The Greenstone software runs on different platforms, and in different configurations, as summarized in Figure <imgref figure_different_options>.

<imgcaption figure_different_options|%!– id:23 –%The different options for Windows and Unix versions of Greenstone ></imgcaption>

There are many issues that affect (or might affect) the installation procedure. Before reading on, you should consider these questions:

• Are you using Windows or Unix?
• If Windows, are you using Windows 3.1/3.11 or a more recent version? Although you can view collections on 3.1/3.11 machines, and serve other computers on the same network, you cannot build new collections. The full Greenstone software runs on 95/98/Me, and NT/2000.
• If Unix, are you using Linux or another version of Unix? For Linux, a binary version of the complete system is provided which is easy to install. For other types of Unix you will have to install the source code and compile it. This may require you to install some additional software on your machine.
• If Windows NT/2000 or Unix, can you log in as the system “administrator” or “root”? This may be required to configure a webserver appropriately for Greenstone.
• Do you want the source code? If you are using Windows or Linux, you can just install binaries. But you may want the source code as well—it's in the Greenstone distribution.
• Do you want to build new digital library collections? If so, you need to have Perl, which is freely available for both Windows and Unix.
• Is your computer running a webserver? The Greenstone software comes with a Windows webserver. However, if you are already running a Web server, you may want to stay with it. For Unix, you need to run a webserver.
• Do you know how to reconfigure your webserver? If you don't use the Greenstone webserver, you will have to reconfigure your existing one slightly to recognize the Greenstone software.