Setting up MMT

Requirements

The following outside tools are typically used with MMT:

  • To run MMT, you must install Java.
  • To interact with existing MMT content, you should install git. (MMT itself does not need git, but all formalizations made with MMT are stored in git repositories.)
  • To have an IDE for writing MMT content, you should install IntelliJ IDEA or jEdit.
  • To build MMT from sources, you need sbt, which you can install by itself or obtain as a part of a Scala IDE (see next item).
  • If you also plan to develop MMT, you should install a Scala IDE such as IntelliJ with the Scala plugin.

Step 1: Get the MMT jar file

Option 1a: Download a binary release

Download the latest mmt.jar from UniFormal/MMT’s release page

Option 1b: Build from sources

Use git clone https://github.com/UniFormal/MMT.git.

If recommended/instructed switch to the devel branch to get the latest updates or create your own branch off devel.

Build MMT via cd MMT/src; sbt mmt/deploy or by triggering an MMT build from within the Scala IDE of your choice.

Step 2: Setup MMT

Excecute the MMT jar file via java -jar mmt.jar.

This triggers the setup dialog which does the following:

  1. asks for a directory into which MMT content should be installed,
  2. checks out some example content repositories into that directory (requires git and internet access),
  3. runs MMT to build those repositories,
  4. if you have installed jEdit before, configures it for use as an MMT IDE. (Further instructions for setting up jEdit are available here.)

If you want to use IntelliJ instead of jEdit as an MMT IDE, additionally do the following:

  1. Install IntelliJ IDEA with a version compatible with the MMT plugin (tldr: a non-beta version)
  2. Install the MMT plugin You can now use IntelliJ to create (and open existing) “MathHub projects”. Every MathHub project stores the path to an mmt.jar in its project files. Hence, if you are a developer and made changes to the MMT repository you cloned above, do not expect those changes to be reflected when working with the MMT plugin. You need to rebuild an mmt.jar first. Beware that you need to reopen IntelliJ for the file overwriting of mmt.jar to be possible and to take effect.

NOTES

  • OpenJDK and Oracle’s JDK are supported.
  • You can rerun this setup dialog (e.g., after updating MMT) by running java -jar mmt.jar :setup To install/update only the jEdit integration, use java -jar mmt.jar :jeditsetup install.
  • In case you are a student, you can get IntelliJ Ultimate for free. Consult the JetBrains homepage for more details.
  • Here is a detailed explanation of the MMT repository’s contents.