For those who have read my review of Aptana and wish to install it in Ubuntu 8.10, here is how you can do so. While the installation is not as straightforward as it should be, the overall process is not that difficult either.

The instruction below is meant for 32-bit machine. If you are using a 64 bit machine, you’ll have to install Eclipse with the Aptana plugin.

1. Download Aptana for Linux

2. Unzip the Aptana tar file to your Home folder.

3. Install the dependencies:

sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin xulrunner

4. Open up a text editor and paste the following lines to the file.

#!/bin/bash
export MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME=/usr/lib/xulrunner
/home/damien/aptana/AptanaStudio  #filepath to Aptana folder

Change the filepath to the location where you place the Aptana folder. Save the file as runAptana.sh in the Aptana folder.

5. Right-click on the runAptana.sh file and select Properties. Go to the Permissions tab. Check the box “Allow executing file as program”

That’s it. Whenever you want to run Aptana, simply double click on the runAptana.sh file.

Creating Desktop and Menubar shortcut (Optional)

You can also create a shortcut on your desktop or the menubar so that you can easily access it when you want to use it.

- Right-click on the menubar and select Edit Menus

- On the left pane, scroll down till you find the Programming entry. Click on it.

- On the right, click on the “New Item” button. Enter the following:

For the Aptana icon, you can either use your own icon, or download the official iconset here

Close all the windows. You should be able to find the Aptana launcher in Applications->Programming->Aptana.

To create a desktop shortcut, simply drag the Aptana launcher from the menubar to the desktop. If you are using any dock applications, you can also drag and drop the launcher to the dock.

Didn’t I say it is easy?