The yEd Linux installer aborts with an error message. What can I do?

Question

The error message says: "Could not display the GUI. This application needs access to an X Server."

Answer 1

The Problem

Running the yEd install script results in the following output:

Unpacking JRE ...
Preparing JRE ...
Starting Installer ...
Could not display the GUI. This application needs access to an X Server.

Usually, this problem happens for Java versions other than the official Sun/Oracle Java such as OpenJDK. Moreover, on 64 bit systems, the installer (which uses 32 bit Java internally) can fail due to missing 32 bit X11 binaries.

The Resolution

First, it is necessary to determine which Java version is installed. This can be done by typing

java -version

in a terminal. The output should be similar to

java version "1.6.0_21"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_21-b06)
Java HotSpot(TM) Server VM (build 17.0-b16, mixed mode)

for 32 bit Java installations or

java version "1.6.0_21"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_21-b06)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 17.0-b16, mixed mode)

for 64 bit Java installations. The important parts are the version number in the first line (it is recommend to use 1.6.0_17 or newer) and the last line that has to start with "Java HotSpot".

If the last line does not start with "Java HotSpot", the installed Java version should be replaced with the official Sun/Oracle Java, which can be downloaded from http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html. It suffices to download and install Java Platform, Standard Edition JRE.

If the install script aborts with the above output although official Sun/Oracle Java is installed, yEd has to be "installed" manually. This can be done by downloading the generic Java yEd Zip file from http://www.yworks.com/yed. Unzipping results in a new directory with two files, license.html and yed.jar.
Typing

java -jar /path/to/yed.jar

in a terminal (with /path/to/ replaced with the actual path) will start yEd.
With a simple shell script like

#!/bin/sh
java -jar /path/to/yed.jar "$@"

in a directory referenced in the $PATH environment variable, yEd can be started conveniently by typing the script's name.

 

And for those of you who unzipped the generic Java yEd Zip file and need/want a nice icon for their custom shortcut to yEd, here it is:

Related Questions

The yEd Linux installer aborts complaining about the "bitness" of the JVM. What can I do?

Comments

Same problem here. Using the manual method did work - and is also only half the size. Works so far fine with openjdk.
Not sure, why the so called shell script is nearly double the size and I am not sure, wether you have control over the install path with the script.
Go for manual installation 1st hand

$ java -version
java version "1.7.0_147-icedtea"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (IcedTea7 2.0) (Gentoo build 1.7.0_147-icedtea-b147)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 21.0-b17, mixed mode)

---

I am still having this problem...

"
Could not display the GUI. This application needs access to an X Server.
jesse@LinuxHome:~/Downloads$ java -version
java version "1.7.0_04"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_04-b20)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 23.0-b21, mixed mode)
"

---

You do have a running X server, right? How did you try to start yEd? Can you start other Java programs? E.g. does java -jar /path/to/jdk-1.7.0_04/lib/jconsole.jar work?

---

Same as above:

java version "1.7.0_04"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_04-b20)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 23.0-b21, mixed mode)

java -jar /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/lib/jconsole.jar
just open fine. Closed it right after start, don't know what to do with it.

Running java -jar /home/username/apps/yed-3.9.2/yed.jar manually just works fine, but from gnome-terminal with zsh as well as with bash

sh apps/yEd-3.9.2_setup.sh                           
Unpacking JRE ...
Preparing JRE ...
Starting Installer ...
Could not display the GUI. This application needs access to an X Server.

The same goes with chmod +x and direct  apps/yEd-3.9.2_setup.sh

The reason I wanted to run the installer was to have this nice icon instead of the default gnome-launcher icon in taskbar. I could't find it in the jar file on the first view so I thought let's use the installer

---

I see. I thought you had trouble running *yEd*.

If the install script aborts *although* official Sun/Oracle Java is installed, this is due to missing 32 bit X11 binaries (which is normal for some 64 bit linux systems). Unfortunately, there is no way to get the installer to run without those libs (at least not that we know of).