The OpenSTA Windows installation we are producing uses the Windows Installer mechanism that is part of Windows 2000. Installation under NT works using a Microsoft update that will normally be already installed. Instructions given below show how to get the the update if it has not already been installed. The Windows Installer mechanism packages a toolsets binaries and installation instructions in a file with an MSI extension.

To install OpenSTA you must have the following Microsoft Windows configuration:

• either, Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 updated with at least service pack 5.
  The OpenSTA installation process requires at least version 1.1 of the Windows Installer for NT, this is not part of the basic installation of NT4, an up to date version may be downloaded from Microsoft and installed if required.
  Your installation of NT must also have an up-to-date HTML Help sytem, the update package may be downloaded from Microsoft.
• or, Microsoft Windows 2000/XP (NT5) or later.

This product also requires a version 2.5 (or later) of Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC). This may be downloaded from Microsoft if you do not have an up to date version.

The release version numbers for OpenSTA will go by the common convention of three integers seperated by dots, of the form M.m.P - Where:

• M - is a decimal number representing the major version number of the release.
• m - is a decimal number representing the minor version number of the release. Odd numbers represent developer/unstable releases.
• P - is a decimal number representing the patch, or fix, level of the release.

Unstable (or developer) versions are intended for experimental features and have no guarantees of compatibility between patch releases. Defaults may change, features will be added, functionality could be modified.

Stable releases should always be compatible between their patch releases. Only bug fixes will be included in the patch releases of a stable version.

For fast downloads from one of many international mirrors all our distributables are now stored in our SourceForge Files Area. If you can't find what you are looking for there, or are having any issues with downloading then ftp.opensta.org is fully up to date and contains all the files we have ever made available.

All information related to building your own copy of OpenSTA, including the source code itself, is referenced from the OpenSTA developer site hosted by SourceForge.