How to install Graphviz software

Description

The Confluence server must have the Graph Visualization Software (Graphviz) package installed in order for the Graphviz Diagrams for Confluence macros to work. The Graphviz package is free and supports a variety of operating systems including those supported by Confluence.

Test your Graphviz installation

After you have installed Graphviz, make sure the dot executable is able to be run from a command line using the same environment (especially the path) used to startup Confluence.

If Confluence cannot find the executable, you will get macro errors in Confluence like: No useable executable name ...

Graphviz on Windows

Download and run the Windows installer
- Defaults to install in C:\Program Files\Graphviz2.16 or similar
- Automatically adds this to your Windows path
- Confirm that you can run dot.exe from a newly opened command line
Restart Confluence
Verify it works by creating a page with a simple flowchart macro like:
```
{flowchart} 
A -> B
{flowchart}
```

Graphviz on Mac OSX

Download and run the installer.
The installer should set up everything so that dot is found on the path

Graphviz on Linux and Unix

Install the graphviz.rpm, the graphviz-graphs.rpm, and the graphviz-gd.rpm packages
Open the directory GraphViz is installed under and confirm the path
Login as the user who runs Confluence or starts the Confluence service
Append the path to the bin directory of GraphViz to the 'Path' variable

Last resort

This is not recommended, but, if you just can't get your path set correctly to find the dot executable, then this is an alternative.

If you get errors about not finding dot.exe

Download the plugin jar file
Unzip the jar to a temporary directory
Edit the graphviz.properties file
- Replace dot.candidate.paths setting with something like (yes, use forward slashes ):
```
dot.candidate.paths=c:/PROGRA~1/Graphviz2.16/bin/dot.exe
```
Zip all files in the temporary directory to create a new jar file
Uninstall the graphviz plugin and re-install your customized version
GVIZ-1 will make this easier