Download Greenstone
Greenstone is open-source software, distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License. It runs on Windows and Unix/Linux, and both source code and binaries are available for download. It is fully documented in English, French, Spanish and Russian.
Select the Greenstone distribution you require from the list below. Each distribution provides a complete interface in English, French, Spanish and Russian, and incomplete interfaces in many other languages.
Each distribution also includes the "Greenstone Librarian Interface", a graphical tool for building digital libraries. It gives you access to Greenstone's functionality from an easy-to-use 'point and click' interface. To use this tool you will need a suitable Java Run-time Environment, which you can download here -- the latest version is currently 1.5 (then choose the JRE, not the SDK).
Windows Distribution (Latest)
This is the distribution you want if you're going to run Greenstone under any 32 bit Windows environment (that is, Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP etc.)
Greenstone can no longer be installed on 16 bit Windows (that is, Windows 3.1/3.11). However collections that have been exported to CD will still run on these systems (Greenstone2.70w and earlier) support.
Using this distribution you may either install the "local library", the "web library", or install and compile the source code (click here for a description of the differences between the "local library" and the "web library"). You will be asked which form of Greenstone you want during the installation process.
This distribution includes everything you need to run Greenstone (including a pre-built demonstration collection) and to build new Greenstone collections. Some functionality is not included however, mostly in an attempt to keep the distribution as small as possible. See below for details on how to get this missing functionality.
This distribution uses a standard Windows installer program, simply download the file and double-click it to install (see the Installer's Guide for more detailed installation instructions).
Unix/Linux Distribution (Latest)
This is the recommended distribution if you're installing Greenstone on any form of Unix or Linux.
This distribution comes with statically linked linux binaries. However, it also contains the Greenstone source code for compiling on other forms of Unix (or on linux if you prefer not to use the provided binaries).
This distribution includes everything you need to run Greenstone (including a pre-built demonstration collection) and to build new Greenstone collections. Some functionality is not included however, mostly in an attempt to keep the distribution as small as possible. See below for details on how to get this missing functionality.
To install this distribution, extract the gzipped tar archive and run the setupLinux.bin Java-based Installer program. Alternatively, run the Install.sh shell script from within the gsdl-X.XX-unix/Unix directory (see the Installer's Guide for more detailed installation instructions).
Mac Distribution (Latest)
This distribution contains dynamically linked binaries for Mac OS X running on PowerPC platforms.
This distribution has been tested on Mac OS X 10.4.7. It includes the pre-built binaries and also includes the demonstration collection, pre-built. This distribution also includes the Greenstone Librarian Interface for building collections.
To install this distribution, extract the gzipped tar archive and run the setupMacOSx.command Java-based Installer program.
Source Distribution (Latest)
This distribution contains the Greenstone source code along with the same demonstration collection as the distributions above (although the collection is not pre-built in this distribution).
This distribution does not have an automated installation procedure (running Install.sh will not work). Unless you're sure you know what you're doing you probably want one of the distributions above, both of which also contain the Greenstone source. Note that you can obtain an up-to-date version of the Greenstone source code at any time by using svn.
Nightly Release Snapshots
Nightly release snapshots of Greenstone3 are available at our snapshots page. (Greenstone2 snapshots coming soon!)
GLI client (Latest)
A new package containing the GLI client. This is a stand-alone GLI program that enables you to build collections on a remote server, without having Greenstone installed locally.
Greenstone3
Greenstone3 is a complete reimplementation of Greenstone, which does everything Greenstone2 does plus more. It is available for download at the Greenstone3 Homepage page.
Older Distributions
Older Distributions are available from Sourceforge.
Greenstone Interface Pack
Greenstone2.63 and later: Greenstone now comes with all languages enabled. New HTML and CSS stylesheets have removed the need for images with text on them, reducing the size of each language interface. This "classic interface" pack contains all the old text images (for all languages), and is designed to be used with a backwards compatibility macro file. You will only need to download this pack if you want to use the old-style tables + text images layout, or if you need support for Netscape 4, which doesn't support the new CSS. To use the images, edit greenstoneetcmain.cfg, and replace nav_css.dm with nav_ns4.dm in the macrofiles list. Note that this does not affect the multilingual support for the Greenstone Librarian Interface.
Greenstone Language Pack
Greenstone2.62 and earlier: These versions of Greenstone come with only English, French, Spanish and Russian reader's interfaces. This following three packages contain the interface to Greenstone in various different language versions; see here for details. Note that this does not affect the multilingual support for the Greenstone Librarian Interface.
Export to CD-ROM
Greenstone2.70: This package enables the "export to CD-ROM" function from within the Greenstone Librarian Interface and the Collector. This has been included in all binary releases since 2.70w. To get this functionality for Greenstone versions prior to 2.70, please contact the mailing list.
To install, simply download the file (it will work on both Windows and Unix/Linux) and extract the zip archive into the greenstonebinwindows directory of your existing Greenstone installation.
Documented Examples
Greenstone collections whose "about" page describes how they are constructed; see here for details.
Tutorial Exercises
Tutorial exercises to teach you about many aspects of Greenstone, see here for details.
Teaching Material
Packages of material prepared for one-day, three-day and four-day Greenstone workshops; see here for details.