PrismLauncher-9.4

Introduction to PrismLauncher

The PrismLauncher package provides a Minecraft Launcher.

PrismLauncher Dependencies

Required

libxkbcommon, OpenGL (libglvnd or Mesa; only the normal installation is required for either), OpenJDK-17.0.15+5 (and/or OpenJDK-20+), and Qt-6

[Important]

Important

While you can install the most recent version of OpenJDK (version 20 and above), you'll need to edit the build system of this package, tick an option in the launcher menu, and will lose support in older Minecraft versions, including mods and other things IF you did not make OpenJDK-17.0.15+5 the default JDK. This is because version 20 and above does not support Java 7. Version 19 and below supports Java 7. OpenJDK-17.0.15+5 is used as it's an LTS release that gets security updates.

Optional

commonmark, ghc_filesystem, Git, QuaZip, scdoc-1.11.3, and tomlplusplus-3.4.0

Installation of PrismLauncher

If you installed OpenJDK-17.0.15+5 and it is currently not the default JDK, but wish to make it the default, then run the following command as the root user:

ln -v -nsf jdk-17.0.15+5 /opt/jdk

If you have installed OpenJDK version 20 or above and have made it the default JDK, edit the build system to allow building with Java 8 instead of 7:

sed -e 's/Java 1.7/Java 1.8/g'   \
    -e 's/-target 7/-target 8/g' \
    -e 's/-source 7/-source 8/g' \
    -i libraries/{javacheck,launcher}/CMakeLists.txt

Install PrismLauncher by running the following commands:

mkdir build &&
cd    build &&

cmake -D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr   \
      -D CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release    \
      -W no-dev -G Ninja .. &&

ninja

Now, as the root user:

ninja install

Configuring PrismLauncher

This launcher should walk you through how to set it up. However, one major thing needs to be done if you installed OpenJDK version 20 or above and made it the default. After you create an instance, you will need to edit that instance, go to the Settings section, then tick Skip Java Compatibility Checks to avoid Minecraft from refusing to launch. This has to be done for every instance. If you installed OpenJDK-17.0.15+5 and made it the default JDK, this doesn't need to be done at all.

In the case that you are using a newer Minecraft instance and/or have installed mods that require newer versions of a given JDK, you will need to have a multi-JDK setup. This generally entails having multiple JDK builds in /opt and having a default JDK that gets used in all cases unless specified otherwise. An ideal setup is to make OpenJDK-17.0.15+5 the default JDK, but also install OpenJDK-20+ so that the JDK version can be overridden per MC instance. In that case, you will need to copy the same steps in the above paragraph, as well as changing the Java Installation to point to the desired JDK. When installing the newer JDK, it is recommended to skip making the symlink on that page so that it doesn't become the default. If you made it the default beforehand but wish to change it, run the following command as the root user:

ln -v -nsf jdk-17.0.15+5 /opt/jdk

A multi-JDK setup may look like this:

$ ls /opt | grep jdk
jdk
jdk-23.0.2+7
jdk-17.0.15+5
...

jdk can be a symlink to either jdk-23.0.2+7 or jdk-17.0.15+5.

Contents

Installed Programs: prismlauncher
Installed Libraries: JavaCheck, NewLaunch, and NewLaunchLegacy (all Java libraries)
Installed Directories: /usr/share/{PrismLauncher,qlogging-categories6}

Short Descriptions

prismlauncher

manages and launches minecraft instances