h1. Prerequisites

*Environment:*
* Java SE Development Kit 1.7.x or greater ([http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/]).
* Apache Maven 3.0.4 ([http://maven.apache.org/download.html]).
* Eclipse IDE Eclipse for RCP and RAP Developers ([http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/packages/eclipse-rcp-and-rap-developers/junosr1]).
* Apache KARAF 2.2.x or 2.3.x ([http://karaf.apache.org/index/community/download.html]);

Download and extract the Eclipse IDE for RCP and RAP Developers archives to a directory of your choice (for e.g. $HOME/eclipse).
The archive will be extracted to a directory named eclipse under the directory you specified (for e.g. $HOME/tools/eclipse/eclipse), referred to as *<eclipse_installation_dir>* from now on. 
Make sure that the JDK in the PATH is Sun JDK 7. 
Launch Eclipse by running <eclipse_installation_dir>/eclipse.

To install the Karaf, download the Karaf 2.2.x runtime from Apache Karaf downloads and extract the archive to a directory of your choice (for e.g.  $HOME/tools/karaf). 
The archive will be extracted to a directory apache-karaf-2.2.* or apache-karaf-2.3.x (for e.g. $HOME/tools/karaf/apache-karaf-2.2.*). 
We will refer to this directory as *<karaf_installation_dir>* from now on.