  • To protect the AutoPass installation from accidental updating, you can create an empty file named SKIP_AUTOPASS_INSTALL in /opt/microfocus/licensing as follows:
    touch /opt/microfocus/licensing/SKIP_AUTOPASS_INSTALL
    While the file is present, the AutoPass installer does not make changes to the installation or shutdown the running license daemons. If licensing needs to be updated later, you can rerun the MFLicenseServerInstall.sh from within the $COBDIR/safenet folder with the force command line option:
    cd $COBDIR/safenet
    ./MFLicenseServerInstall.sh force