Before building McIDAS-V you need to first install Java on your system. You need to use the Java SDK, because the Java RunTime Environment (JRE) does not contain the Java compiler (javac). You need to use a version of Java 1.6 or above. You can use either the Java 3D SDK or JRE, version 1.3.x.

You will also need to install the latest version of Ant http://ant.apache.org/) on your machine. Ant is similar to make - instead of a Makefile, Ant uses a build.xml file. Be sure to follow the instructions for installing Ant, especially those for setting up environment variables.

Build steps:

1. Download the compressed source files from the McIDAS-V Download Page.
2. Uncompress the .zip file. This will create a new directory containing the McIDAS-V source and Unidata IDV .jar files.
   

   The resulting directory structure will be:

   		mcidasv/
   		mcidasv/build.xml
   		mcidasv/...		<-- McIDAS-V source directories
   

   The Ant build script "mcidasv/build.xml" is be used to build and run McIDAS-V.

3. Change to the mcidasv directory and run:
   • "ant jar" to create the McIDAS-V .jar files in mcidasv/dist.
   • "ant run" to run McIDAS-V with a small java heap size for testing.