Building Vassal

This guide contains instructions on how to build a Linux release package of Vassal.

Installing build dependencies

Vassal is a Java application and needs a JDK to compile. In addition it needs the make build system.

On a Ubuntu-based system, both can be installed by running:

sudo apt install default-jdk make

Clone the Git repository

Technically optional, since you can download a source code release too, but Git is extremely handy if you will be making modifications and keeping track with current development:

git clone https://github.com/vassalengine/vassal

Compiling Vassal

Change to the vassal directory:

cd vassal

Compile and build the Linux release package:

make release-linux

Result and running

If the build is successful, you should not have any errors from the make command, and the tmp/ directory should have a .tar.bz2 file.

Treat this file like a regular Vassal Linux release: unzip it to a location of your choice, and run the Vassal.sh script inside it.

Keeping up to date

If you have compiled the latest version from Git, you may want to keep up to date with new developments and bug fixes. To update to the latest version, go to ~/vassal and type:

git pull

make release-linux

Building VASSAL on Mac

If you are running on MacOSX, please see Notes for Mac Users