Installing Mesquite on Linux

Question

[Begonia_pavonina]

I am working on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and want to work with Mesquite 3.81. https://www.mesquiteproject.org/Installation%20on%20Linux.html

I had several error messages related to the Java version used. The documentation indicated to use a version of Java 8 or above. I have tried with openjdk version 10, 17, and 21, and got typically this error:

java.lang.StackOverflowError
Mesquite v. 3.81.955 on 10
Error caught in Mesquite
java.desktop/java.awt.font.FontRenderContext.hashCode(FontRenderContext.java:352)
java.desktop/sun.font.FontDesignMetrics$MetricsKey.init(FontDesignMetrics.java:218)
java.desktop/sun.font.FontDesignMetrics.getMetrics(FontDesignMetrics.java:287)
java.desktop/java.awt.Font.getStringBounds(Font.java:2607)
java.desktop/java.awt.Font.getStringBounds(Font.java:2517)
java.desktop/javax.swing.text.WrappedPlainView.updateMetrics(WrappedPlainView.java:445)
java.desktop/javax.swing.text.WrappedPlainView.setSize(WrappedPlainView.java:511)
java.desktop/javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicTextUI$RootView.setSize(BasicTextUI.java:1815)

Using Java 8 does not show this error, and instead freeze the software during startup.

Does anyone have found a way around it? Or anyone has a solution to run Mesquite in a cloud online? Any proposition is welcome.

[Begonia_pavonina]

PS: Or even alternative softwares, any suggestion is appreciated.

Answer 1

[Begonia_pavonina]

Other versions of Java above 8 and Java 8 from other repositories did not work. However, using specifically jdk-8u202-linux-x64.tar.gz from the Oracle Java archive with Mesquite_3.81_Linux is eventually working well.

Answer 2

[Darked89]

Seems that Mesquite is a GUI program which on Linux requires X connection. I managed to start Mesquite (mesquite.sh) with java 1.8.0_181.

If you are connecting to the Linux box from another one, use:

ssh -XY user@some_server

[Darked89]

PS: Mesquite web states: "The only workaround we know is to use a different version of Java (e.g., version 8, i.e. 1.8) which is available from java.com."

[Begonia_pavonina]

Thank you @Darked89 , I have to admit I do not understand fully your answer. I am running Ubuntu on my local machine as mentioned above, so I am not sure that the SSH link is requested.

[Begonia_pavonina]

As mentioned in my question, Java 8 has been tried, and unfortunately it freezes Mesquite at the start.