Getting started

The quickest way to get ArchivesSpace up and running is to download the latest distribution .zip file from the following URL:

https://github.com/archivesspace/archivesspace/releases

You will need to have Java 1.6 (or newer) installed on your machine. You can check your Java version by running the command:

 java -version

Currently, if you want to use Java 1.8, you will need to remove the jdt-compiler jar library from the java classpath ( lib directory of your ArchivesSpace directory). This will disable the use of Jasper reports ( but not regular reports).

When you extract the .zip file, it will create a directory called archivesspace. To run the system, just execute the appropriate startup script for your platform. On Linux and OSX:

 cd /path/to/archivesspace
 ./archivesspace.sh

and for Windows:

 cd \path\to\archivesspace
 archivesspace.bat

This will start ArchivesSpace running in foreground mode (so it will shut down when you close your terminal window). Log output will be written to the file logs/archivesspace.out (by default).

Note: If you’re running Windows and you get an error message like unable to resolve type 'size_t' or no such file to load -- bundler, make sure that there are no spaces in any part of the path name in which the ArchivesSpace directory is located.

Start ArchivesSpace

The first time it starts, the system will take a minute or so to start up. Once it is ready, confirm that ArchivesSpace is running correctly by accessing the following URLs in your browser:

  • http://localhost:8089/ – the backend
  • http://localhost:8080/ – the staff interface
  • http://localhost:8081/ – the public interface
  • http://localhost:8090/ – the Solr admin console
  • http://localhost:8888/archivesspace – documentation

To start using the Staff interface application, log in using the adminstrator account:

  • Username: admin
  • Password: admin

Then, you can create a new repository by selecting “System” -> “Manage repositories” at the top right hand side of the screen. From the “System” menu, you can perform a variety of administrative tasks, such as creating and modifying user accounts. Be sure to change the “admin” user’s password at this time.