CERTivity is a Java based application, available for download and install through:
Bundled JRE Java Native Installers, the recommended option;
Normal Java Native Installers (standalone, no JRE bundled);
Plain archives (Zip/TAR.GZ) - manual process.
The recommended CERTivity distribution for Microsoft Windows and Linux platforms (x86/AMD64) is the Installer with the embedded Java Runtime Environment (JRE) as everything is out of the box. If the target operating system is not in the list of the supported embedded JRE distribution, or there are other reasons for which you don't want an embedded JRE, you will need to have an already installed JRE from Sun Microsystems (Oracle) which is now supported for Mac OS as well. Note that the embedded JRE is exclusively used for running the CERTivity application and is not affecting the existent applications.
Being a Java based application, CERTivity could run anywhere where an Oracle or Apple JRE
is available - this covers a wide range of systems such as Microsoft Windows, Linux, Unix and
Mac. The exact JRE for the CERTivity application is configured in the jdkhome
property from the configuration file ${certivity_home}/etc/certivity.conf (on
Windows), respectively ${certivity_home}/etc/certivity.conf.sh (on Linux, Unix
and Mac). The Installer is transparently setting this path according to the installer
type:
If you are using the recommended bundled JRE Installer, then
the embedded JRE is used to run the installer itself and is also
configured in the jdkhome property.
The standalone (non-bundled JRE) Installer will need a JRE to start with and to set for CERTivity. If you are using the standalone Installer make sure your system has a Sun Microsystems (Oracle) JRE available for the user you intend to use to install CERTivity. If not, then please install JRE 1.7 according to the Java vendor instructions. We do not recommend using JRE 1.8.
The standalone Installer will automatically look for a suitable JRE on your platform for the installation itself and for configuring CERTivity to start with. The minimum required version is 1.7. The first JRE found in this search order is mainly used:
Environment variables ${JAVA_HOME},
${JDK_HOME};
Windows registry (if the OS is Windows) ;
Standard locations.
If the JVM found is not the standard recommended one a warning message is displayed but the installation will continue.
If you are using a plain archive distribution, then you will need to install JRE 1.7
according to Sun Microsystems (Oracle) instructions and to configure the
jdkhome property from
${certivity_home}/etc/certivity.conf(.sh) by uncommenting it and pointing
it to the JRE path, for example jdkhome="C:\Program Files\Java\jre7". If
you are not configuring jdkhome, CERTivity will try to use the default
location of JDK/JRE on the platform, but in case the target system has more Java
distributions installed, it is safer to expressly point the jdkhome
property to the exact location.
The exact Java version the CERTivity application started with is
displayed in the Help > About menu, for example:
Java: 1.7.0_15; Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM 23.7-b01
As there are many flavours of hardware, operating systems and versions available it is practically impossible to test each one of these. We have successfully run CERTivity on Micrososft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Linux Debian, Linux Ubuntu, RedHat, Solaris Intel and Mac OS X. Both 32 and 64 bit OS distributions as well as JREs are supported.
Even if there is a wide platform distribution there are just few known issues:
Default font size being ignored by the GTK Look and Feel on Gnome Desktop Environment on Linux;
Contextual Help Window is not brought up to front on Mac OS X;
In Windows 7, like for many other applications, an "Access Denied" error may be encountered when trying to save KeyStores or when exporting Certificates, Key Pairs, or Private / Public Keys to files that are located in the Windows special folders (e.g. Program Files, Program Files (x86) ), due to the User Account Control (UAC) function. This can be fixed by setting the UAC to a lower level or by turning it off.