If you are upgrading from older versions of LinkChecker you should also read the upgrading documentation.
You need a standard GNU development environment with
C compiler (for example the GNU C Compiler gcc)
Depending on your distribution, several development packages might be needed to provide a fully functional C development environment.
Note for developers: if you want to regenerate the po/linkchecker.pot template from the source files, you will need xgettext with Python support. This is available in gettext >= 0.12.
Python >= 2.4 from http://www.python.org/ with zlib support
Be sure to also have installed the included distutils module. On most distributions, the distutils module is included in an extra "python-dev" package.
Optional, for bash-completion: optcomplete Python module from http://furius.ca/optcomplete/
Optional (speedup for i386 compatible PCs) Psyco from http://psyco.sourceforge.net/ [http://osdn.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/psyco/psyco-1.4-src.tar.gz]
Install check
Be sure to have installed all required Unix/Linux software listed above.
Compile Python modules
Run python setup.py sdist --manifest-only to create the MANIFEST file. Run python setup.py build to compile the Python files. For help about the setup.py script options, run python setup.py --help. The CC environment variable is checked before compilation, so you can change the default C compiler with export CC=myccompiler.
Installation as root
Run su -c 'python setup.py install' to install LinkChecker.
Installation as a normal user
Run python setup.py install --home $HOME. Note that you have to adjust your PATH and PYTHONPATH environment variables, eg. by adding the commands export PYTHONPATH=$HOME/lib/python and export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin to your shell configuration file.
For more information look at the Modifying Python's search path documentation.
If you downloaded Psyco please read the psyco installation docs.
Install check
Be sure to have installed all required windows software listed above.
Execute the linkchecker-x.xx.win32-py2.4.exe file and follow the instructions.
Install check
Be sure to have installed all required Unix/Linux software listed above.
Preparing Python for the MinGW compiler
Search the file python24.dll in your windows folder. After you found it, launch MSYS. Change into the windows folder, for example cd c:\winnt\system32. Then execute pexports python24.dll > python24.def. Then use the dlltool with dlltool --dllname python24.dll --def python24.def --output-lib libpython24.a. The resulting library has to be placed in the same directory as python24.lib. (Should be the libs directory under your Python installation directory, for example c:\Python24\Libs\.)
Generate and execute the LinkChecker installer
Close the MSYS application (by typing exit) and open a DOS command prompt. Change to the linkchecker-X.X.X directory and run python setup.py sdist --manifest-only to create the MANIFEST file and python setup.py build -c mingw32 bdist_wininst to build a binary installer.
This generates a binary installer dist\linkchecker-X.X.X.win32-py2.4.exe which you just have to execute.
If you downloaded Psyco please read the psyco installation docs.
LinkChecker is now installed. Have fun! See the main page on how to configure and start LinkChecker.
If you happen to install LinkChecker on other platforms (for example Mac OS 9.x) then drop me a note.
The included CGI scripts can run LinkChecker with a nice graphical web interface. You can use and adjust the example HTML files in the lconline directory to run the script.