Installation

Warqube uses R as its main runtime and installs a private set of R and Python dependencies inside the Warqube project directory. JHOVE is included with the application, but requires Java to be available separately.

Requirements

Before running the installer, ensure that the following requirements are met:

Windows. The installer downloads the 64-bit Windows embedded distribution of Python and uses Windows batch files.
R 4.4.0 or later. The installer stops if an older R version is detected.
Rscript available from the command line. The installation batch file invokes Rscript directly.
Java available as java. The included JHOVE batch file invokes the java command when Warqube analyses WARC files. The installer does not install Java or verify a particular Java version.
Internet access during installation. The installer may download renv, R packages, embedded Python, pip, Python packages and the Dutch SpaCy model.

The code does not define minimum disk-space or memory requirements.

Run the installer

Keep the Warqube directory structure intact. In particular, the project must contain renv.lock, the python directory and jhove/V1.30.1/jhove.bat.

Run the installer from the root of the Warqube project: the directory that contains install_warqube.bat and install_warqube.R.

On Windows, run:

install_warqube.bat

The batch file runs:

Rscript install_warqube.R

The installer uses the current working directory as the project root. Starting it from another directory may therefore cause files to be created or resolved in the wrong location.

What the installer does

The installation proceeds in the following order.

1. Restore the R environment

If the renv package is not available, the installer first installs it. It then runs:

renv::restore(prompt = FALSE)

This restores the R packages recorded in renv.lock into the project-specific renv environment.

2. Set up embedded Python

Warqube uses its own 64-bit embedded Python 3.10.5 installation under python_embed. If python_embed/python.exe already exists, the installer reuses it. Otherwise, it:

downloads the official Python 3.10.5 Windows embedded archive;
extracts it into python_embed;
enables Python’s site module in python310._pth;
downloads and runs get-pip.py; and
verifies that pip can be invoked.

Warqube configures reticulate to use this interpreter. It does not use a system Python installation or a managed virtual environment when the application starts.

3. Install Python dependencies

The installer upgrades pip and installs the packages pinned in python/requirements-warq-embedded-lock.txt. These dependencies include the components used for WARC indexing, text extraction, playback and PII detection.

It also copies the reticulate support package rpytools into the embedded Python environment and verifies that it can be imported.

4. Create working directories

The installer ensures that the following directories exist:

data/
data/duckdb/
jhove/jhovewerkdir/
pywb_home/
pywb_home/collections/

5. Check installed components

The installer checks whether the bundled JHOVE launcher exists at jhove/V1.30.1/jhove.bat. A missing launcher produces a warning rather than an installation failure.

It then verifies that embedded Python can import:

warcio;
pywb;
spacy;
presidio_analyzer; and
trafilatura.

Finally, it loads the nl_core_news_lg SpaCy model. Installation stops if a required Python module, the model or rpytools cannot be loaded.

The installer does not run JHOVE or verify Java. Java and JHOVE are first used when Warqube processes WARC files.

Installation result

The batch file reports Installation completed successfully only when the R installation script exits without an error. Warnings, including a missing JHOVE launcher, do not necessarily cause the installer to fail.

After a successful installation, Warqube can be started from the project root with:

start_warqube.bat

At start-up, Warqube selects python_embed/python.exe explicitly. If the early R packages shiny or here are unavailable, the start script attempts to install them from CRAN before opening the application.